ON 8 APRIL IN ASIAN HISTORY
To see another date, on Internet (Google…), type “On (day + month) in Asian history”
Updated on April 8, 2019
563 BC: Gautama Buddha, founder of Buddhism, is supposed to be born that day
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/buddhists-celebrate-birth-of-gautama-buddha
622: Death of Prince Shōtoku of Japan, born on February 7, 574
http://veryasian.weebly.com/prince-shotoku.html
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/japan/shotoku.pdf
1232: During the Mongol–Jin War, The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin Dynasty, up to February 26, 1233
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_siege_of_Kaifeng
1336: Birth of Talermane (Timur), central Asian Turkic conqueror, who died on 19 February 1405
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur
http://asianhistory.about.com/od/profilesofasianleaders/p/TimurProf.htm
http://www.silk-road.com/artl/timur.shtml
1450: Death of Sejong the Great, king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, born on May 15, 1397 http://asiasociety.org/countries/traditions/king-sejong-great
1521 : Guided by Raja Kulambu, Magellan crew enters the Cebu Harbour
https://magellanproject.org/tag/Cebu/
1551: Death of Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord, born in 1510
http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Oda_Nobuhide
http://otsuke.blogspot.fr/2007/11/nobuhides-death.html
1759: British troops chase French out of Masulipatam (India)
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=1759_-_British_expedition_against_Masulipatam
1767: In now Thailand, Ayutthaya kingdom falls to Burmese invaders
http://www.thaiwebsites.com/ayutthaya.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_kingdom
1857: Mangal Pandey, Indian Sepoy who launched the Sepoy mutiny is hanged
http://www.executedtoday.com/2008/04/08/1857-mangal-pandey-sepoy/
http://topyaps.com/17-things-know-mangal-pandey-man-fired-first-shot-1857-indian-revolt
1873: Dutch land troops at Banda Aceh (Now in Indonesia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aceh_War
1894: Death of Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Indian author, born on June 26, 1838
http://www.hinduhistory.info/bankim-chandra-chatterjee-1838-1894/
http://www.mapsofindia.com/on-this-day/8-april-1894-bankim-chandra-chattopadhyay-bengali-writer-dieda
1902: Russia and China sign the Convention of Evacuation under which Russia agrees to evacuate Manchuria within 18 months
1913: Opening of China’s first parliament in Beijing
1924: Birth of Kumar Gandharva, Indian music director and singer, who died on January 12, 1992
http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/kumar-gandharva-5513.php
http://theory.tifr.res.in/~mukhi/Music/gandharva.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJL_b0hxEdU
1929: At Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dadutt throw handouts and bombs to court from a gallery
http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/sbsingh.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batukeshwar_Dutt
1932: Birth of Sultan Iskandar of Johor, also the 8th Yang di-Pertuan Agong or king of Malaysia (1984-1989), who died on January 22, 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baginda_Almutawakkil_Alallah_Sultan_Iskandar_Al-Haj_ibni_Almarhum_Sultan_Ismail
1934: Birth of Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect who died on 12 October 2007
https://www.archdaily.com/616907/spotlight-kisho-kurokawa
http://www.kisho.co.jp/
1942: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines
http://www.pacificwar.org.au/Philippines/FallBataanCorreg.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Bh6zoM7_I
1945: Reluctantly, under Japanese pressure, the king of Laos issues a proclamation ending the French protectorate
1946: Death of Ye Ting, general of the Chinese Red Army
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Ting
1950: India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat-Nehru Pact
http://www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A096
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaquat%E2%80%93Nehru_Pact
1957: In Cambodia Prince Sihanouk forms a new cabinet
1968: Death of Huangmei Opera famous artist Yan Fengying, victim of the Cultural Revolution
http://english.cri.cn/6566/2009/07/23/1321s503511.htm
http://history.04007.cn/en.php/HisMain/3750.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQm6kraaPGQ
1968: End of the siege of the US base of Khe Sanh in South Vietnam after two and half days of combat at main loss
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/battle-of-khe-sanh
http://www.historynet.com/battle-of-khe-sanh-recounting-the-battlescasualties.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1yhbRdiZ4
1983: Birth of Allu Argun, Indian film actor
https://www.filmibeat.com/celebs/allu-arjun/biography.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allu_Arjun
1983: Death of Isamu Kosugi, Japanese actor and director, born on February 24, 1904
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isamu_Kosugi
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0467557/
1984: Long-March 3 rocket puts on orbit the first Chinese geostationary satellite
1985: After the Bhopal disaster, India files suit against Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142333/
http://www.alterinter.org/article3451.html
1986: Suicide of Yukoki Okada, Japanese idol singer, born on 22 August 1967
http://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f226/suicide-okada-yukiko-japanese-youth-yukko-syndrome-125799/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukiko_Okada
1988: In China, Yang Shangkun succeeds Li Xiannian as president of the PRC
http://www.nndb.com/people/971/000111638/
1990: After violent protests, king Birendra of Nepal lift a 30-year ban on political parties
1990: Birth of Kim Jonghyun, South Korean singer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonghyun
http://www.facebook.com/kimjonghyun
1994: After only 8 months, Morihiro Hosokawa, the first no LDP Premier of Japan, resigns under allegations that he had accepted an illegal loan in 1982
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/11/business/cloudy-outlook-japan-hosokawa-s-resignation-could-sidetrack-modest-recovery-that.html
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-04-09/news/mn-43907_1_foreign-minister/2
http://www.c-span.org/video/?55920-1/japanese-prime-minister-resignation
1999: Haryana Gana Parishad, a political party in the Indian state of Haryana, merges with the Indian National Congress
2001: Unpopular Japanese Premier Yoshiro Mori resigns
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/apr/06/japan
2003: In India, after a stormy debate, the parliament condemns the US attack on Irak, demanding a prompt withdrawal of the coalition forces
2005: Indonesian president Sulilo Bambang Yudhoyono on a two-day visit to East Timor
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4427123.stm
http://www.etan.org/et2005/april/01/09ipres.htm
2007: Shintaro Ishihara is for the third time reelected as governor of Tokyo
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200704/09/eng20070409_364785.html
2008: In the Philippines, nine military officers have been sentenced to jail for taking part in a failed coup plot against president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
2008: Death of Kazuo Shiraga, Japanese painter, born August 12, 1924
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/arts/international/art-world-rediscovers-kazuo-shiraga.html?ref=international&_r=0
http://www.artnet.com/artists/kazuo-shiraga/biography
https://www.google.fr/search?q=Kazuo+Shiraga&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwin4tymhanaAhUFWxQKHajLA1oQ_AUICigB&biw=1280&bih=603
2008: Yi So-Yeon becomes the first Korean and second Asian woman to go into space
http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/lee_so-hyun.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxtuy3CdyiA
2010: Thailand’s prime minister declares a state of emergency in the capital and surrounding areas to give the army broader powers to gain control of escalating street protests
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/04/201047111717155731.html
2010: Sri Lanka’s ruling party has won a majority in parliament. The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, the incumbent president, had already secured 117 seats in the 225-member assembly
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/04/20104912214028272.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8610705.stm
2010: Pakistan’s National Assembly has unanimously passed a set of constitutional reforms curbing the powers of Asif Ali Zardari, the president, and transferring them to the prime minister and parliament
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/04/20104815523247104.html
2011: Moulana Showkat Shah, a Muslim leader in Indian Kashmir, who had condemned practice of throwing stones at security forces, dies in attack outside mosque
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/04/20114891931701400.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13009558
2012: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh welcomes Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari for “fruitful” talks in Delhi, the highest-level meeting between the rival nuclear powers in seven years
http://www.france24.com/en/20120408-india-pakistan-zardari-singh-peace-nuclear-terror
2013: Bangladesh Prime Minister says no to a law against blasphemy. Sheikh Hasina said that the country is « a secular democracy » in which « everyone has the right to practice their religion. » For days, supporters of the Islamist party have been calling for a blasphemy law that prescribes the death penalty for those who offend Muhammad and Islam
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22058462
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Bangladesh,-Prime-Minister:-No-to-a-law-against-blasphemy-27598.html
2013: North Korea says it was withdrawing all workers and suspending operations at its joint industrial zone with South Korea — the only surviving symbol of inter-Korean cooperation
http://www.france24.com/en/20130408-north-south-korea-suspend-cooperation-kaesong-complex
2014: Millions of poor people in the Philippines will have access to free contraceptives for the first time after the nation’s top court approves a deeply controversial birth control law
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2014/04/philippine-court-upholds-birth-control-law-2014486117854745.html
2014: Mohagher Iqbal, a leader of the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), says that his rebel group’s new political organization, the United Bangsamoro Justice Party, would be used as a springboard to contest leadership of a more powerful Muslim autonomous region to be established in the south of the largely Catholic Philippines
http://asiancorrespondent.com/121474/filipino-rebels-form-party-as-they-end-rebell
2015: The US State Department approves Pakistan’s request for a billion dollars worth of military hardware and equipment, identifying Pakistan as a country of vital importance for US foreign policy and national interests
http://www.dawn.com/news/1174606/us-approves-billion-dollar-arms-sale-to-pakistan
2015: Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou says that his administration will not give up the Republic of China’s territory in the South China Sea, but will continue to seek peaceful means to address the territorial disputes in the region
2017 : Korea’s flag flew in Pyongyang as the women’s football teams of both nations clashed in the first ever competitive football match between the two to be hosted by the north
https://asiancorrespondent.com/2017/04/north-south-korea-face-off-historic-football-match-pyongyang/#c8VGRwwbDz7k2QtW.97
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/04/06/2017040601538.html
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170407000683
Holidays and observances
Japan: Buddha’s Birthday