Fan Zhongyan writes the Yueyang Tower essay
1046
In exile at a provincial post, the reformer-official composed his famous essay on the Yueyang Tower, declaring that a true scholar should 'be the first to worry about the world's troubles and the last to enjoy its pleasures.' The line became the most quoted expression of Confucian public duty in the Chinese language, memorized by every schoolchild for a thousand years.
In context
Also in 1046 (3 other events on record)
- Synod of Sutri deposes three popes · Europe · Religion
- Pagan Empire consolidates in the Irrawaddy valley · Southeast Asia · Politics
- Earthquake strikes Tabriz in Persia · Middle East · Disaster
Before and after in East Asia
Before and after in Culture
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.