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...)

Recently featured: Tropic Thunder – North Island – Malagasy cuisine

Archive – By email – More featured articles...

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choe_Bu

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ 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

___________________________ 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