5-15 Report For Week 5

Reading Journal – What did I read this week?

• Lan, Dong. “Chapter 2: Heroic Lineage: Military Women and Lady Knights-Errant in Premodern China.” In Mulan’s Legend and the Legacy in China and the United States. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011.
  • Summary
    • This chapter shows the history of powerful, heroic women within Chinese literature and history, telling their stories and influences within the military as well as explaining different statuses and positions women can hold. Though these women have broken part of Confusion ethics and ideas by taking these leadership positions which were reserved for men, they were still considered to be inspirational and heroic. They adhere to the core principals of loyalty and filial piety, and are thus exemplary women.
  • Information
    • In class earlier today, I found the exercise of us all writing down our ideas of the summary of the reading and then sharing it to the class very helpful. Within this exercise, I learned that many people saw different parts of the articles important. One group brought up the importance of male figures in influencing women to become into these leadership positions. In fact, women were almost exclusively introduced to these positions through their husbands, brothers, and fathers, taking their “yang” sides and enhancing them in order to come into these positions successfully. It was also interesting that once these women were done with these “masculine” duties, they just returned to their regular feminine roles in society right after, like it never happened. I wonder if these accounts are accurate, and what might happen if a woman did not want to go back to their previous roles. In a way, it reminds me of how women would take jobs of men in the US when the men were off at war, and then did not want to return to their household womanly duties.
  • Connection
    • Of course, this reading reminded me of my absolute queen Fu Hao. We love stories of strong women!! We love strong women!!! I had a really great time reading all of the little stories of strong Chinese Women, and their stories of strength, heroicness, and militaristic statuses really reminded me of Fu Hao and how much of an inspiration she is now.
  • Classification
    • This is a chapter from a book, chapter two, “Heroic Lineage: Military Women and Lady Knights-Errant in Premodern China” from the book Mulan’s Legend and the Legacy in China and the United States by Dong Lan.
• “Ballad of Mulan”. In An Anthology of Chinese Literature : Beginnings to 1911, translated and edited by Stephen Owen, 241-43. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997.Summary
  • Information
    • This reading was the Ballad of Mu-lan, and was written in almost a poetic, story-like format. It was written almost like a fairy tale or bedtime story, or, as said in class, like a “sparknotes” version of the movie, Mulan, by Disney. It is important to consider, however, that this is the original text, and that Mulan was based off of it.
  • Connection
    • I knew the movie before the ballad, and it seemed as though the originally ballad was underwhelming. I would have loved to hear more about Mulan’s actual experience during battle. I feel like the movie that I grew up on told such a full story about the training, the battle, and the reveal of Mulan being a girl. However, the ballad focuses on Mulan getting ready for the battle, and then there is only one small paragraph explaining that she went to war for ten years.
  • Classification
    • This is an excerpt from the book An Anthology of Chinese Literature : Beginnings to 1911 by Stephen Owen

To-Do List – What to do next week?

• I think I did a great job this week catching up on assignments from last week and being on top of my work. I hope to continue on this pattern and stay on top of my work.
• Also, I hope to do some more research on my independent project and look into lost stories of women and the archive.

FUN LIFE UPDATES!

The 5-15 section nobody asked for but you are all getting!