About this user
I am neither a preacher nor an activist, but I want the world to sort out. All human has basic needs such as love, justice and rights for pursuit of happiness. We have only recently come to accept this universal fact. However,because of our greed, individuals, nations and ethnic groups have been estranged from one another pushing ourselves into isolation,on top of personal and cultural differences. It's time to think about mankind as a whole. It maybe hard to overcome the difficulties lies achieving greater human coexistence, but we, as humans with rationale, should strive to narrow the gap to bring ourselves to the new millennium with peace and harmony;otherwise,the world's will doom to repeat itself with more wars and atrocities. Human progress can be measured in degree to which peace and justice are achieved, and the process for peace can start only with acknowledging our wrongdoings and promising never to harm others again, with growth in understanding of our needs.
Interests
Origin of Japanese Language (일어의 어원은 한국어)Origin of Japanese Culture and People (Japan is a spin-off of Korea)Korean heating system -ONDOL(온돌)Below is a snippet of discussion carried out between two liguists; you can see how japanese scholar is playing with words in order to distort the fact -- I have felt the same way numerous times when I read history book written by japanese scholars:It is quite fun to see that most Japanese people still hesitate to accept the influence from Korea. I do not know exactly why ToMach said the theory that the Japanese language arrived with the new immigrants from "the continent" instead of "from Korea". (Of course I have a very very good guess, though)ToMach, can you name the period when the meaningful number of people arrived at the Japanese islands "the continent&; other than "Korea."? At the moment you mentioned "immigrants from the continent" I totally lost interest in your remarks.Korea was not only a bridge, no matter what you learnt in a Japanese class. It had its own powerful culture which directly influenced Japanese one significantly for many centuries. Thus, to make your opinion clearer, you should be clearer on your definitions. I mean, you should know when to use "Korea" and when to use "the continent."; Simple, huh?================================================Ondol is Korean heating system that is evident to have been used since( 33-600 B.C.) Goguryo kingdom.One wonders how Korean people have lived in the region where temperature would drop as low as -50 C in dead cold winter. The answer lies in ths Ondol-Underfloor heating system. Ondol, literally meaning "warm stone"; comprised three main components: a fireplace or stove, which is also used for cooking and located below floor level; a heated floor underlaid by horizontal smoke passages; and a vertical chimney, located lower than the roofline, to provide a draft.The heated floor comprised a network of underground flues that transported heat from the kitchen to each room. These flues were covered by thin, flat, wide stones two or three inches thick called kudul that lay underneath the floor. Kudul, literally meaning "fired stone, was covered with yellow earth, and the floor was leveled. To top it off, several layers of yellow paper sheets were pasted on the floor. This process was efficient since the heat and smoke generated during cooking would be transported automatically to each room in the house. Usually the kitchen would be built at a lower level (about one m), and the heated rooms would be in an elevated position to allow the flues to run underneath. Notably, with just one heating the floors would retain their warmth for extended periods, ranging from more than 30 days to three months depending on the design of the flue structure.The traditional ondol rooms found in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula differed somewhat from those in the south. In the north the ondol-heated room and the kitchen were not separated by a wall. Heat from both the fireplace and the ondol floor kept the room warm. In the south, a wall separated the kitchen from the living room, preventing the smoke from disturbing people sitting there. Also, in a room heated by ondol, the floor at the far end of the room tended to be cool. (Elders such as grandparents or parents as well as guests were invited to sit in the warmer area as an expression of respect.)My personal storeis in lieu of Ondol:I lived in a traditional Korean house until 17 years old. My house had 5 fireplaces where four of them takes GuGongTan(구공탄) instead of buring wood. GuGoneTan is a block about 7 inces in diameter compressed coal in cylinderical shape. There are about 20 holes running through from top to down, each with 10 cm in diameter. The holds are made for efficiency of burning maximizing the durating of combustion. Roughly, it takes three of those for heating a day. Usually, the GoGongTan is kept in cellar to keep it dry. For may grandparents room, we used wood for heating up the room. I would gather the wood and set up the fire in the evening before the dinner time. By the 7:00 PM, the room gets pretty toasty. On the coner of my grandparents room, there was a heap of soybean blocks, each is equlivaent the size of two red bricks put together, for fermentation. In the spring, I would see fungus gathered on the soybean blocks when the soysource was prepared.
sorinajima
favorited
2 months ago