Kids in Ancient China (Part 9): Xuanzong (Part 2)

Here's another post in the Kids in Ancient China series. This is part 2 of the story of Xuanzong. It's a historical fictional story. There are 5 parts total. Enjoy.

Part 2

Whenever my dad told me stories about my uncle, it made me miss having him around when I was growing up. If things had been different and we were just an ordinary family, he wouldn’t have had to go away. Everything would’ve been different, but I can’t change the family I was born into. 

After my uncle left, my dad became the emperor. My grandmother wanted  to rule through him too. When it didn’t work, she exiled him as well. This was one of the saddest days of my life. I was only 5 years old, but I still have a memory of him leaving the palace. Tears rolled down my face. There was a whole group of us waving goodbye to him as he left: me, my mom, some of the servants, and some other relatives. When the gates of the palace closed behind him, my mom and I just hugged each other for a long time because we knew our lives would be even more hard. 

Later on I found out that the reason I wasn’t exiled with my dad was because of my aunt, my grandmother’s daughter. Although her name was Princess Taiping, I just called her Goo Goo (“aunt”). She became like a  mom to me and made sure that I learned about China’s long history, art, and poetry. I loved learning about art and poetry because it let me have a picture of how life was like on the outside of the palace.

I had different tutors and teachers come to teach me. Some of them were very boring, but my favorite was my history teacher. He made history come to life and told story after story of all of the famous people that lived before us. I remember one class in particular when he was talking about Sima Qian, China’s great historian. 

“Sima Qian wrote about many people and wanted to remember not only the rich and famous, but also the everyday people. You are one of the famous people in China because of your family. If Sima Qian were alive today and he was going to write about you and your life, what would he say?”

This threw me off and challenged me. “What do you mean?” 

“How do you want people to remember you?” He asked. 

“Remember me? Why would they remember me at all? My family might be famous, but I’m not the next person to become the emperor. Most likely my half-brother will be the next emperor, not me!”

“Yes, he might be the next emperor, but no one knows what will happen. How do you want people to remember you?” He asked me again.

“I really don’t know.” Was my answer. 

“Yes, I know that it’s a big question. Just something for you think about. Class is over. Sometime down the road, I might ask you this question again.” He said. 

Thankfully, he never did ask me that question again because two years later I got a new history teacher. I was sad because the new teacher was boring and wasn’t as good of a story teller as my old teacher was. My old teacher made every emperor and every important person in history sound fascinating. However, his question about how I want people to remember me was something that stuck with me my whole life. 

Short trip and a book sale (black Friday)

 We went on a super short trip to the East Coast to see my husband graduate from boot camp. We are very proud of him. It was a long trip- 3 flights there and 3 flights back...all for 2 days with him! It was worth it though; we hadn't seen him in a good 2 months. He should be able to come back for Christmas, which will be nice. 

On another note, if you're looking for something for Christmas, I wrote a book that has the story behind (and words for most of them) 35 Christmas Carols. The publisher is offering 30% off. The book is called Discovering Christmas Carols; use the code BOOKGIFT30 to get 30% off that and all the other books I wrote, including the Chinese, geography, and other books (look for Rachel Bubb). 

Day at the beach

 We went to the beach with some friends; it was as super low tide (a minus tide) and good weather. We are so thankful to live so close to the beach for this season of life.

Kids in Ancient China (Part 8): Xuanzong (Part 1)

I haven't posted for the series: Kids in Ancient China in a long time. It's about time! There are 10 stories altogether and this is story #8. After I finish all 10 stories, I might write a few more (I enjoy writing these- it's great fun to get into Chinese history). 

Xuanzong

Part 1

A few months ago my grandmother died. This was one of the big moments that changed my life for the good. I’m twenty-one years old and last year and this year have been the best years of my life. My dad came back last year and my uncle started ruling as emperor. Our whole family is different now than it was a year or two ago.

Before I continue, I should tell you about my life before this. I was born in 685 AD and my name is Li Longji. A year before I was born my uncle was going to become the emperor. Some people think that it would be great to be an emperor and rule over all of China. One of those people was my grandmother. She tried to rule through my uncle, but my uncle didn’t want to do what she said. So, a year later he was sent far away and was exiled (which is when someone has to leave their country). Actually, I don’t even think he was around when I was born! 

After he left, my dad was made the emperor, but it didn’t last long. For the first 5 years of my life my dad was the emperor. My grandmother wanted to keep a watchful eye on my dad so she made a rule that none of us could leave the palace. The palace is a great place to live, but when you’re not allowed to leave, it becomes like a big jail. As a kid, I remember spending a lot of time in the gardens so that I could at least feel that I was outside. I loved it when my dad told me stories of “the outside.” My dad was a great story teller and his bedtime stories always made me laugh and smile. 

I remember one story he told me in particular. It was about him and his brother, my uncle. He didn’t talk a lot about my uncle because it was so hard. Growing up, my dad and uncle were close and my dad really missed my uncle when he had to move away. 

“Your uncle and I went for a walk in the hills close by. We knew there were a few apple trees and we had a contest to see who could fill up their basket full of apples first. We were supposed to meet back at the bottom of the hill by the fig tree. There was only one fig tree there and it was huge- it was our favorite tree to climb. 

“It was hard finding apples because they were often high up in the tree, which meant that I either had to use a stick to hit the branches to get the apples down or I had to climb the tree to pick them. I decided to use a stick because it would be faster. I soon realized that my apples weren’t going to be the most pretty apples or the most delicious because when they fell from the tree, they got bruised up. 

“Finally, my basket was full so I raced down the hill to the fig tree. My brother, your uncle, wasn’t there. I waited. Then I ate an apple while I waited to see how it tasted like (and because I was hungry!). I ate another apple. It seemed to be a long time so I started to wonder what happened. Was he done picking apples? Did he somehow fall off the tree if he climbed up to get them? Did something else happen to him? 

“I started walking back to town and saw that the door was open in one of our friend’s home. I thought I’d stop to ask if they had seen my brother. I knocked on the door and then went in. Sure enough! Right there, was my own brother! He was at his friend’s house!”

“ ‘ What are you doing? We were having a race to see who could pick apples the fastest? Have you forgotten? I was getting worried about you! I ate 3 apples already- just waiting around for you!’ I said.

“ ‘Oh, I did pick apples. I picked 3 apples. Then I remembered that my friends here were going to make something sweet with the apples. So I decided to stop by and give them my 3 apples instead. They, in turn, gave me some of their sweet apple whatever this is.’ “ he said.

“I couldn’t believe it! I knew that my brother, your uncle, loves sweets, but this was too much! We were having a contest! We went home with only one basket full of apples- mine! However, I will have to say that the apple whatever it was, was really good! Our friend’s mom put cinnamon with the apples, which changed the flavor of the apples.”

Keep Learning Chinese, Winter 2025

 The winter 2025 edition of the magazine that I put together is out. It's $10 on lulu (www.lulu.com) and is called Keep Learning Chinese in America: Winter 2025. Here's the description:

This is our last issue of 2025: Winter 2025. This magazine is meant to help families who are learning or trying to keep up their Chinese while they live in America. In this issue we’ll learn continue learning about ancient Chinese history, a famous Chinese poem about Lu Zhai Mountain, and finish a famous story (Cao Chong weighs an elephant, part 2). There are also several Chinese characters to learn, a story entirely in Chinese characters, and an interview about someone who lived in Alaska. The animal we’re talking about this time is the peacock and the food we’re looking at is filled steamed buns. 

Fall Pictures

 We don't see much fall where we live because most of the trees are evergreen. However, we had to drive to Medford, about a 3 hour drive away. We stayed the night so we took our time and stopped by a few places...it was so beautiful with all the leaves changing colors!

An afternoon at the beach

 Some friends introduced us to a new favorite beach. The kids had a blast playing with their kids. They went down some sand dunes and explored some tide pools. It was beautiful.