[KS] A new book about tea in Joseon

[Brother Anthony]

Professor Jeong Min (Hanyang University) has at long last published the text and (annotated) Hangeul translation of the "Dongdagi' by Yi Deok-ri which he discovered at Baekundong in 2006, together with ample further documentation about this hitherto unknown scholar. "잊혀진 실학자 이덕리와 동다기" 정민 지음 / 글항아리 / 2018년 11월 / ISBN:9788967355562 
 
The "Dongdagi" was mentioned once by Cho-ui Seonsa in his DongDaSong but remained a mystery though another (partial, inferior) text was also discovered recently. Perhaps the main interest of the text is the stress it lays on the almost total lack of interest in tea among Koreans in the later 18th century. Instead, Yi proposes that tea should be picked and dried then sold to the 'Northern Barbarians' in exchange for silver and silk which would then add enormously to the Korean economy, making everyone happy . . .

This publication comes 3 years after Jeong Min's beautiful edition of the "Baekuncheop" manuscript,containing poems written by Dasan and paintings by Cho-ui inspired by the largely unknown garden at Baekundong  in his "강진 백운동 별서정원"

Brother Anthony
President, RAS Korea