China's Neighbor's Histories

Recently I've gotten into Korean history. A few years ago I thought it would be good to look into both Korean and Japanese history since their histories interact with China's history. I didn't get around to it until a few months ago. As I've been reading about Korean history, it's been much easier because of my understanding of China's history. I think about the time in Korean history and then what dynasty it was in China and it makes more sense. In some ways looking at the country's histories together gives a bigger picture of that time period and of Asia in general. I hope some day to read up on Japanese history as well. Until then, I've put together a basic reader of stories from Korea's history (available on my patreon account here). There seems to be perhaps more books available in English about Korean history and language. That was one of the hardest things about Chinese history: finding good books for it (it still is a bit hard!). I'll probably make a separate page for this on this blog as well. 

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.”

Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 5 and Epilogue

This is the final part of the Fake City story, a fictional story set in the time of the Three Kingdoms in Chinese history. You can look back on the blog for the first four parts of the story. The next story I'll post in this series is about Xuanzang who lived during the Tang Dynasty.

Part 5

A few months later people in the town were talking about a group of men who were going to the cities to destroy them. By this time, most of the towns close by below the mountain were already abandoned. This made everyone hope that they would never come. However, the leaders of the town started training some of the men how to fight. The boys in this story, however, had a different idea.

‘Hey, what if we build a town close to ours but make it look already broken  down,” Xi Bing said one day as they were in the orchard.

“What? Why?” Asked Xi Wei.

“Because if we make it look like there’s a another town here that’s already been destroyed, they would probably give up and go away.” Said Xi Wei.

The older man who was pruning his apple trees close by overheard their conversation and went to them.

“That might actually work. I think it might, just might work.” Said the old man.

“Yes, and we’d have to make a big road going to the fake town to make it look like it’s a real town.” Said Xi Wei.

The old man talked with some of the leaders of the city and they decided it was a good idea. The boys were able to help their dads build part of it. It took everyone three months to finish the town. Since they were making the town look like it had been destroyed, it faster. They didn’t have to make tall buildings. Instead, they had to make it look like there used to be tall buildings. They also made a big road going to the town.

The boys loved playing hide and go seek in the fake town. They were hardly seen in town anymore because whenever the weather was nice they were either in the orchard, talking with the family that grew vegetables, or in the new “fake” town playing hide and go seek. Every time they went to the fake town, they added and did more to make it look like it had once been lived in.  Sometimes Xi Wei would find rocks and mark on the walls and sometimes Xi Bing and Chen Min would move stones around. They made sure to walk along the road going to the town at least two times each day to make the road look like it had been used.

All their work paid off a year later when a group of men came. The boys were in the orchard when they heard people coming from the distance. Thankfully, the old man was there and told them all to be quiet. The old man went with the boys to get a closer look. 

“If you go with me, you have to be quiet. Quieter even then a mouse,” said the old man.

“Of course!” Said Xi Wei. However, he said in a regular voice.

“Shhh,” the old man whispered back. 

They slowly walked closer and found a place to watch that was hidden. About fifty men came. They went to the town and walked around. The boys and old man could hear them talking.

‘Who did this? I thought we were the only ones in this area.” Said one of the men.

“Maybe it was the people to the North of us,” said another voice.

“I think so. Let’s go and find them! They took everything from this town that belonged to us.” Said another voice. 

All in all, the men spent only an hour looking around the city before deciding to leave. They never talked about there being another city close by, which means that the plan worked.  

Epilogue

The four boys remained close friends their whole lives. They lived in that town a long time. The old man died two years later, but told the boys to take care of his apple trees for him. He said that his children and their children lived in a different city so he wanted to give all of his apple trees to the four boys. The old man spent his time teaching the boys how to take care of the apple trees before he died. The vegetable family continued growing vegetables, although it was harder for them to make money because more and more people started growing their own vegetables in the forest close by. In terms of the country, the Han Dynasty ended (220 AD) and the country was going crazy. The country was divided into three countries (The Three Kingdoms Period) before becoming united again under the Sui Dynasty in 589 AD. 

Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 4

I realize that I haven't finished posting the rest of this story! I'll post Part 5 and the Epilogue later (in a week or two). There are 10 stories total and we are on story #6 (which is so long, I'm posting it in several parts, hence "Part 4" for this post). 

 Part 4

After this, the four boys tried to find time to meet together and find out what exactly was behind the other building they saw. Now that they knew that it once was where the emperor stayed, they imagined that it must be a super nice place.

“Yes, but this was years ago. Remember, it was when he was our age. That was a long time ago!” Said Chen Min. 

“I would love to see it still,” said Xi Wei.

“Me too,” said Chen Yang. 

“Ok, let’s go.” Said Chen Min.

They walked around the wall but found no easy way to climb up and over it. Finally, Xi Wei had an idea: “What if we climb up that tree and use that  branch to help us get over the wall.” 

“Hmmm, that might work,” said Chen Min. “Let me try first.”

Chen Min climbed the tree and found that it wasn’t so hard, but he didn’t want Xi Wei or Chen Yang to try it because it was a little difficult. However, he knew that if he said that they were too young to do it, they would be angry about it. Instead, Chen Min decided to just be quiet and not say anything. 

“Chen Min, are you ok?” Asked Chen Yang. 

“What’s going on?” Asked Xi Wei.

It was quiet for a few minutes until Chen Min said, “I’m thinking of a way to get down.” Another few minutes later, there was “thud” as he jumped to the ground. 

“Was that you? Are you ok? What do you see?” Asked Xi Bing.

“Can we come up too?” Asked Xi Wei.

“Yes, I’m ok.” Chen Min answered. He walked around the inside and found two small houses and lots of plants growing. There were places where it looked like there used to be more houses, but were taken down. In their place were rows and rows of plants.  

“Oh, I thought I heard something,” said a girl’s voice. A girl of about seven years old said. Her hair was long and braided in two braids. “Are you all right? Did you climb and jump from that tree?”

“Uh, yes.” Answered Chen Min.

“Wow, did it hurt? That looks like a big jump!” 

“Well, yes, it did hurt a little, but not too much.” However, Chen Min had a bad scrape on his knee. When the girl looked down and saw the blood, she immediately told him to follow her.

“My mom can help you.” The girl said.

“No, I can’t. There are other boys- my friends- waiting outside.” He said.

“Oh, I thought you were alone.”

“No, my little brother and some friends came along. Do you suppose they can come in too?” He asked.

“Yes, yes, of course! But before anything we need to get you some help. Stay here, I’ll have my mom come and help you.” She said. She rushed off saying, “Mom, mom!” 

Within a few minutes she came back with her mom, who had some water and a towel to clean the wound.

“What made you think of jumping from that tree? That’s really high!” The mom asked.

“Well, I, I, I,” Chen Min hesitated. “I really wanted to see what was behind  this wall. I saw the door, but it was locked and I didn’t want to get into trouble.”

“Trouble?” Well, now you’ve gone and hurt yourself. Does your mother know that you’re here?” She asked.

“No. I do have some friends and my little brother outside waiting for me.” He said.

“Oh, well, bring them in. Yan, go and open the door for them.” The mom directed to her daughter.

In a few minutes the rest of the boys were at Chen Min’s side. “Ouch, that looks like that hurts!” Said Chen Yang.

“So, what exactly are you boys doing out here?” The mom asked them.

“We saw this place and heard that it was where Emperor Lin stayed when he came to visit years ago. We wanted to see how it was like.” Said Chen Min.

“This is how it is.” the mom said. “After the emperor left, no one wanted to live here because it’s outside of the city walls. However, my grandparents wanted to live here. They took down some of the buildings so there would be more room to grow vegetables. We sell our vegetables in the city.” The mom explained.

“We saw some tomatoes and other vegetables grown in the forest in between the trees. We thought that’s where all of the vegetables come from that are sold in the city,” said Xi Bing.

“No, most of them come from here. Of course some of them come from the forest. People don’t want to cut down a lot of trees because then it’s more obvious that there’s a city here. The reason we’ve been able to live here so long without any bad guys coming is that it’s hard to find this city. If everyone started cutting down trees to have bigger places to grow vegetables, it would be more easy to find the city.” She told them.

The boys stayed there a good hour or two. Tan Yan, the little girl, showed them all around and told them which vegetables were which. She said that hardly anyone came to visit them and it was great to have new friends. The boys often went to play with her and called her family the “Vegetable family” since they grew so many vegetables. Even Xi Jing, Xi Bing and Xi Wei’s older sister came occasionally with them. 

Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 3

   The garden in the woods became one of the boys favorite places to hang out in. They saw the old man a few times and he would tell them stories about when he was a kid. 

“I remember when I was kid, just as old as you older boys are now. There was talk in the town that the emperor was going to come and visit. At the time not a lot of people liked Emperor Ling. The Emperor became emperor when he was 12 years old- just a little older than you older boys are. However, when he grew up everyone found out that he wasn’t the best leader this country has had. 

“By the time he came here, many people didn’t like him because he had the people pay a lot of taxes. He wasted a lot of money and the leaders that worked with him took money from the people. Actually, when he came here no one really wanted him to come because it cost so much money. They made a huge area with walls around it and houses inside of it. You kids might have seen it outside of the city.

‘I remember that he stayed for 3 weeks. My family worked here, in this garden, although at the time there were no walls around it like there are now. We had to give most of the apples we were growing to the emperor and the people with him. My parents hated it, but they didn’t have a choice. Other people that grew vegetables and fruit had to do the same thing- give away a lot of what they grew at that time to the emperor. 

“As a kid, I was excited to see how the emperor looked like. We had never had someone famous come to our town before, so it was a big deal. My friends and I talked about how we thought he would look like. My best friend thought that he would have long hair in a braid and a long beard. I thought he would have short hair and a long beard. However, none of us kids could really get a good view of him that day because the streets were small and there were too many people. 

“A few days later, my parents had to deliver some apples to where the emperor was staying. I went with my dad because I though I would see the emperor. I ended up being very disappointed because it was just one of the servants that opened the door.” 

“I did, however, get a glimpse of the emperor one day when he was walking down the street. This time there weren’t as many people with him so I was able to stand on one side of the street and see them walk by. Emperor Ling looked tired and worn out. He didn’t have a full beard, just a small one and a mustache. His mustache was big- the only thing I remember to this day about him.

“By the end of two weeks the emperor’s visit was boring and none of us liked it. I wasn’t allowed to eat any of the apples from our trees while he was here because “They all have to go to the emperor” as my dad would say. I wondered at how much one person can possibly eat! Then my parents reminded me that it wasn’t just him, but the whole group of people that always traveled with him.

“We were all glad to see the emperor leave after three weeks. Year later, after the emperor died, the whole country changed. People started fighting and groups of bad people went from town to town taking things that didn’t belong to them and hurting people. I’m assuming that’s why your families moved here- to be safe.”

Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 2

 Part 2

Shortly after moving in, Xi Jing and her mom were busy making their house feel like home. Although they didn’t have a lot of money, with some creativity and with the belongings they brought with them, it felt like home by the end of the week.

Mr. Xi and the dad in the other family started looking for work and ended up working as carpenters in the same shop. Xi Wei, Xi Bing, Chen Min, and Chen Yang met up every day and started exploring their new city. By the end of the week they knew every little street in the city. 

After they explored the streets of the city, they set about exploring outside of the city.

“Hey, have you noticed that there are no big gardens here? Where do they grow their food?” Xi Bing asked his brother and friends when they were out one day.

“Maybe they are hidden underneath the city,” Xi Wei suggested.

“No, don’t be silly, they have to be here somewhere,” Xi Bing said,

“Our old city had lost of gardens outside of the city. Each family took care of at least one, sometimes 3 or 4 fields,” said Cheng Yang.

“Yes, ours did too,” put in Xi Bing.

“My favorite thing to grow was the tomatoes. It was so fun to pick them off!” Xi Wei said with a smile on his face.

“Yes, I know! We hardly got any tomatoes because you used to pick them off when they were still green!” Said Xi Bing.

“The gardens must be somewhere outside of the city. For a city this size, they must have a lot of gardens- somewhere!” Said Chen Min. 

“Let’s explore!” Xi Wei said excitedly. 

The four boys left the city just after lunch and started walking around the mountain. The mountain was full of trees, which was great for the city: it made it hard for any army to find where the city was! This also meant that the boys had to be careful to remember where they walked so they could find their way back.  

“Let’s do something so we won’t forget out way back. I’m afraid we might get lost,” Xi Bing suggested.

“I know, what if we take this stick here,” Xi Min said as he picked up a stick. “We can make a mark on the trees that we go by so we can find our way back. Or if we find the right rock, we can use that to mark on the trees.”

“That’s super smart! We can take turns marking the trees,” Xi Bing said.

Xi Bing became the unofficial leader of the four of them. They walked about ten minutes until they came across a small patch of spinach growing by some trees. 

“Wow, this is strange. I wouldn’t expect to see spinach here,” Xi Yang commented.

“Look over there,” Xi Wei said as he pointed out to an opening in the trees. There seemed to be things growing in the opening. 

“This is what they must do,” Xi Yang thought out loud. “They must grow food in openings in the forest like this.”

“But what about the spinach?” Xi Min asked.

“I don’t know,” said Xi Bing. “We’ll have to have a good think about it. Why is there spinach growing way out here?” 

“Well, we’re not that far out of the town. What if someone purposely planted spinach here?” Xi Min suggested.

“Hmmm, now that is an idea,” Xi Wei said with a smile on his face. He liked to smile. 

“Let’s keep walking,” Xi Bing suggested.

The group came across more places where other vegetables like carrots and potatoes were growing in between the trees. Finally, Xi Wei saw some tomatoes growing!

“Di Di, (“little brother”), don’t pull any of those tomatoes! They don’t belong to us! Someone must’ve planted them here. They obviously don’t naturally grow here in the midst of trees like this!” Xi Bing said.

“What if they just plant their vegetables here and there in the forest where they can. So, instead of each person having their own field, they just plant some things where they find room and sunlight to grow their food.” Xi Yang said.

“Yes, that’s probably it. However, we saw fruit in the market and I think it must be hard to grow fruit in the middle of these trees! They wouldn’t get enough sun! Where are the fruit trees?” Xi Bing thought aloud.

“What if they just buy them from other cities and have them sent here?” Xi Wei said excitedly. “Ohh, a good, juicy apple sounds great about now!”

“Yes, you’re right, Di Di. We should start heading back,” Xi Bing said.

“Can we come out here again tomorrow?” Xi Wei asked. He always loved exploring and adventure.

“Well, we still haven’t figured out where they’re growing all the fruit yet, so I think we should explore some more tomorrow,” Xi Bing said. They followed the trees with the marks back to the city.

The next day they went out again, marking the trees as they went. Xi Wei got this job because he enjoyed it so much! They walked a different direction and ended up climbing more up the mountain. They came across a wall. 

“What do you think this is? It doesn’t look like a city. Can it be another city so close by?” Xi Yang asked. 

“No, I don’t think so. It doesn’t make sense,” Xi Bing answered. 

“Quick, hide. There’s someone coming,” Xi Wei said.

Although they didn’t know why they should be hiding, but their instincts told them to hide. They each hid behind a tree. Sure enough, they saw a man walking by and disappear behind the wall. 

“There must be something there. Why else would he go there?” Chen Min asked.

“Let’s check it out!” Xi Wei said.

The four boys slowly walked to the wall. Oddly enough, this wall was just as big as the wall that surrounded the city. However, the more they walked around it, the more they thought that it couldn’t be a city because it was so quiet. Finally, they found the door. It was a simple wooden door that was closed, but not locked. 

“Di Di, wait,” Xi Bing said to his brother as he was about to open the door. “Remember, we just saw the guy go this way, probably inside! Let’s wait a few minutes.”

The few minutes seemed to go at a snail’s pace, but finally they agreed  that was it was ok to go in. They were surprised when they opened the door to find fruit trees! There was one or two small buildings, but inside the walls were rows, and rows of fruit trees. 

“This is where they grow their fruit,” Chen Min said. 

“Yes, look at those apples!” Xi Wei said.

“Di Di, they are not our apples and they aren’t ripe!” Xi Bing told his brother.

“Ok, fine,” Xi Wei said. 

They walked around for a few minutes until they heard a voice.

“Hey, what are you kids doing here?” Said a man’s voice. 

Fear seized them. 

‘What do we do?” Chen Yang said.

“It’s ok. I don’t think we’ll be in trouble. Let’s just try and be friendly,” said Xi Bing.

“I’ve never met you kids before. Do you live in the city?” The old man asked. “Well, you’d have to live in the city because there are no other towns that close. You might be from families that are moving to the town.” He started to say to himself. “There are so many new faces and I don’t particularly care to get to know any of them.” 

After a minute of silence, Xi Bing said, “Yes, we are. We are from the city.”

“Did you just move here? What families are you from?” He asked.

“Yes, we did just move here,” Xi Bing answered. The four boys took turns introducing themselves. 

“What exactly is this place?” Xi Wei asked.

“It’s a garden, of course,” the old man answered.

“But why are there walls around it and why is it so far from the city?” Chen Yang asked.

“We’ve lived in this area a long time. In the last ten or fifteen years there have been many new families, like yours, that have moved to our town, which means that we have to be careful and make sure that we can protect ourselves. Having food to eat is one of the most important things, so we made a wall around this garden to make it a little harder for bad people to come in and take the food.”

Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 1

Here's another story in our "Kids in Ancient China" series. This story is really long and is in parts.

The Fake City 

 

Part 1

“Where are we going now?” Xi Bing groaned to his parents.

“Up to the mountains. We’ve told you this many times before.” His dad answered.

“How much longer?” Xi Bing’s little brother, Xi Wei, groaned.

“We’ll get there when we get there,” His dad answered again.

“We should take a short break,” their mom suggested.

“Yes, and I’m hungry!” Xi Wei smiled and rubbed his tummy.

The family sat down on the ground and enjoyed some steamed bread. By this time, it was a bit old, but it was all that they had. 

“I wish I had some honey to put on top of it,” Xi Wei complained.

“I’m sorry, sweetie. We should be at the city soon and I’m sure they’ll have some honey,” their mom said.

“Try to imagine that there’s honey on it. Here, I’ll give you some of my own honey,” Xi Bing motioned with his hand. It was only pretend honey, but it worked to lighten up the mood.

“Hey, mom, I think I see someone. Wait, there’s more people. It looks like a family,” Xi Jing said. Xi Jing was the boys’ older sister. She was usually quiet and shy, and she understand the reason why there were moving: to be safe. 

The country was in chaos. The Han Dynasty was almost finished, but there was no real government set up in its place yet. If you were lucky enough, the city you lived in had its own army to protect the city from all of the other small armies going throughout the country. However, the city that they lived in had none. With each passing day, it got more dangerous. Their whole town could be destroyed. Over the year, the family had seen many of their neighbors move to other cities, leaving the town largely deserted and empty. The family knew that they, too, had to leave in order to be safe. 

The city they chose to move to was up in the mountains with a wall around part of it because it was thought to be safe. They had already been walking for 2 days and had another day or two to go until they reached the town.

“Yes, I do think it’s a family, dear,” said their mom.

“Look- boys! There are 2 boys!” Xi Wei said, excitedly.

“They look like they’re the same age, so they might be twins.” Xi Bing said. 

The family waited to see who these people were. 

“Hi, my name is Chen Min,” said one of the boys to introduce himself. He held out his hand to Xi Bing. 

“And I am Chen Yang,” said the other boy as he reached out to shake Xi Wei’s hand. 

“Are you both, twins?” Xi Bing asked hesitatingly. They didn’t look like twins, but they looked like they were the same age.

“No, I’m actually his cousin,” Cheng Yang explained. “My dad had to fight in the local army. Our town and the town next to ours had an army. Every man had to fight in this army for at least 5 years. Sadly, my dad died fighting during these 5 years. A few months later my mom got really sick and died. I, too, got sick. Thankfully, my aunt and uncle lived in the same city and took care of me. By this time, a lot of the families moved out of the town and they, too, decided to move. So, here we are.”

“Sounds like us,” Xi Bing and Xi Wei’s dad explained. “Our town doesn’t have an army so many people were moving out. We were one of the last few left in the town and finally decided to move out as well.”

“It’s nice to meet you all. It’s great to see a friendly face,” The mom said as she shook the hand of the mom in the other family. This was to be the start of a long friendship between the two families, who were both moving to the same city in the mountains. 

It’s a funny thing, but when you travel with friends, even new found friends like these, time goes faster. The 2 days it took them to finish their journey to their new city went by so fast. 

“Wow, dad, is that it? I see something over there, between the trees,” Xi Bing pointed out to his dad. 

“I suppose it is,” he answered. 

“I wonder if there’ll be lots of girls my age. It would be great to have more friends. I’ll settle for friends that are younger or older than me too, of course,” Xi  Jing said.

As they got closer to the city, Xi Bing said his thoughts out loud. “What kind of a city is this? It’s so disappointing. I only see big walls. I don’t even see the gate to get in? Where is it?”

The city was much larger than the towns either of the families came from. Walls surrounded the city and the gate was slanted on the hillside. This was supposed to make it hard for any army to come and attach them. The gate was open all day and closed at night. The whole mountainside was full of trees, which was a great help in keeping the city somewhat hidden and hard to find for any army that might come against it.

“Wow, this city is huge!” Xi Wei said. 

“Let’s go in,” Xi Bing said. “I’m sure there’s a market where we can get something to eat- I’m starving!”

“You’re always hungry!” His mom said.

“Tell me about it. These two are also always hungry! It must be something about boys,” the other mom said.

The market place was the first thing in the city. Stalls of vegetable and fruit  sellers, meat sellers, and a myriad of other small shops lined the sides of the main street. They got some snack food and found a place to sit to eat. 

“Right, the next job is to find a place to live. Would your family like to live close to ours if we can? I don’t know if we can find two houses next to each other available to rent or not, but we could try,” Mr. Xi (Xi Wei, Xi Bing, and Xi Jing’s dad) suggested to the other dad. 

The two fathers started walking around the city while the rest of the families stayed and finished their snack. Although they wanted to walk around and explore their new city, they didn’t because they didn’t want to get lost! Also, if they stayed put, the two dads would know where to find their families. Finally, after two hours, they came back.

“No luck. It’s getting late. We’ll have to sleep outside the city. There aren’t any hotels or logging for guests available. We’ll try again tomorrow.” Mr. Xi broke the news to them.

They set up camp outside the city walls. This was the fourth night they slept like this- under the stars. The first night or two were exciting for the kids, especially the boys. However, by the third night it had lost its newness and they longed for home. Their bags (with the one change of clothes they each brought) were used as pillows and they had a blanket or two as well to keep warm. It wasn’t that comfortable, but after a long day, sleep came fast. 

The next day they explored the city’s streets together. The boys loved their new city, but Xi Jing didn’t. She was quick to point out how the city lacked all the trees and flowers their old town had. Actually, overall, there weren’t much gardens around. Where did they grow their food? 

People were generally welcoming to them, but assumed they were just travelers because they all still carried their bags with them. Finally, after another full day of searching, they were able to find two homes. Although the two families weren’t going to be neighbors, but would live only a few streets away from each other instead.

Chinese Magazine

 It's almost spring...or feels like it should be! The Spring edition of the Learning Chinese in America magazine is out. You can find it here. 

Here's the description: 

This is our first issue of the year: Spring 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 the sound of the birds, and finish a famous story (the fox and the crow, part 1). There are also several Chinese characters to learn, a story entirely in Chinese characters, and an interview about someone who lived in Xi’an, China. The animal we’re talking about this time is the ladybugs and the food we’re looking at is eggs (Chinese style).

Sources

 I thought it might be worthwhile to mention some of the sources I've used for the Chinese books I've written. When I started to research and write Storybook of China (and later books), I used about 4-5 books together as well as some online sources:

A Storied History of China, compiled by Lu Qianfei, 1988, Tourism Education Press, printed in Beijing, China. This book has lots of details, some maps and pictures, and stories. This book would be super hard to find; I found it when I lived in China and it's no longer in print. 

A Short History of The Chinese People by L. Carrington Goodrich, 1963 by Harper and Row. Something that was interesting about this book is that the Terra Cotta soldiers (the clay soldiers that were buried underground close to Xi'an, China) weren't discovered yet so they are not in this book. 

Chinese History Stories, Volume I and Volume II. Volume one is Stories From The Zhou Dynasty and volume two is Stories From The Imperial Era. These are a few stories from a different book that have been translated into English by Renee Ting. Published 2009 by Shen's Books. These books are also really hard to find and out of print (as far as I know). They are based on a Chinese book (also Volume I and Volume II). My husband helped me track down and find one of the Chinese books for this (中国历史故事). There's a 下 and a 上 part of it (Part 1 and Part 2).  We were only able to find the 下 part. The Chinese books were published in 2007. They have a lot more than the English versions.

There's another series of Chinese history books in Chinese that I had back in China but weren't able to bring them with me when we moved.

Wikipedia was also one of my sources. 

Something to keep in mind is that over history, several emperors tried to burn all the history scrolls to make it seem like their dynasty was the first one. They wanted to, essentially, wipe out all of Chinese history to that point. There's one school of thought that says that most of ancient Chinese history (before the Xin Dynasty, the same dynasty that put together the Great Wall, unified the country, and made the Terra Cotta clay army) is different than what people are taught today. Also, many of the stories from ancient China have been passed down through oral retellings so it's sometimes hard to tell how accurate they are. In modern Chinese history sometimes people want to emphasize some parts while completely ignoring or purposely forgetting other parts. 

My books about China are available here.