• Title/Summary/Keyword: Eastern Asia

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Production of a hypothetical polyene substance by activating a cryptic fungal PKS-NRPS hybrid gene in Monascus purpureus (홍국Monascus purpureus에서 진균 PKS-NRPS 하이브리드 유전자의 발현 유도를 통한 미지 polyene 화합물의 생성)

  • Suh, Jae-Won;Balakrishnan, Bijinu;Lim, Yoon Ji;Lee, Doh Won;Choi, Jeong Ju;Park, Si-Hyung;Kwon, Hyung-Jin
    • Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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    • v.61 no.1
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    • pp.83-91
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    • 2018
  • Advances in bacterial and fungal genome mining uncover a plethora of cryptic secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters. Guided by the genome information, targeted transcriptional derepression could be employed to determine the product of a cryptic gene cluster and to explore its biological role. Monascus spp. are food grade filamentous fungi popular in eastern Asia and several genome data belong to them are now available. We achieved transcription activation of a cryptic fungal polyketide synthase-nonribosomal peptide synthase gene Mpfus1 in Monascus purpureus ${\Delta}MpPKS5$ by inserting Aspergillus gpdA promoter at the upstream of Mpfus1 through double crossover gene replacement. The gene cluster with Mpfus1 show a high similarity to those for the biosynthesis of conjugated polyene derivatives with 2-pyrrolidone ring and the mycotoxin fusarin is the representative member of this group. The ${\Delta}MpPKS5$ is incapable of producing azaphilone pigment, providing an excellent background to identify chromogenic and UV-absorbing compounds. Activation of Mpfus1 resulted in a yellow hue on mycelia and its methanol extract exhibit a maximum absorption at 365 nm. HPLC analysis of the organic extracts indicated the presence of a variety of yellow compounds in the extract. This implies that the product of MpFus1 is metabolically or chemically unstable. LC-MS analysis guided us to predict the MpFus1 product and to propose that the Mpfus1-containing gene cluster encode the biosynthesis of a desmethyl analogue of fusarin. This study showcases the genome mining in Monascus and the possibility to unveil new biological activities embedded in it.

Studies on the Desertification Combating and Sand Industry Development(I) - Present Status and Countermeasures for the Combating Desertification in China - (사막화방지(沙漠化防止) 및 방사기술개발(防沙技術開發)에 관한 연구(硏究)(I) - 중국(中國)의 사막화현황(沙漠化現況) 및 방지대책(防止對策) -)

  • Woo, Bo-Myeong;Lee, Kyung-Joon;Jeon, Gi-Seong;Kim, Kyung-Hoon;Choi, Hyung-Tae;Lee, Seung-Hyun;Lee, Byung-Kwon;Kim, So-Yeon;Lee, Sang-Ho;Jeon, Jeong-Ill
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.3 no.3
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    • pp.45-76
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    • 2000
  • The purposes of this study were to investigate and understand the present status of various types of "deserts", such as sand desert, gravel desert, rock desert, earth desert, salt desert, desert, rocky desert, gobi desert, sandy desert, clay desert, etc., and the general countermeasures for the combating "desertification" "desertization", and to develop the technologies on the revegetation and restoration for the combating desertification in China. The methods of this study were mainly composed of field surveys on the several experimental sites and research institutes related to combating desertification in China, and examinations on the various technologies for the combating desertification at the Daxing Experimental Station of Beijing Forestry University. The conclusion from this study may be summarized as follows; 1. Status and tendency of desertification in China : China is one of the countries seriously threatened by desertification. Desertification affected areas in China are mainly distributed in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas in China, covering the most regions of the Northeast China (eastern region of Inner-Mongolia), the northern part of the North China (middle and western region of Inner-Mongolia, Shaanxi, Ningsha, Gansu) and the western part of the Northwest China (Xinzang, Qinghai, Xizang). The total area affected by desertification in China is approximately 2.622 million $km^2$. It covers 27.3% of the total territory of China. Until recently, it is estimated that the annual spreading ratio of desertification in China is 2,460 $km^2$. Therefore, desertification is mostly serious problems facing to the Chinese people. 2. The causes and environmental effect of desertification : The desertification in China is mainly caused by compound factors, including natural condition and human activities. In China, the desertification is started by the decrease of precipitation, continuous dry and drought, strong wind, wind and water erosion, land degradation and loss of natural vegetation caused by climate variation, and accelerated by the human activities, such as over-cultivating, over-grazing, over-cutting of woods, irrational use of water resources. Because desertification has affected the geographical features, soil nutrients contents, salinity, vegetation coverage and the functions of ecosystem, the environmental deteriorations in the desertification affected areas are very seriously. 3. The fundamental strategies of combating desertification in China are the increase of education and awareness of people through various mass media, the revision of laws to guarantee operation of Desertification Combating Law and to improve many relating laws and regulations, the application of advanced technologies and training of experts, the establishment of discriminative policies, and increasing arrangement of budget-investment, and so on. China, as a signed country in UNCCD, has made efforts for the combating desertification. Korea is also signed country in UNCCD, so we should play an important role in the desertification combating projects of China for the northest asia and global environmental conservation as well as environmental conservation of Korea.

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Data Mining and Construction of Database Concerning Effects of Vitis Genus (산머루 관련 정보수집 및 데이터베이스의 구축)

  • Kim, Min-A;Jo, Yun-Ju;Shin, Jee-Young;Shin, Min-Kyu;Bae, Hyun-Su;Hong, Moo-Chang;Kim, Yang-Seok
    • Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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    • v.26 no.4
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    • pp.551-556
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    • 2012
  • The database for the oriental medicine had been existed in documentation in past times and it has been developed to the database type for random accesses in the information society. However, the aspects of the database are not so diversified and the database for the bio herbal material exists in widened type dictionary style. It is a situation that the database which handles the in-depth raw herbal medicines is not sufficient in its quantity and quality. Korean wild grape is a deciduous plant categorized into the Vitaceae and it was found experimentally that it has various medical effects. It is one of the medical materials with higher potentiality of academic study and commercialization recently because it has a bigger possibility to be applied into diverse industrial fields including the medical product for health, food and beauty. We constituted the cooperative system among the Muju cluster business group for Korean mountain wild grapes, Physiology Laboratory in Kyung Hee University Oriental Medicine and Medical Classics Laboratory in Kyung Hee University Oriental Medicine with a view to focusing on such potentiality and a database for Korean wild grapes was made a touchstone for establishing the in-depth database for the single bio medical materials. First of all, the literatures based on the North East Asia in ancient times had been categorized into the classical literature (Korean literature published by government organization, Korean classical literature, Chinese classical literature and classical literature fro Korean and Chinese oriental medicine) and modern literature (Modern literature for oriental medicine, modern literature for domestic and foreign herbal medicine) to cover the eastern and western research records and writings related to Korean wild grapes and the text-mining work has been performed through the cooperation system with the Medical Classics Laboratory in Kyung Hee University Oriental Medicine. First of all, the data for the experiment and theory for Korean wild grape were collected for the Medline database controlled by the Parliament Library of USA to arrange the domestic and foreign theses with topic for Korean wild grapes and the network hyperlink function and down load function were mounted for self-thesis searching function and active view based on the collected data. The thesis searching function provides various auxiliary functions and the searching is available according to the diverse searching/queries such as the name of sub species of Korean wild grape, the logical intersection index for the active ingredients, efficacy and elements. It was constituted for the researchers who design the Korean wild grape study to design of easier experiment. In addition, the data related to the patents for Korean wild grape which were collected from European Patent Office in response to the commercialization possibility and the system available for searching and view was established in the same viewpoint. Perl was used for the query programming and MS-SQL for database establishment and management in the designing of this database. Currently, the data is available for free use and the address is as follows. http://163.180.41.43:8011/index.html

Regional Characteristics of Global Warming: Linear Projection for the Timing of Unprecedented Climate (지구온난화의 지역적 특성: 전례 없는 기후 시기에 대한 선형 전망)

  • SHIN, HO-JEONG;JANG, CHAN JOO
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.21 no.2
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    • pp.49-57
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    • 2016
  • Even if an external forcing that will drive a climate change is given uniformly over the globe, the corresponding climate change and the feedbacks by the climate system differ by region. Thus the detection of global warming signal has been made on a regional scale as well as on a global average against the internal variabilities and other noises involved in the climate change. The purpose of this study is to estimate a timing of unprecedented climate due to global warming and to analyze the regional differences in the estimated results. For this purpose, unlike previous studies that used climate simulation data, we used an observational dataset to estimate a magnitude of internal variability and a future temperature change. We calculated a linear trend in surface temperature using a historical temperature record from 1880 to 2014 and a magnitude of internal variability as the largest temperature displacement from the linear trend. A timing of unprecedented climate was defined as the first year when a predicted minimum temperature exceeds the maximum temperature record in a historical data and remains as such since then. Presumed that the linear trend and the maximum displacement will be maintained in the future, an unprecedented climate over the land would come within 200 years from now in the western area of Africa, the low latitudes including India and the southern part of Arabian Peninsula in Eurasia, the high latitudes including Greenland and the mid-western part of Canada in North America, the low latitudes including Amazon in South America, the areas surrounding the Ross Sea in Antarctica, and parts of East Asia including Korean Peninsula. On the other hand, an unprecedented climate would come later after 400 years in the high latitudes of Eurasia including the northern Europe, the middle and southern parts of North America including the U.S.A. and Mexico. For the ocean, an unprecedented climate would come within 200 years over the Indian Ocean, the middle latitudes of the North Atlantic and the South Atlantic, parts of the Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ross Sea, and parts of the Arctic Sea. In the meantime, an unprecedented climate would come even after thousands of years over some other regions of ocean including the eastern tropical Pacific and the North Pacific middle latitudes where an internal variability is large. In summary, spatial pattern in timing of unprecedented climate are different for each continent. For the ocean, it is highly affected by large internal variability except for the high-latitude regions with a significant warming trend. As such, a timing of an unprecedented climate would not be uniform over the globe but considerably different by region. Our results suggest that it is necessary to consider an internal variability as well as a regional warming rate when planning a climate change mitigation and adaption policy.

Analysis on Social Area of Taegu (대구시의 사회지역분석)

  • Choi, Seok-Joo
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.209-225
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    • 1997
  • Today, rapid progress of urbanization is discovered commonly in many countries, especially in developing countries, which has led to spatial order and development process of city. Historically, Taegu was a walled city and formed mono-nucleus which was restricted by the castle. As the city grew gradually, the castle was removed as a result of diversification in traffic network, change of socio-economic environment, formation of industrial base and functional distribution. According to reconstruction maps of residential patterns, there was distinctive residential segregation among ethnic groups. Koreans in Taegu in 1939, aggregated densely in the southern and western parts of the city. The Japanese were concentrated densely in the northern and eastern parts of Taegu. And the street pattern within residential areas of the Korean people was shaped like a maze type in contrast with Japanese residential areas, which showed grid pattern of streets. This is another general pattern of almost all colonial cities, especially in Asia. Through this process, today it appears that, out of overall residential areas which occupy the highest ratio in urban land use, those for eminent people influence the functional development of urban spatial structure very heavily as a key point in urban residetial structure. Truly, residential segregation can be seen as the spatial manifestation of uneven distribution of such important scarce resources as housing and residential environment. In this study, the characteristics of locational distribution of the eminent people show their socially and economically stabilized standing in Taegu, taking the aforesaid situation as a background of the study. And the process of this study is as follows ; to examine the forming process of residential areas in the city as a theoretical supporting, to put in order on classical interpretation to formation of residential areas, and general type modern residential areas formation, and economic decision factor of land use. Therefore, this study aims to examine growth and development of eminent persons' residential areas and, at the same time, extract locational characteristics through the pattern of eminent persons' location and predict changes in the future.

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Novel Real Time PCR Method for Detection of Plasmodium vivax (새로운 Real Time PCR 방법을 통한 Malaria(Plasmodium vivax)의 검출)

  • Ki, Yeon-Ah;Kim, So-Youn
    • Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.148-153
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    • 2005
  • Malaria is a re-emerging infectious disease that is spreading to areas where it had been eradicated, such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia. To avoid the mortality from malaria, early detection of the parasite is a very important issue. The peripheral blood smear has been the gold standard method for the diagnosis of malaria infection. Recently, several other methods have been introduced for quantitative detection of malaria parasites. Real time PCR that employs fluorescent labels to enable the continuous monitoring of PCR product formation throughout the reaction has recently been used to detect several human malaria parasites. 18S rRNA sequences from malaria parasites have been amplified using Taqman real time PCR assay. Here, a SYBR Green-based real time quantitative PCR assay for the detection of malaria parasite-especially, Plasmodium vivax - was applied for the evaluation of 26 blood samples from Korean malaria patients. Even though SYBR Green-based real time PCR is easier and cheaper than Taqman-based assay, SYBR Green-based assay cannot be used because 18S rRNA cannot be specifically amplified using 1 primer set. Therefore, we used DBP gene sequences from Plasmodium vivax, which is specific for the SYBR Green based assays. We amplified the DBP gene from the 26 blood samples of malaria patients using SYBR Green based assay and obtained the copy numbers of DBP genes for each sample. Also, we selected optimal reference gene between ACTB and B2M using real time assay to get the stable genes regardless of Malaria titer. Using selected ACTB reference genes, we successfully converted the copy numbers from samples into titer, ${\sharp}$ of parasites per microliter. Using the resultant titer from DBP based SYBER Green assay with ACTB reference gene, we compared the results from our study with the titer from Taqman-based assay. We found that our results showed identical tendency with the results of 18S rRNA Taqman assay, especially in lower titer range. Thus, our DBP gene-utilized real time assay can detect Plasmodium vivax in Korean patient group semi-quantitatively and easily.

Free Radical Scavenging Effect and Extraction Condition of Ethanol Extracts and Fractions of Wild Grape Seed (Vitis coignetiea) (머루종자의 적정 추출조건 및 추출 분획물의 Free Radical 소거능 효과)

  • Kim, Nan-Young;Kim, Young-Kuk;Bae, Ki-Ja;Choi, Jae-Ho;Moon, Jea-Hak;Park, Geun-Hyung;Oh, Deog-Hwan
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.34 no.6
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    • pp.755-758
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    • 2005
  • Wild grape is a traditional medicine plant in north-eastern part of Asia and has been known to have healing properties for various illnesses. This study was to determine the optimum extraction condition and antioxidant activity of ethanol extracts of wild grape (V. coignetiae) seed. Also, organic solvent fractions of hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and butanol were obtained from the ethanol extract of wild grape seed at different temperatures. Total ethanol extraction yield of wild grape seed ranged from $4\%\;to\;12\%$ depending on the ethanol concentration, extraction temperature and time condition. The highest extraction yield of $11.9\%$ was obtained at $90\%$ ethanol condition for 12 hour at $70^{\circ}C$. However, the strongest free radical scavenging effect $(RC_{50})$ with $20.93\mu g/mL$ was observed in $70\%$ ethanol extract of wild grape seed extracted for 6 hour at $70^{\circ}C,\;while\;RC_{50}\;with\;40.42$\mu g/mL$ was observed in $90\%$ ethanol extract for 12 hour at $70^{\circ}C$. Antioxidant activity of ethanol extracts of wild grape seed increased as total phenol contents increased. Among each fraction obtained from organic solvents, ethyl acetate fraction was found to have the strongest $RC_{50}\;(8.6\mu g/mL)$ and 636.77 mg GAE/g phenol contents .

Application of MODIS Aerosol Data for Aerosol Type Classification (에어로졸 종류 구분을 위한 MODIS 에어로졸 자료의 적용)

  • Lee, Dong-Ha;Lee, Kwon-Ho;Kim, Young-Joon
    • Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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    • v.22 no.6
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    • pp.495-505
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    • 2006
  • In order to classify aerosol type, Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) and Fine mode Fraction (FF), which is the optical thickness ratio of small particles$(<1{\mu}m)$ to total particles, data from MODIS (MODerate Imaging Spectraradiometer) aerosol products were analyzed over North-East Asia during one year period of 2005. A study area was in the ocean region of $20^{\circ}N\sim50^{\circ}N$ and $110^{\circ}E\simt50^{\circ}E$. Three main atmospheric aerosols such as dust, sea-salt, and pollution can be classified by using the relationship between AOT and FF. Dust aerosol has frequently observed over the study area with relatively high aerosol loading (AOT>0.3) of large particles (FF<0.65) and its contribution to total AOT in spring was up to 24.0%. Pollution aerosol, which is originated from anthropogenic sources as well as a natural process like biomass burning, has observed in the regime of high FF (>0.65) with wide AOT variation. Average pollution AOT was $0.31{\pm}0.05$ and its contribution to total AOT was 79.8% in summer. Characteristic of sea-salt aerosol was identified with low AOT (<0.3), almost below 0.1, and slightly higher FF than dust and lower FF than pollution. Seasonal analysis results show that maximum AOT $(0.33{\pm}0.11)$ with FF $(0.66{\pm}0.21)$ in spring and minimum AOT $(0.19{\pm}0.05)$, FF $(0.60{\pm}0.14)$ in fall were observed in the study area. Spatial characteristic was that AOT increasing trend is observed as closing to the eastern part of China due to transport of aerosols from China by the prevailing westerlies.

The Comparative Understanding between Red Ginseng and White Ginsengs, Processed Ginsengs (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) (홍삼과 백삼의 비교 고찰)

  • Nam, Ki-Yeul
    • Journal of Ginseng Research
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.1-18
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    • 2005
  • Ginseng Radix, the root of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer has been used in Eastern Asia for 2000 years as a tonic and restorative, promoting health and longevity. Two varieties are commercially available: white ginseng(Ginseng Radix Alba) is produced by air-drying the root, while red ginseng(Ginseng Radix Rubra) is produced by steaming the root followed by drying. These two varieties of different processing have somewhat differences by heat processing between them. During the heat processing for preparing red ginseng, it has been found to exhibit inactivation of catabolic enzymes, thereby preventing deterioration of ginseng quality and the increased antioxidant-like substances which inhibit lipid peroxide formation, and also good gastro-intestinal absorption by gelatinization of starch. Moreover, studies of changes in ginsenosides composition due to different processing of ginseng roots have been undertaken. The results obtained showed that red ginseng differ from white ginseng due to the lack of acidic malonyl-ginsenosides. The heating procedure in red ginseng was proved to degrade the thermally unstable malonyl-ginsenoside into corresponding netural ginsenosides. Also the steaming process of red ginseng causes degradation or transformation of neutral ginsenosides. Ginsenosides $Rh_2,\;Rh_4,\;Rs_3,\;Rs_4\;and\;Rg_5$, found only in red ginseng, have been known to be hydrolyzed products derived from original saponin by heat processing, responsible for inhibitory effects on the growth of cancer cells through the induction of apoptosis. 20(S)-ginsenoside $Rg_3$ was also formed in red ginseng and was shown to exhibit vasorelaxation properties, antimetastatic activities, and anti-platelet aggregation activity. Recently, steamed red ginseng at high temperature was shown to provide enhance the yield of ginsenosides $Rg_3\;and\;Rg_5$ characteristic of red ginseng Additionally, one of non-saponin constituents, panaxytriol, was found to be structually transformed from polyacetylenic alcohol(panaxydol) showing cytotoxicity during the preparation of red ginseng and also maltol, antioxidant maillard product, from maltose and arginyl-fructosyl-glucose, amino acid derivative, from arginine and maltose. In regard to the in vitro and in vivo comparative biological activities, red ginseng was reported to show more potent activities on the antioxidant effect, anticarcinogenic effect and ameliorative effect on blood circulation than those of white ginseng. In oriental medicine, the ability of red ginseng to supplement the vacancy(허) was known to be relatively stronger than that of white ginseng, but very few are known on its comparative clinical studies. Further investigation on the preclinical and clinical experiments are needed to show the differences of indications and efficacies between red and white ginsengs on the basis of oriental medicines.

A Series of Biographies of The Collectors of Modern Archaic Art Objects of Korea 1: Jang, Taek Sang (한국 근대의 고미술품 수장가 1: 장택상)

  • Kim, Sang-yop
    • (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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    • no.34
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    • pp.415-447
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    • 2009
  • It is encouraging fact that people are more interested in collecting modern archaic art objects of Korea with broadening spectrum of research these days. For the research in this area is significant in that it makes us learn the level of collection and appreciation which were prevalent at the end of the Josen Age by trend of preferring Occidental pictures as well as modern change in the form of collection, and enables us to reconstruct the history of modern art objects in East Asia. Except Jeon, Hyung-Pil(全鎣弼: 1906-1962), the modern collectors of Korea were not studied in details with respect to the course or contents of collection. Besides Jeon, Hyung Pil, the main modern collectors of Korea were Park, Young-cheol(朴榮喆: 1879-1939), Kim, Yong-jin(金容鎭: 1882-1968), Ham, Seok-tae(咸錫泰: 1889-?), Kim, Sung-soo(金性洙: 1891-1955), Choi, Chang-hak(崔昌學: 1891-?), Jang, Taek-sang(張澤相: 1893-1969), Kim, Chan-young(金瓚泳: 1893-?), Lee, Han-bok(李漢福: 1897-1940), Park, Chang-hun(朴昌薰: 1898-1951), Baek, In-je(白麟濟: 1898-?), Lee, Byung-jik(李秉直: -1973), et al. The object of this publication in serial form is to trace and identify the life, collected articles and contents of collection of Korean collectors who intensively collected archaic art objects in the modern age of Korea, especially, under the rule of Japanese imperialism. The first person to be introduced in this publication in serial form is Jang, Taek Sang, a leading figure in the political history of Korea. Born as the son of wealthy man, he ascended to the position of prime minister, leading a dramatic life. Being a distinguished orator, Jang, Taek Sang was well known as an appreciator and collector of picture, calligraphy and pottery. As one of the collectors of main cultural property under the rule of Japanese imperialism, Jang, Taek Sang collected countless distinguished heritages, most of which were lost during the Korean War. As he became a candidate for president to compete with Lee, Seung Man later, he sold main heritages. Thus, nearly all of the collected articles were scattered.