Sample Translations
Younho Shn Salt is Amazing! E ng l i s h
Book Information
Salt is Amazing! (대단한 소금이야!) Hyeongam-sa Publishing corp./ 2012 / 6 p. / ISBN 9788932373379 73400 For further information, please visit: http://library.klti.or.kr/node/772
This sample translation was produced with support from LTI Korea. Please contact the LTI Korea Library for further information. library@klti.or.kr
Salt is Amazing! Written by Shn Younho, Illustrated by Yoo Namyoung
Prosperity by means of salt 1 Kingdom of Je which produced a king
It was around 1050 BCE in China. Gang Tae Gong, who was a master fisherman, accomplished a marvelous feat and received a big prize from the king. The prize Gang Tae Gong got was a small region in the north of the Shandong Peninsula.1 The King, who was called “Cheonja” in the Ju Kingdom, distributed a little bit of land to his relatives or trustworthy subjects and then had them rule it. Such a system is called “feudalism,” and, small states created from such a system were called sovereign states. Hence, the country that Gang Tae Gong was awarded by the King was one of the many sovereign states of the Ju Kingdom. Gang Tae Gong named the state “Je” and settled there immediately. He discovered that the state of his new country was pitiful. There was hardly any land for farming as the land and the sea were right by each other, and there were very few people remaining for many people had left in search of a new livelihood. Gang Tae Gong tried to find a solution to
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The Shandong Peninsula faces Korea with the West Sea in-between. The proximity of it led to many historical
events between the two countries. Jang Bo Go from the Silla period engaged in active trade from Shandong Peninsula and Yi JeongGi from Koryeo period fled to Shandong after the collapse of the Dynasty and established himselfthere.
save his state. “It is useless to insist on farming. Instead, we must utilize the sea. We’ll catch fish and produce salt and sell them tothe other countries. It will be very profitable and people who have left will come back then.” Gang Tae Gong was right. The state of Je quickly became crowded with people who wanted to sell and buy fish and salt; the economy soon improved as well. Gang Tae Gong then worked on securing political stability, expanded his state, and strengthened his country. Three hundred-sixty years later after that era, Gwan Jung became the prime minister of Je. Along with Je GwalRyang, he is known as an exceptionally brilliant politician in the history of China. He is also the man referred to in the famous old Chinese saying “Gwan Po JiGyo.”2 Gwan Jung never failed to give good counsel to Hwan Gong, who was the sovereign of Je. “In China, there are three countries with good soil. The country of Cho that produces gold, the country of Yeon that has salt, and Je, our country. I beseech the Sovereign to boil the sea water to produce salt.” Gwan Jung believed that salt was comparable to any natural resource. That is why he advised Hwan Gong to make good use of salt. “How should I go about utilizing the salt?” asked Hwan Gong. “When the price of salt goes up, we can sell it to our neighboring countries. Without
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Gwan-Po–Ji-Gyo is an old Chinese idiom that is derived from a historical event. It is about the close
relationship between Gwan Jung and Po Suk A. Po Suk A was always understanding of his friend, Gwan Jung and embraced his friend’s frailties. Gwan Jung expressed his gratitude to his friend by saying, “It was my parents who gave me birth but Po Suk A is the person who made me into the man I am.”
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salt in the food, the body will become swollen therefore the countries with soldiers protecting them will all have to buy it,” replied Gwan Jung. Hwan Gong had tremendous trust and respect for Gwan Jung, to the extent of viewing him as his surrogate father.3 He listened to Gwan Jung’s advice and developed the salt industry, engaged in trade with his neighboring countries, and reaped great profit. With the money from the salt trade, he invested in the grain trade. The country of Je went on to become most powerful in China. Not only was it economically affluent but it was also far advanced in the field of politics, culture, art, and other domains. In 651 BBC, Hwang Gong, who was the sovereign of Je, was elected to the kingship in the confederation of sovereign leaders. Around that time, the feudalist nation of Ju was powerless. Although Hwan Gong was only a sovereign of a feudalist state, he had in actuality become the master under the Heaven.
Venice, the center of trade in the Middle Ages
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Before Hwan Gong became the sovereign of Je, he fought for the position with his brother Gyu. Gwan Jung
was at the time the mentor of Gyu and Po Suk A was Hwan Gong’s mentor. Gwan Jung had shot an arrow at Hwan Gong, who was akin to his enemy, and almost killed him. But the arrow hit Hwan Gong’s belt, which saved his life. Much later, Hwan Gong who became the sovereign wished to punish Gwan Jung but Po Suk A dissuaded him by saying, “Gwan Jung is a most exceptional man. If you appoint him as prime minister, he will accomplish a great deed for you.”
Hence, Hwan Gong appointed the man who was going to kill him to an
important position. To pay him back, Gwan Jung aided in turning Je into a powerful country and Hwan Gong trusted and relied on him throughout his life.
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Venice4 is now a city in Italy but in the Middle Ages, it was a city-state.5 It is famous for its beauty but there is a heartfelt story behind its construction on water. During the fifth and sixth centuries of the Common Era on the Italian peninsula, there were many invasions by the barbarians. With the declining power of the Roman Empire, the barbarians, who lived outside the Italian border, began to invade the fertile land of Italy. Thus, those people, who lived in the northern part of Italy, escaped and moved to the swampy region near the sea. They drove in wooden posts in the mud flat and built houses there; when there were more and more refuges, the people from the mud flat region had to relocate closer to the seaside. They built bridges on the small and large islands near the Adriatic shore and constructed a new city. To the people who settled near the water, the sea provided them with salt and fish. The Venetians brought their regional products to land and traded them in for grains. The land people always welcomed the Venetians, as they needed salt to preserve their food. The people of Venice decided to take full control of the salt trade. Like the Je Kingdom in China, the state of Venice was also very interested in salt. There was a government office that took care of administrative work, which had to do solely
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Venice was a city-state that had advanced commerce, glass crafts, and the shipbuilding industry. With the
money that came from commerce, Venice invested in arts and culture to foster refinement in the field of painting and architecture; after the introduction of printing, publishing also became very big. Many literary figures and artists were active in Venice. Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice� is about a Venetian merchant protagonist.
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Many countries in Europe of the Middle Ages were subject to the intervention of the Holy Roman Empire. But
the cities that became prosperous with commerce were able to free themselves with their economic power from the Holy Roman Empire. These city-states propagated their own politics and eventually developed into nations. Venice along with Genoa, Pisa, and Florence were small but wealthy city-states.
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with salt. This office issued merchant permits to sell salt in addition to setting the price, where to sell salt, and how much of it to sell. “You are permitted to sell ten sacks of salt in the northern region. You must not sell it at a discounted or inflated price. If you break the regulation, we will cancel your permit.” Thanks to the management of the government office, the salt trade in Venice grew rapidly. But Venice was not the only city-state that was engaged in salt trade in the Mediterranean region during the Middle Ages. Most of the city-states in Italy were involved in trade and salt was a very important product. Venice competed ceaselessly with its neighboring city-states in order to monopolize the salt trade. In fact, Venice fought several wars with Genoa that was in west Italy, by the Mediterranean Sea, not only for salt but also to gain dominance over trade in the Mediterranean area. However, even though Venice defeated its competitor after mobilizing military forces, it was helpless before the natural conditions that interfered with the production of salt.There were three rivers near the salt pond in Venice and they often flooded into the salt pond. It is impossible to make salt with seawater that is mixed with fresh water. The amount of salt produced in Venice decreased over time. In order to procure salt, the government of Venice rewarded many benefits to the merchants who imported salt. The merchants were in fierce competition to import salt. As a result, even though there was a decrease in salt production, Venice was still a dominant power in salt trade. But Venice was still not fully satisfied and therefore decided to monopolize salt trade among all the city-states. In 1238, Venice signs a special treaty with the city of Ravenna located near the Adriatic Sea. “Ravenna must from now on sell salt and grain only to Venice.” And several years later, Venice signed a special treaty with two more cities in the northern region of Italy.
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“Ferrara and Mantua will not buy salt from any other city but Venice.” The true message contained in the treaty was for these cities not to trade salt with other cities. If so, they will pay the price. It was a preposterously outrageous agreement but the three cities could not protest. The Venetian Navy was ruthless and could go around, destroying the salt farms in other places. Around 1350, no trade ships from other city-states could be seen in the Adriatic Sea, which is right near Venice. No trading ships other than those with Venetian citizenship, or ones buying salt from Venice, could pass through the Adriatic Sea. With a monopoly in salt, Venice hiked up the price of salt as much as they wanted. Of course, salt was cheaply bought when they were purchasing it and expensive when they were selling it to others. With a huge amount of money Venice made from monopolizing the salt trade, it turned its attention to trade with the Far East. The items from the Far East were very popular in Europe during the Middle Ages; for example, silk from China, pepper from India, and carpets from Persia. Pepper in particular6 was a spice that Europeans coveted for a long time. The spices made salted meat taste better and improved digestion. At times the spices also served as medicine. The items from the East could be obtained from Alexandria, Egypt, Syria in the Middle East and Constantinople that is now, Istanbul Turkey. The Venetians traveled to these places and bought these products. When the merchants returned with their ship full of these
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The people in Europe of the Middle Ages had special faith in spices. They believed that the spices came from a
paradise on Earth somewhere in the East. They thought it was a place ruled by John, a disciple of Jesus, and was full of treasures where mystical trees grew. To the Europeans in the Middle Ages who were mostly Roman Catholic, the land governed by Jesus’s disciple was the same as Heaven. They could not help but love the spices that came from such a place.
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items, the merchants from all over Europe who had been waiting bought them. They went back to their countries to sell them and made a lot of money. Around the time the trade with the East became very active, Venice could no longer produce salt. But the Venetian merchants were still very interested in salt. They tried to find out if salt trade was possible with every trade ship that sailed out and attempted to procure salt farms. Like some historian noted, salt was not just a simple item for them but something that was important to the national economy.
When did people start using salt?
The people who hunted for their food in the early Stone Age did not need to eat salt separately. They ingested salt naturally from that which was in the animal. It was from the late Stone Age when agriculture began that they began to need salt. Because the grain did not have salt inherently, it did not taste very good or provide much energy. People found out about salt from the animals. Animals knew instinctively where to get salt. They chewed on plants with high salt content or licked rocks with a salty residue, as well as the urine that people had excreted. “Why are the animals eating only that plant?” “And why are they going around, licking rocks? It’s peculiar that they lick the urine remnant, as well.” The people who observed the animals found out that it was all because of the salty nature intrinsic to it. “Wow, it’s a very special taste. It’s not all that tasty but I keep wanting to eat more. I also feel more energetic.” In search of food with salt, people discovered the actual salt per se. They actively
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looked for it because the grains tasted much better when mixed with salt. Their efforts to obtain salt began then and continued through the early 1800s.
Salt that was traded in with gold
During the age when there were no paper money or coins available, salt was used as currency. In other word, salt was paid to get the items needed. This method of payment is referred to as “currency with goods.” That salt was used as currency meant that people viewed salt as a valuable item. Something that only one person likes or a common object cannot serve as currency. Along with shells, rice, and silk, salt had been used as currency in many regions for a long time. People used salt to buy food, household things, luxury items, and even slaves. Not too long after Venice became a powerful city-state, Venetians purchased what they needed with salt. Various communities still trade in salt for the things they need, such as those who live in the salt valley that is between Yunnan Province, China and Tibet and the ones who live in the salt valley of the Andes Mountain range in South America. In Africa, people used a lump of salt shaped like a brick as currency. In travel literature by people who have journeyed to Africa during the Middle Ages, there are a number of stories about the brick salt. Among them, Ethiopia has used a loaf of bread-like salt brick as currency until about a hundred years ago. The name of the salt brick was “amole” and it weighed about a kilogram. It was carefully wrapped with dry leaves to prevent it from breaking or melting. It is analogous to the Korean people, wrapping eggs with straws in the olden days.
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Inthe nineteenth century, the Ethiopians introduced a silver coin called the “Thaler” 7 but poor people continued to use amole for currency. The Thaler was too pricey and not everyone could use it as currency. Amole differed in value according to the region and the weather. It was given a higher price in places far from the salt production area. During the rainy season when it was difficult to produce salt, the price of amole went up higher. The regions in West Africa below the Sahara Desert also had to buy expensive salt because they were far away from salt production locations. Let us find out how expensive salt was by following the merchants on their camels crossing the Sahara Desert. The Sahara Desert runs across many countries in North Africa. It cuts across east to west and divides the African continent into north and south. The size of the desert is over eighty-five times that of South Korea. It was and is still unbelievably difficult to traverse the Sahara Desert. The difference in temperature between day and night was great. It is sizzling during the day and nights are too cold to bear. When it was windy, the sand made it unable to open one’s eyes and when there was no oasis, one had to suffer thirst for days. What’s more, one had to pay an expensive toll each time one had to pass a nomadic village. One also had to be on constant guard for robbers. Nonetheless, the merchantslooked to the pattern on the sand created by the wind and the skeletons of the dead animals as their guiding landmarks and the stars at night as a compass to cross the desert. The salt plates by the sides of their camel always energized them. The salt plates came from a mine that is on the edge of the Sahara Desert. The salt mine had been under the seawater for a long time but when the all the water evaporated, only the thick salt remained. The city that the merchants arrived at after days of traveling was the port city of Timbuktu. Timbuktu was the center of trade for North and South African products. The 7
The silver currency, “Thaler,” which was made in Germany, was used all over Europe. Later, it was
introduced to America as a dollar, and later developed into the most broadly used currency in the world.
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merchants who have come from across the desert traded in their salt for grain, ivory, and slaves in Timbuktu. But their greatest interest was for gold. When the merchants on camel offered their salt, the people from the region took out gold. So then, the West African people paid for salt with gold. It is difficult to believe but true. There was once a time when salt was valued at the same price as gold in West Africa. Why did they buy expensive salt? The production technique for salt at the time was quite primitive, and there weren’t too many places where salt was produced. In fact, salt was common like water and air but it was not easy to find and excavate the salt that was underground. Furthermore, since transportation was not as developed then, it was a big task to transport the salt from the production site to the place where it was to be sold. “How can salt be so expensive! Well, I’d rather not buy it!” It would be great if one could have just dismissed salt, but salt was not a luxury item. It was instead an indispensable product. Of course, trading salt for gold could only happen in West Africa. Salt is nowhere to be found in West Africa but many gold mines are there. What is more important? Salt that is completely essential in life versus gold that everyone likes. For the people of West Africa, salt was most likely more valuable to them than gold.
What is the black substance on the surface of the salt water?
People in different parts of the world have tried continually to obtain salt.They have developed the technology of drilling in order to get to the salt well underground or to find the salt rock. In the Schezuan region of China, since about two thousand years ago they’ve used a bamboo stick to drill into the ground to dig and mine the salt deposit. The salt well, which was dug up this way, was about 100 meters deep. It is incredibly arduous to dig into the
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ground without the help of machinery, for one has to penetrate not only the earth but also heavy rocks. That is the reason why it took so long to dig and mine a salt well. During the Song Dynasty in the eleventh century, the technology of drilling a well had greatly improved but even then it took anywhere from three to four years, if not several decades to locate a salt deposit. But as the technology became more and more advanced, the time it took to dig into the ground was reduced and the depth of the salt well became greater. In the early nineteenth century, the technology had progressed to the point of making it possible to dig down to 1,000 meters underground. But did you know this? That petroleum, known as the black gold of the twentieth century, was discovered while drilling for the salt well. Actually, petroleum had been widely used by people in ancient times. The people, who lived in the Mesopotamian region of ancient times, used the by-product of petroleum to pave roads or as filler. The ancient Egyptians and the Persians from later periods, as well as the Native Americans, considered petroleum as a panacea for all maladies. But the petroleum, which they had access to, was not drilled but naturally obtained. It was August of 1859 that machinery was used to mine petroleum. A man named Drake from Pennsylvania drilled about twenty meters down and found petroleum. There is an amusing anecdote related to Drake’s drilling for petroleum. Until the 1800s, it was common to find petroleum mixed in a salt well. As everyone knows, oil is lighter than water and therefore it floats above water. Likewise, so it was with petroleum. The owners of the salt wells viewed the black and smelly substance as useless. But then, in 1850 Kier, who ran an apothecary in America, found out that the strange substance from the salt well was similar to a medication used by the Native Americans. As aforementioned, the Native Americans had been using petroleum as an all-around remedy for ailments. Kier saved the petroleum and sold it in a bottle. He put the label, “Kier’s Petroleum”
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on the bottle and to emphasize that it was from nature, he drew in a salt well. It was one summer six years later, a businessman named George Beasel, who was trying to avoid the sunlight, stood under the awning of the apothecary, and happened to see Kier’s petroleum bottle through the window. Beasel had been greatly interested in petroleum. He had been thinking that he could make a lot of money if he could come up with a lantern, using petroleum. But he could not figure out where he could obtain the petroleum. When he saw Kier’s bottle of petroleum, a brilliant idea flashed through his mind. “If petroleum came from the salt well, then it means it can be found underground. Ah-ha! Just like salt, I can get petroleum by digging in the ground.” Beasel sent petroleum to a famous chemist and asked him to do some research. The chemist replied that petroleum was a valuable resource that can be used for many products. Beasel was delighted. He then founded a company after buying the salt well that came with the black substance and hired Drake to work for him. Using the machinery, Drake drilled in the ground and dug up the crude oil. This is how the black gold of the twentieth century came to light and the white crown of the salt was dethroned.
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