Shipwrecked Bureaucrats, Burning Books, and Berlin's Very Angry Rave

Shipwrecked Bureaucrats, Burning Books, and Berlin's Very Angry Rave

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Episode description

Shipwrecked Bureaucrats, Burning Books, and Berlin’s Very Angry Rave

On 12 July 1488, Korean official Choe Bu returned home after an extraordinary accidental journey across Ming Dynasty China, having documented everything he saw. His diary remains one of the most valuable accounts of fifteenth-century Chinese life ever written. Four centuries later, on the same date in 1562, Franciscan friar Diego de Landa presided over the burning of Maya codices in Yucatán, destroying centuries of astronomical and religious knowledge. Only four Maya manuscripts are known to have survived. In 1995, Chinese seismologists successfully predicted a major Myanmar-China border earthquake, saving hundreds of lives through timely evacuation. And in 1997, Berlin’s ninth Love Parade was met with a counter-protest called the Hateparade, organised by those who felt the techno scene had been commercialised beyond recognition. Four stories about what gets recorded, what gets destroyed, and what survives long enough to matter.

Chapters

  • Introduction Clara introduces the theme of documenting disaster and sets up the story of Choe Bu, a Joseon Dynasty official who survived shipwreck and captivity to write one of history’s great travel accounts.
  • Choe Bu’s Impossible Journey Home In 1488, Korean official Choe Bu was shipwrecked off the coast of China while returning home for his father’s funeral. Detained by Ming authorities suspicious of pirates, he used his literacy in classical Chinese to prove his identity. He was then escorted across the breadth of China via the Grand Canal, observing everything from infrastructure to daily life. His resulting fifty-thousand-character diary became one of the most valuable accounts of Ming society ever written.
  • Fray Diego de Landa Burns the Maya Books On 12 July 1562, Franciscan friar Diego de Landa ordered the burning of Maya sacred objects and codices in Maní, Yucatán. Between 27 and 40 manuscripts containing astronomical knowledge, religious ritual, and calendrical systems were destroyed. Only four Maya codices survived the Spanish colonial period. Ironically, De Landa later wrote one of the most important accounts of Maya culture and helped preserve elements of their writing system.
  • Chinese Seismologists Predict the Myanmar-China Earthquake On 12 July 1995, Chinese seismologists successfully predicted a major earthquake on the Myanmar-China border, allowing evacuations that limited casualties to eleven people. This stands as one of the clearest documented cases of successful earthquake prediction, a feat that remains exceptionally rare in modern seismology.
  • Berlin’s Love Parade Gets a Rival On 12 July 1997, Berlin’s ninth Love Parade was met with a counter-protest called the Hateparade, organised by those who felt the techno festival had become too commercial and had abandoned its underground roots. The protest later evolved into the annual Fuckparade, which continues as a demonstration against corporate takeover of countercultural spaces.
  • Outro Clara reflects on what survives in history: the records we make, the knowledge we destroy, and the arguments we preserve.

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