flâneur

I was intoxicated as to pass all bounds - by Shaun Usher

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A hungover apology from ancient China

The following letter can be found in the first volume of Letters of Note. © The British Library Board; SRE Cat. no. 172, 856, Found in Dunhuang, Cave 17, Ink on paper, Or.8210/S.2200. It’s somewhat reassuring to know that over a thousand years ago, human beings were frequently making drunken fools of themselves at dinner parties and waking up the next day overcome with regret. In fact, this was such a regular occurrence in one region of China that a standard form letter of apology—pictured above—was created by the area’s beautifully named “Dunhuang Bureau of Etiquette,” copies regularly…

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