The Mystery of the 90,000 Vanishing Books

The JoongAng Daily printed a fascinating article today about the community spirited citizens of Daejeon and their wonderful abuse of the local subway book lending scheme:

As part of the “Library for Citizens” program launched at subway stations across Daejeon in April 2007, Daejeon Express Transit Corporation stocked bookshelves with 800 books. In less than two years, acquisitive readers have cleaned them out. Only 30 or so books remain.

770 books missing in two years? That's not bad going..... But wait.....

When the second stage of construction on Daejeon’s subway line No. 1 was completed, the transit authority provided 22 subway stations with about 30,000 books that had been mainly donated by citizens. Whenever books went missing, the authority restocked them.

It was an uphill battle.

So far, the authority has added some 66,000 books. However, there are only 6,000 books left; 90,000 books have vanished.

90,000 books? A stunning feat by the literary underworld of Daejeon. They must have been fascinating novels and works of non-fiction for people to want to steal them. They were pinched for the love of the written word, weren't they?

When the value of recyclable paper shot up last July, about 2,000 books went missing every day.

Oh dear.... Well, at least the thieving bastards care about the environment....

Faced with rampant pilfering, the transit authority plans to launch a campaign to restore books for the library. To add muscle to the effort, the authority will place teams at each station to impress upon would-be petty thieves the need to keep public property public. The teams will meet once a month starting in February. About 500 people, including transit officials, civic groups and citizens, are expected to participate.

Labels reading, “These books are public property of Daejeon citizens. Let’s be conscientious and make sure that books are returned after reading,” will also be attached to all books, the authority added. To aid the consciousness-raising effort, the transit authority plans to set up separate boxes beside the shelves to hold returned books.

Good luck to them, hopefully the bookworms will win out and the public transport traveling citizens of Daejeon will be able to read to their hearts' content.

Top five 독도 (Dokdo) songs on Youtube

After seeing The Marmot's Hole's wonderful New Year's Eve tribute to Dokdo (HT to King Sejong for the Youtube link), I was inspired to go looking for what other songs about the Liancourt Rocks there might be. So now for your viewing and listening pleasure I bring you the top five Dokdo songs on Youtube.

At Number Five:

신독도는우리땅 (New Dokdo is Our Land)

This seems to be the inspiration for the english "Do you know Dokdo?" song, similar music, same melody lines (strangely the words seem to fit better in the Korean version). A joyful celebration of all that is Dokdo, watch out for the catchy chorus and the enchanting references to seafood at the start of the second verse. The video features beautiful shots of those enchanted islands to which all our hearts belong.

At Number Four:

D.O.K.D.O. by Twelve Tone

Bringing a fresh twist to patriotic songs about Dokdo, Twelve Tone have used their combined talents to give us their hip-hop/rap interpretation. Not only fun, this song adds in an extra 10 second slice of education at about one and a half minutes into the song, before magically transforming into a ballad for the last thirty seconds or so. The video features beautiful shots of the islands that we all hold so dear, plus the odd inflammatory image of Japanese politicians.

At Number Three:

독도는우리땅 by random foreigners on 무한도전

Ah, MBC, you spoil us with your poorly edited video clips of foreigners singing songs about Dokdo. Fortunately there are Korean subtitles for those of us unable to make out a single word of this beautiful musical tribute and I think we all must admire the little girl at 14 seconds in who is able to pronounce the word 땅 with impressive clarity and diction. Took me a long time to get the double d pronunciation right.... While watching the video you may be disappointed by the lack of stunning visuals of the islands that charm the whole of Asia, but hold on! Wait for the thirty second mark and you'll be treated to almost a full ten seconds worth of Dokdo glory! Ooh, MBC, you little teasers!

At Number Two:

Welcome to Dokdo, Korea! from onmam.com

Something a little more traditional taking the number two spot, taking Arirang to new heights with this Dokdo inspired version of the theme. Some brave soul has worked hard to put english subtitles on the video, so feel free to sing along with lines such as: "The rough wind will blow as usual today", "Did you have a nice sleep, Dok-Do?" and "Even though we might get tired and have a break during the way". Classic lines for a classic song. The song drives an important message home and we are reminded in eight different languages on screen that "DOK-DO is the territory of Korea!" Needless to say this beautiful tribute is accompanied by some stunning pictures of the twin hearts of the East Sea of Korea, plus some hand-holding. Mesmerizing.

And At Number One:

독도는우리땅 Boys and Puppets Version by Dori Elementary

Five boys, four puppets and a lot of heart. This version is just a lot of fun, surprisingly no lovingly crafted shots of Dokdo, Lord of Islets were included in the video, but the kids show so much love and passion for Dokdo that no pictures are necessary.

So there we have it, the best of Dokdo on Youtube; awe-inspiring, heart wrenching, beautiful songs showing us how much we love Dokdo. Honourable mention must go to this version though, for its innovative use of a computerized anti-japan demonstration on Dokdo, complete with flag burning!