• Title/Summary/Keyword: science curiosity

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A Study on the Culture of Incense in the Period of T'ang (당대 향문화 연구)

  • Chun Hea-Sook;Lee Ae-Ryun
    • Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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    • v.7 no.3
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    • pp.113-127
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    • 2005
  • From the ancient times, incense was used for various usages including a means of beauty expression with flavor, a medicine for disease treatment and a device for religious event or ritual. The period of T'ang was the times when cultural and material exchanges with foreign countries were very actively made under the political openness of the Chinese nation. Here the exchanges were made mainly through inland trade, called Silk Road(絲綢之路) and marine trade routes, Incense Road(香料之路). This indicates that incense was one of the main items actively traded at that time. In addition, literatures of the T'ang period show that in the Chinese nation, a wide range of classes from the imperial family to the public used incense for many different purposes. This suggests that the culture of incense was deeply prevailed and very socially significant in T'ang. This study investigated social factors that promoted the incense culture of T'ang and the applications and types of incense widely used in the period of T'ang. First, influential religions and the openness of sex culture were main social factors that made incense culture flourish in the period of T'ang. Above all, two main religions of the Chinese nation, Buddhism and Taoism became secularized under political protection by the imperial family. As Buddhism was popularized, the Buddhist ritual of incense burning made a contribution to making public incense culture. Providing its doctrines of eternal youth and eternal life, Taoism necessarily used incense to form a Taoistic climate. The flourishment of the foresaid religion in T'ang added more fuel to that of incense culture in the Chinese nation. The openness of sex culture brought about the Inauguration of the empress, improvement in female position and free relationships between man and woman. It was accelerated by sexology as a method of eternal youth provided by Taoism. The opened culture also developed the culture of kibang where female entertainers called kinyeo consumed lots of incense for decoration and sexual desire stimulation. These open climates of T'ang society made a great contribution to making incense culture, especially for decoration, prevailed throughout the Chinese nation. Second, types of incense prevailed and widely used in the period of T'ang included olive incense, germander(廣藿香), olibnum(乳香), myrrh Resinoid(沒藥), jia Xiang(甲香), clove(丁香) and Shen xian(沈香), all of which were imported from foreign nations and had various applications. Specifically, olive incense, germander(廣藿香), olibnum(乳香) and myrrh Resinoid(沒藥) were used for religious purposes while, jia Xiang(甲香), clove(丁香) and Shen xian(沈香) for the purposes of religion and decoration. In conclusion, a number of social factors including political, religious and medical purposes and the openness of sex culture set fundamentals on which the culture of incense was extensively developed and established as a social trend in T'ang. In the Chinese nation, incense culture was not just an option for taste, but a part of life style social members needed to know. People of T'ang not only enjoyed incense mainly for purposes of religion, pleasure and make-up, but also had the wisdom to know various effects of incense, curiosity about such new things and the will to imitate and pursue alien culture, resultantly flourishing incense culture. Thus the culture of incense represented many social aspects of T'ang.

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Effect of Smoking and Drinking Habits on the Nutrient Intakes and Health of Middle and High School Boy Students (남자 중.고생의 흡연과 음주습관이 영양소 섭취 및 건강상태에 미치는 영향)

  • Shin, Kyung-Ok;An, Chang-Hun;Hwang, Hyo-Jeong;Choi, Kyung-Soon;Chung, Keun-Hee
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.38 no.6
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    • pp.694-708
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    • 2009
  • The principal objective of this study was to determine the effects of smoking & drinking on the diet, nutrient intake, and overall health. A sample of 262 youths, aged 16 to 18 year-old, was randomly selected from Seoul and its vicinity. The subjects participated by answering survey questions including general questions, questions regarding health, smoking & drinking habits, dietary habits, nutrient intake, physical characteristics, and smoking cessation plans. The average height, weight, and BMI of the subjects were $173.5{\pm}6.8\;cm$, $64.8{\pm}11.8\;kg$, and $21.4{\pm}3.7\;kg/m^2$, respectively. Among the subjects, 88% appeared to be interested in health and 43.5% of youth asserted that the best way to keep healthy was to engage in regular exercise. Among 63 smokers, 52 students (82.5%) used alcoholic beverages while 11 students (17.5%) did not use alcoholic beverages, meaning that smoking was a causative factor in drinking. 55.6% of youth reported beginning to smoke in middle school, and 38.1% of them asserted that curiosity was the motive for smoking. The youth reported that the craving for smoking was highest when hungry, and the best place to smoke was the restroom. 20 students (69.0%) answered that the only way to quit smoking was just to stop. 12 students (44.4%) reported that the main reason for failures in smoking cessation attempts was a lack of intention or willpower. 87.1% of all subjects answered that they were inclined to quit smoking, and 56.7% of them would be interested in attending a smoking cessation program if they had the opportunity. Among the smoking and drinking group, 50% of drinkers began to drink in high school, and the reason for drinking given was peer pressure-40% of drinkers answered that they wished to quit drinking. 34.4% of students appeared to have breakfast everyday, but 16.4% of students answered that they had quit eating breakfast. 52.5% of all students reported that the principal reason for overeating was the presence of one's favorite food, and the smoking and drinking group reported overeating more frequently than other groups (p<0.05). 72.6% of all subjects reported eating interim meals $1{\sim}2$ times daily, 36.4% of smokers ate carbonated beverages, 38.5% ate ice cream as a interim meal, and 38.5% of the drinking and smoking groups ate fruits, 26.9% of them ate fried foods, and some of them ate fast foods as a interim meal. Among smokers, the ratio of eating fat-rich foods, and meats such as kalbi and samgyupsal more than two times per week was higher, and 54.3% of smokers ate ice cream, cookies, and carbonated beverages more than two times per week (p<0.05). The total nutrient intake of the $15{\sim}19$-year youth group was much higher than the standard value. The energy intake of the smoking group and the drinking and smoking group was significantly higher than that of the normal group (p<0.05). Intakes of phosphorus (p<0.05), cholesterol (p<0.05), and sodium (p<0.05) were the highest among all groups. Accordingly, it is recommended that practical education programs be implemented to teach young students to resist peer pressures to smoke and drink. Additionally, education that acknowledges the importance of nutrition is necessary to avoid preferential eating and overeating due to smoking and drinking.such education can also teach students to eat a balanced diet and improve their physical development.