Episode 223 The Greatest Chinese Adventure Story You've Never Heard - Part 1

This week we're heading to China for an adventure story. I read this book last year and it was so good, but I couldn't figure out how to share it with you.Recently I started using the Chinese App Red Note (XiaoHongShu) and doing short form videos there, I decided to tell this story. Once I had the base of the story I decided to see if I could adjust it for you too.These two episodes are really English Listening episodes. I hope you will find the story interesting, it's possible you've never heard it before (if you have heard it or read the book, please drop me a comment to let me know).The book is called 1421: The Year China Discovered The World and it was written by a British submarine captain called Gavin Menzies in 2003.In today's episode I'll tell you about the writer, some main characters and the first part of the story. Next week we'll finish the trip and find out why this story isn't well known.For more information about the evidence from the book and what Gavin did next you can check out the following two websites:https://www.gavinmenzies.net/china/book-1421/https://www.1421foundation.org/There is some tricky vocabulary in this episode.Eunuch - a man who has been castrated (formed an important and powerful group in China during this period)Concubine - a woman who is kept but not married, in this case it also refers to the women who were kept on the boats, we don't know really anything about them though so whether this was by choice or not, we don't know.Hustle and bustle - a common English term used to describe a busy placeThriving hub - a successful centre of actionAccolade - some kind of award or privilegeOutskirts - the edge of a town or cityRudder - the part at the back of the boat that helps direct the boat in the right directionScurvy - a common illness on board long ship journeys in the old days. Comes from a lack of Vitamin C.Cartographer - Someone who's job is to draw maps#emmaseslenglish #english #learnenglish #englishlistening #1421