In Chapter 2 of Wild Swans we find out a little about Manchu (or Qing) customs.
You can see some elements of Manchu lifestyle in this video: the kang, rich embroidery, ancestor table for worhip, the drum, and dance.
The resolution on this video is not high, so the visual quality is poor, but it might help. Can you find any other sources of information about lives that we can share?
Here is a map for the Manchu or Qing dynasty and shows the borders in 1910.
The book is explaining a family set against political events. Useful visuals and story here, charting the transition from the Imperial court to the revolution set in place by Sun Yat Sen.
Monday 26 September 2011
Monday 19 September 2011
Where is it?
See if you can find the locations mentioned in the book Wild Swans.
You can use a conventional map. Let's look for a good map book at the library.
This site provides a search box.
Try typing in the following:
Yixian, Shanghai, Jinzhou, Hebei.
Then follow the links to see if you can locate where these places are. Are they in the North, South, East, West of China? If you can find the locations, then you can find the routes mentioned in the book.
You can use a conventional map. Let's look for a good map book at the library.
This site provides a search box.
Try typing in the following:
Yixian, Shanghai, Jinzhou, Hebei.
Then follow the links to see if you can locate where these places are. Are they in the North, South, East, West of China? If you can find the locations, then you can find the routes mentioned in the book.
Monday 12 September 2011
What should a female be like?
Although Wild Swans is set at a time of great political and social change, the book tells us stories about people, too. In particular, girls and women, their identities and relationships.
The book describes how girls and women are brought up; how each culture determines how they should behave; what their goals and ideals should be; what customs, duties, ideals they should have.
How are women described and presented in the opening pages of Wild Swans?
Scroll down this page, a text from Ban Zhou. Read the headings in her Lessons for Women. Read any of the lessons too if you wish. I am sure you will have plenty of opinions about this that you would like to share.
(For a more up to date insight, you could try this documentary; I haven't watched it all. But I'm reading Factory Girls, and am trying to get a better understanding of women in China.)
The book describes how girls and women are brought up; how each culture determines how they should behave; what their goals and ideals should be; what customs, duties, ideals they should have.
How are women described and presented in the opening pages of Wild Swans?
Scroll down this page, a text from Ban Zhou. Read the headings in her Lessons for Women. Read any of the lessons too if you wish. I am sure you will have plenty of opinions about this that you would like to share.
(For a more up to date insight, you could try this documentary; I haven't watched it all. But I'm reading Factory Girls, and am trying to get a better understanding of women in China.)
Tuesday 6 September 2011
Speed tour
Follow this speed tour through the dynasties of China (Han/Tang/Song/Yuan/Ming) to arrive at the Qing (let's pronounce it as Ching).
For a reference timeline, look here.
The Qing was the final dynasty (1644-1911). The video and recap on the dynasties will help set the background to extracts of the book I'll read aloud; Wild Swans by Jung Chang.
For a reference timeline, look here.
The Qing was the final dynasty (1644-1911). The video and recap on the dynasties will help set the background to extracts of the book I'll read aloud; Wild Swans by Jung Chang.
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