Choe Bu (1454–1504) was a Korean official during the early Joseon
Dynasty (1392–1910). He is best known for the account of his
shipwrecked travels in China from February to July 1488, during the
Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). He was eventually banished from the Joseon
court in 1498 and executed in 1504 during two political purges.
However, in 1506 he was exonerated and given posthumous honors by the
Joseon court. Choe's diary accounts of his travels in China became
widely printed in the 16th century in both Korea and Japan. Modern
historians also utilize his written works, since his travel diary
provides a unique outsider's perspective on Chinese culture in the 15th
century and valuable information on China's cities and regional
differences. The attitudes and opinions expressed in his writing
represent in part the standpoints and views of the 15th-century
Confucian Korean literati, who viewed Chinese culture as compatible
with and similar to their own. His description of cities, people,
customs, cuisines, and maritime commerce along China's Grand Canal
provide insight into the daily life of China and how it differed
between northern and southern China during the 15th century. (more...)
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choe_Bu>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1880:
Construction of the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne—Germany's most
visited landmark—was completed, 632 years after it had begun.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Cathedral>
1980:
Lech Wałęsa and colleagues at Gdańsk Shipyard began strike actions,
which subsequently led to the founding of the Solidarity movement in
Poland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lech_Wa%C5%82%C4%99sa>
1987:
Australian Federal Police raided the compound owned by the Santiniketan
Park Association and freed a number of children who had been held there
illegally.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiniketan_Park_Association>
1994:
International fugitive Carlos the Jackal, wanted for a number of
terrorist attacks in Europe, was handed over to French agents by
Sudanese officials.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_the_Jackal>
1996:
Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou was shot to death by Turkish
forces while trying to remove a Turkish flag from a flagpole in the
United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomos_Solomou>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
impetrate (v):
To obtain (something) by asking for it; to procure upon request
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/impetrate>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled
with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of
paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish
waters through a marsh, without either honour or observation.
--Walter Scott
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Scott>