Korean Anthropology - Field Notes 3

While sitting on this flight, killing time, I was trying to decide which of the many reports that I’ve started on Korean Anthropology would get finished before landing, when the sound of a middle aged male, two rows behind me, trying to extract the mucus stuck at the bottom of his smoke ravaged lungs, helped me to focus – as well as causing my business class lunch to lurch back up to the entrance of my digestive system - on a delicate topic that I thought I should bring to your attention...

The Korean Art of Throat Clearing

This charming (more on the charm of this in a moment) pastime of just about every male over the age of 15 can be, and is, practised just about anywhere - on the street, in public washrooms, on a flight, in a restaurant, in a lift, in a taxi and probably in the bedroom (I've not studied this, just conjecture).  Just about any place you can think of. And, just when you are least expecting it – there it is – that deep, gurgling, thick, gooey, half cough, half grunt of a good fistful of creamy, nicotine-stained phlegm moving from the upper lung / mid oesophagus region to the middle of the tongue.  The true practitioners of this can reach 85dBm (measured with my iPhone App) so even the near hard of hearing will know that someone’s moment of display has come.

I choose my words carefully there, I think ‘display’ is correct but to be honest I’m new to this anthropology thing and throat clearing is surely not a typical area of study.  I mean this in the same way that in certain species of birds, e.g. the pheasant, the male will put on a display to attract the female. Since this is done entirely by males and it is done all the time, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Korean Art of Throat Clearing is actually a cheeky little flirt rather than mere spit preparation.  However, it also happens to evoke in the innocent listener the body’s gag response.

There are many different types but I think after much enforced study, I’ve managed to isolate a few prototype categories. First, there is the Upper Cavity Rattler, this seems to be the province of the younger males. It is often preceded by a deep inhale from the nostrils which suggests that there is not enough of the thick phlegm in the throat and a bit of gathering is in order.  Observe carefully and you can see the quick movements of the throat and neck as the fluid moves deftly from the back nasal passage, down the throat and then back up to the mouth, i.e. the payload delivery area. Not quite as loud as the other categories, but you can still hear all that liquid swishing around.

The second category seems to be universally practised by all ages, it is the Deep Throat* .  The advantage of this technique is its speed – it is sort of the ‘quick draw’ of the genre. It can be produced, in full swell, with seemingly hardly any preparation.  A solid and sometimes lengthy gurgle is produced giving the listener a strong impression of the viscosity of what is welling up from the throat to the mouth. A classic to accompany your dessert from the man behind you in the posh restaurant.

The final and last category, I would say, is clearly the reserve of the professionals – a Full Chested Hork.  Younger men can’t produce this, I think, simply due to the decades of dedicated smoking necessary to get the phlegm to such a solid consistency and in sufficient quantity to make one think that perhaps it is not a spit preparation at all but really the creature from the black lagoon crawling to the surface. A broad chest is and full extended belly are necessary to allow full resonance to every gurgle and bubble. Following my theory that this advanced throat clearing is actually male display, a Full Chested Hork is clearly the Alpha male marking his territory. How can any woman resist?

Another thought on the male display idea: there is a subtle metaphor happening here, i.e. referring to the male’s sexual prowess.  The idea is that the throat clearing has two stages, the spit preparation (the noisy stage discussed above) in which the fluids are gathered and then followed by the actual spit or ‘ejaculation’.  Now seeing that most of the places where an innocent bystander can witness this throat clearing is indoors public places, the actual spit never happens. Again by observing throat movements, it can be seen that it gets swallowed. Sometimes this can be several moments later (watch for cheek movement to spot those that keep it in the mouth for awhile)before the male will reluctantly ‘stand down’.  So continuing the metaphor, I would call this act of preparation but no production as ‘horkus interruptus’.

It is puzzling though. Since it is so widespread, it is clear that the female must enjoy and even admire this activity. Otherwise why would men continue to do it? I’ve seen some evidence of women swooning in the presence of, say, two large men who indulge in a Full Chested Hork in a small lift, but I can't be sure that it is their charm the woman was overwhelmed by. Is it just me  being a wimp that I so often feel like gagging?  The female is never seen to indulge in this obviously fun pastime – it is worth noting that smoking among women in Korea is almost non-existent, a mere 5% of the female population (more on this later) – maybe they simply can’t compete with Korean men to get the phlegm to the necessary thick and chunky consistency.  

* the observant reader will have noticed my shoddy attempt at getting more page hits by naming the second category after an apparently still popular 1970's film.

Korean Anthropology - Backdrop of Bizarre nation

While the point of this blog is to observe the country and occasionally make a few notes and comments, I also note a couple of articles that speak for themselves. I think these make a useful backdrop to field notes I'm making - helps to put it in perspective.

Union Leader makes a dramatic statement.
In order to emphasise his commitment to the cause of worker rights, a Hyundai Motor union leader finished a speech with the exclamation mark provided by an axe - with which he cut off his finger.  Full marks for dedication but maybe 'nul points' for a calm and reasonable approach to negotiation.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/08/117_92980.html

South Korea has highest Suicide rate in the world.
No comment on this, just very sad and hard to understand.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/04/17/VI2010041703497.html?sid=ST2010041703106

Diary - Field Trip - 1

Shanghai

A diary note - these may be few and far between, but a special occasion came up that pushed me to publish the first...
I'm in Shanghai for a couple of days. That's exciting. Last time I was here was '98.  A vast construction site at the time. I was staying at the very very tall tower hotel that was surrounded by waste land.  I think for a few months it was the tallest building in the world. I can see it off in the distance now.
I ended up with a fantastic room! I'm in sort of a posh hotel anyway but as I was checking in late (due to airplane lolling about on the runway in Seoul for an hour), I noticed the young lady at the desk was about to give me a smoking room. No nooo, I said. Anything but. So after a little while of searching around, several phone calls, a hushed conversation, an arched eyebrow - they found a room for me. The Presidential Suite.  I guess the president was a no-show tonight so lucky me!

I decided to celebrate by trying to find a nice place for a quick drink. Only a sports bar with some Australian oil rig workers on the 4th floor. So instead I opted for room service - I've had the "Chocolate Symphony" and a glass of red wine.

Do you know that they don't allow google here in China?  I remember that I read the Party were having problems with Google because of the censorship they feel is necessary to keep in place as a 'job protection scheme'. Anyway it meant that for ages I couldn't get online to read blogs and make comments. But a bit of adding a proxy here, hack into a VPN there and presto!, I'm connected.
The knock on the door from the Word police will come later I'm sure.

Korean Anthropology - Field Notes 2

In a number of these personal discoveries that I'm writing on Korean culture, I'm going to self-proclaim expertise.  In several, although I will point out my mystification, I'll still offer some dithering opinions. But there will be some, like today, which I'll have to admit, I don't get it at all. Completely bizarre, outside my comprehension, alien lifeforms...

Hair Touching

Remember I mentioned the 'I Need To Look Good' generation?  This story is what defines them, this is the piss on the trees that marks out the periphery of their sub-cultural territory. I suppose, generally, it is 18 to 30 year olds - I'm sure that it drops off rapidly after late 20's but I really don't understand when it starts. It seems to be equally practised by both men and women.

I'll explain with the story of my first encounter.  Not long after my arrival in February, I found out that in Korea all English language films are left in the original with Korean subtitles added. Very decent of them, I thought. (I didn't find out until much later that each film has a run of about 3 months and they only bring in about 20 films per year. Jane Eyre was on from March until July! The rest are Korean.)  I love cinema - the prospect of being here for 12 to 18 months and only watching DVD's on a computer screen had depressed me. I was so elated that, the very next weekend, I tried to bluster my way through the stunningly complex booking and ticket purchase process which was made all the more difficult by not having a credit card. I can't recall the film I went to see but the cinema (like all of them) was fantastic.  (I still don't understand why people buy home cinema systems, what a waste of money if what they're after is a great cinema experience. If, dear reader, you don't know it, try 'Screen on the Green' in Islington. Something like 'Super-8' (playing at time of writing) would be perfect to see. Go with someone you like to hold hands with.  Then tell me you want to buy a home cinema.  (I think this is called a digression - I'll get back to the story.) )

Before the film, I decided that it would be best to be prepared for a long film, so I went for a quick visit to the loo.  On the way, past the wash basins section, I noticed a young man standing in front of the mirror. Hmm... I thought, interesting pastime. (George Michael, is that you?) And went on about my business. Now normally, I'm not a big hand washing kind of guy. (All OCD types: look away now!  Rejoin at the next paragraph.) I figure it makes more sense to wash your hands before visiting the urinal, not after. I mean, it shouldn't be necessary to get so involved with the operation to require a thorough scrub afterwards.  But as I started to walk back, the guy was still standing there!  Curiosity prevailed, and, feeling the need to see in detail what he was doing, I broke my usual cleaning habits.

I set the pace for a long, slow and careful hand wash.  He was about 22. Fairly tall, with a floppy, but cultivated hairstyle. Standing with about 2cm of separation from his nose to the mirror. Hardly moving. Then one hand came up and very lightly touched some strand and the breath of his finger brushed along it. The hair didn't move. Continuous fixed stare at the mirror, no other movement in the room except for me working the soap plunger and my jaw dropping. The right hand comes up and moves to the hair hanging over the place where a sideburn would be, had he the necessary follicles to grow one. An almost imperceptible twist of his head to his left. Very slowly, his fingers run along the slightly curling lock. Encouraging but not forcing it in its already chosen direction. After an eternity (my eyes now locked into the sides of my sockets), the next movement was with both hands - touching the area just above the temples, the slightest of pressures, just asking the air between the strands to make itself thinner. No stroke this time, just the gentle coaxing of the tips of his fingers.

By this time my hands had started considering growing a vegetable garden. I couldn't possibly wash any longer.  I left him there, still repeating these gestures, although he did go through a head twist or two as he surveyed some new angle on the art work resting above his ears. Of course, I just put this down to a very strange and possibly disturbed young man. But not for long - this behaviour repeated itself over the weeks and months. On the subway, a young man or woman will stand with their nose nearly touching the glass doors, eyes glued to the reflection, earphones attached to iPod, and hands gently and continuously grazing their hair.  Never moving it, mind you. I have yet to see the hair move.  That I would understand - if there was something wrong with the coif, great, then move it around until you get it right.  Also in the lift in my building, nearly every morning there is a twenty-something woman with her back to me, pressed against the wall, staring at the mirror and touching her hair. I'm completely invisible as is anyone else who enters the lift.

I can give it a name (vanity) but I certainly can't explain how a whole generation caught it in such a massive dose. K-pop? Possibly. All of the touchers certainly could be a member of any one of the billions of ubiquitous and saccharine K-pop groups.  Maybe it's amazement. A very small number of years before, these would have been gawky, pimpled, middle class kids.  Now they look at their reflections and see a potential star. (See the later article on Artificial Feature Construction).  So why haven't previous generations in other places behaved the same? 

Korean Anthropology - Field Notes 1

Some days it seems I’m here to work. Other days I’m convinced that I’m actually here on a anthropological field trip. Studying Koreans.  Although on the surface most appear to fit the type of middle class, middle age, middle of the road, there is a strange side to the country.  Centuries of isolation, conquest, war, and sandwiched between two powerful neighbours and a nearly homogeneous society have taken their toll. It’s no accident that the weirdest country in the world is North Korean, i.e. populated by Koreans.

So from my anthropology field notes….

 

The use of Toothbrushes

The people of most western industrialised nations have an unspoken rule that the use of toothbrushes, like most other orifice cleansing activities, should take place in the privacy of one’s bathroom.  Occasionally catching a glimpse of someone other than one’s partner or child, toothbrush inserted, mouth foaming, dripping down the chin, does no lasting damage to either voyeur or voyee. However, the rarity of those revealing moments probably accounts for Western indifference on the subject.

 

The people of Korea have bravely removed this false taboo.  When I first arrived, I would notice the odd person standing in an office foyer, nonchalantly taking care of lunchtime debris. With no obvious sense of embarrassment, a junior employee would not bother to interrupt a cleaning job in progress to answer a question from a co-worker or manager.  I thought this to be simply coincidental encounters with a few eccentrics. The longer I have been here, the more places I notice that many ordinary Koreans indulge in their practise of public dental hygiene.

 

I am uncertain about the origins and reason for this practise.  I just haven’t been brave enough yet to bring this up as a topic with my Korean friends and I don’t yet see an entry for this activity in Wikipedia. My suspicion is that it is related to the astronomical quantities of garlic consumed on an hourly basis in this country. I have done some informal testing of the garlic content of Korea using the unrestrained inhaling test on early Monday morning journeys on the metro – seemed at the time like a consumption level that the French can only dream of.  Other evidence: in the supermarket, it is simply not possible to buy a parsimonious single clove – the minimum buying quantity is a kilo sack. These are stacked shoulder high. The food that keeps on working.

 

The demographics of the practice of brushing one’s teeth in public seem to be uneven. It doesn’t seem to be an issue with the very elderly, possibly because there is less teeth involved.  The peak is definitely in the 18 to 30 age group (a.k.a the ‘I need to look good’ generation, see later article on 'hair touching').  The middle aged group sample size is too small to be conclusive that the practise either fades with age or that it is a recent phenomenon. There is certainly a prevalence of males doing this, enough to indicate it as a possibly macho practice, but it is more likely due to the prevalence of males in the workplace (see later article on the polarisation of gender politics).  Still, there are enough women who publicly brush, for example in the lifts in the building where I live, to indicate only  a slight gender bias.  It is not unusual to see a well dressed, otherwise-attractive and fashionable woman – i.e. make-up, high heels, short dress, various other expensive branded things hanging off – with a toothbrush in her mouth and an elegant but detectable trail of left corner drool wending its way down her chin.