Choe Pu is famous for his description of travelling around China in 1488 called A Record of Drifting across the Sea. The account of his journey is considered to be the most comprehensive and unique description of Chinese society, culture and government system from the point of view of a Confucian scholar. The diary provides an in-depth inside into the essence of attitudes that shared both Korean and Chinese nations.
The value of this account lies in the fact that it presents an objective perspective of the scholar and realistic description of contemporary life and relationships. The book was translated into English in 1965 by John Meskill. These days it is one of the most valuable historical accounts which is unusual and relevant, and serves a credible and comprehensive source of information about historical events.
The diary tells about the period when Ch’oe travelled from the Korean island Cheju to Naju when he found out about his father’s death. But the ship was caught with the storm. The ship drifted to the coasts of Chine, there Ch’oe travelled to Beijing and continued his way back home after he reached the embassy from Korea.
The diary was completed in 1488 and presented to the king. It is written in a form of an everyday account and provides cultural and historical notes about everything observed by the author. Ch’oe noted also his conversations with people from different social layers. The first part of the diary is the record of the storm and the days spend during the drift. He writes:
“This day a dense fog obscured everything. Towards evening, rain streamed down heavily, abating somewhat with night. The frightening waves were like mountains. We might all be drowned and left to rot at any moment”.
Finally, they reached the shores of the North of China. The most part of the diary are records of travelling through the north-eastern and southern parts of the country. As Ch’oe was a strong believer in Confucianism and an educated person, his knowledge and devotion to religion impressed the Chinese officials, and this, probably, was the main condition that helped him complete his route safely.
As it has already been mentioned, the document has a great significance for historians, sociologists and other scientists. It is a detailed analysis and comparison of both Chinese and Korean cultures and politics. On the one hand, the author contrasts two countries while writing about one of the Chinese cities:
“It truly seems a different world, as people say…Houses stand in solid rows, and the gowns of the crowds seem like screens. The markets pile up gold and silver; the people amass beautiful clothes and ornaments. Foreign ships stand as thick as the teeth of a comb, and in the streets wine shops and music halls front directly each on another”.
On the other hand, the author puts a parallel between his native country and China telling that there were considerable similarities between people and cultures:
“Certainly that shows your feelings that though my Korea is beyond the sea, its clothing and culture being the same as China’s, it cannot be considered a foreign country…All under Heaven are my brothers; how can we discriminate among people because of distance?”.
However, the author mentions also slight differences between two cultures. For example, the Korean education system was different. The records are very valuable for historians who study Chinese civilization of the 15th century. For example, the diary is the clue for those who are interested in the Chinese education and literacy. Ch’oe says that even peasants were able to read. The author also recorder a topography of all cities and villages he visited.
The document presents a great importance for those who study the economy of North and South China in the 15th century. As Ch’oe travelled from North to South, he was able to notice striking differences between two regions. He writes about the poverty and underdevelopment of the north region and economic prosperity of the South, “shops and markets one after another lined both river banks, and merchant junks were crowded together. It was well called an urban center of the southeast”.
He tells about reach trade and merchants that inhabited the region, “all the treasures of land and sea, such as thin silks, gauzes, gold, silver, jewels, crafts, arts, and rich and great merchants are there”. The people of the south were rich and well-dressed, as opposed to them, people of the north were poor and often “lack supplies”. Literacy was also centralized in the South, while the North of the country was illiterate, and crimes were not rare there.
Thus, the Ch’oe Pu’s Diary: A Record of Drifting across the Sea is a very important historical record about history, culture and economy of China in the 15th century. It serves a valuable source of detailed and credible information about Chinese society and people’s lives in the South and North of the country.
Bibliography
Meskill, John. Ch’oe Pu’s Diary: A Record of Drifting across the Sea. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1965.