Kids in Ancient China (Part 2)

Today's story is about one of my favorite people in ancient China: Shao Kong, one of the great emperors of the past. It's also our second story in our Kids in Ancient China series. 

 The Unknown Emperor: Shao Kang

“They’re looking for you,” Shao Kang’s grandpa told him one day. 

“Who, Ye Ye (grandpa)?” Shao Kang asked.

“Han Zhuo and his sons. Actually, it’s his sons that are out looking for you. When their dad heard that your father had a son and he was alive, he sent his sons to go out and find you.” The old man said.

“Wow.” Shao Kang was stunned. 

“The day has come. We knew people would find out about you sometime.” The old man said.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Do what you’re called to do: become the emperor!” His grandfather said.

“How am I to do that?”

“Leave. You won’t ever take the country back if you stay here your whole life. No, they will somehow, someday find you and probably kill you, your mother, your grandmother, and me as well.”

“Why?”

“They don’t want you taking back the country, but it’s what you’re meant to do.”

It was. Shao Kang was the son of the emperor. His dad was the 5th emperor of the Xia Dynasty. Sadly, his dad wasn’t a good ruler and was often lazy. This made it easy for Han Zhuo to form an army and fight against him. He slowly starting taking over the country and finally killed the emperor. 

His wife was inside the capital when she heard the news and knew she had to escape. How was she going to leave? She couldn’t leave through the city gates because Han Zhuo would have people there looking for her. She walked along the inside of the city wall just as the sun was setting. She finally found the spot. She had seen dogs digging there earlier and thought the hole they dug might be big enough for her to get under the city wall. Thankfully, it was. She made it out of the city as the sky grew darker and darker. She didn’t go on the main road because she knew it would be watched.

It was a long trip back to her parents house, the only place in the country she knew she’d be safe. It would be good to see her parents because she hadn’t seen them for a long time. They knew she was pregnant because she wrote them letters, but she hadn’t seen them since becoming pregnant. Thankfully, she wasn’t that big yet so traveling so far by walking wasn’t as hard as it would be later. She finally arrived home and into the arms of her mom and dad. 

A few months later she gave birth to a son there. Together, she and her parents saw it to be their job to teach him about culture, history, and how to be a good ruler (unlike his father). They taught him many things. He was a good student, but not always confident. Finally, the moment came when his grandfather told him the news: Han Zhuo heard that he, the emperor’s son, was alive.

“Where would I go? You, grandma, and mom are all I’ve ever known.” The young boy said. He was 16 years old. Even though he was told he was the emperor’s son, he never thought he’d have to do anything about it!

“Go up north. We’ve heard there are people there who are still loyal to the Xia Dynasty. Find them,” the old man said.

“How?” 

“Take the road from our farm here to the nearest town. Don’t stop to talk to anyone. Then go north on that road. Do you remember how I taught you how to tell what “north” is?”

“Yes, I remember. Look for the sun and the shadows. From there I’ll be able to find where North, South, East, and West are.”

“Good. You’ve learned well. Walk a few hours until you reach a few towns after that. Talk to the people in those towns up north and tell them who you are. We hope they will help you. This is our only chance- your only chance.”

“When will I go?”

“You should go tomorrow. Your mom will make some extra flat bread and some other things for you to take for food on your long walk.”

The next day Shao Kang left his home, with tears in his eyes as well as huge tears in his mom’s, grandma’s, and yes, even his grandpa’s eyes. He walked to the nearest town and then walked passed 5 other towns before stopping to talk to people. It was about a 6 hour walk. He first went to the market in the town and asked where the leader was. It was a small bedouin town so it was easy to find the leader. After Shao Kang told him the story, the leader agreed to help him. Finally, Shao Kang started to get his confidence: he was going to be the next Xia Dynasty Emperor.

Epilogue: Shao Kang did take back the country and brought back the Xia Dynasty. He’s one of China’s legends and one of the greatest leaders China has ever had. He married the daughter of the leader of that village and together they had a lovely family, The people there helped him go from town to town to make an army to fight Han Zhuo and take back the country. 

Kids in Ancient China (part 1)

 I wrote a few stories a few years ago and recently came across them. I love writing and love writing about history. These stories are kids who grew up in different time periods in Chinese history. I thought I'd share them here in a series of blog posts. The first one is called Moving Again? and is from the Xia Dynasty (2100-1766 BC, during the time of Yu The Great). Hope you enjoy it!

Moving Again

“Mom, do we have to move again?” The little girl asked her mom. Actually, it was more her complaining then talking with her mom. This was the 4th time they’ve moved in her short life of 6 years.

“Yes, the River is flooding again so we have to move. I know that it’s not fun, but if we don’t move, we’ll not only lose our home and all that we have, but we could also die,” the mom told her youngest daughter. There were three kids altogether: two girls and the eldest, a boy. 

“All that I’ve known my whole life is moving because of the floods. Will the floods ever stop?” She asked.

“We hope so. I told you about Yu, right?” The older brother asked.

“I think so. He’s the guy who’s the leader in our city, right?” She asked her brother.

“No. He’s the guy who’s working with people like our dad to find ways to make the water from the floods go away from where the villages are. He’s trying to save the villages,” Said the brother.

“Speaking of dad, when is he coming home?” The young girl asked.

“He should be home soon, it’s almost time for dinner,” said the mom. “Ok, kids, can you keep packing? We need to be moving in a few days, before the water reaches the street that we live on, and I need to finish dinner before your dad gets home,” said the mom. Their parents decided earlier that week that it was time to move again. By this time, the family was so used to packing and moving that it didn’t take so long. Actually, they were almost all packed. 

“Mom, where are we moving again?” Asked the young girl.

“I think it’s the village next to this one. You’re dad knows where it is,” said the mom.

By this time the kids had gotten used to “hello”s, “goodbyes”, “What’s your name?”, “Where you from?”, And “How old are you?”- all the typical questions you ask when you get to know people in a new place. They had had many new friends over the years and many goodbyes. They also knew what things they really want to keep and move with them from home to home and what they didn’t really need.

The next day when they were packing, the older sister asked the girl, “Why are you taking this with you? You know that we’re leaving today or tomorrow, right?” 

“I know. I have everything I want to take with me, and, yes, I want to take this seashell with me.”

“Why? It’s not important,” said the older sister.

“Because it’s from my first best friend that I can remember. It was a gift that Wang Jing gave me when we said goodbye. She gave me this seashell to help me remember her. I miss her. Can’t we go back there and see her?”

“No, we can’t. It’s all been flooded- that’s why we had to move in the first place. Don’t you remember that her family also moved or were going to move a few days after we did? Everyone was moving, just to different towns.”

“I wish she would’ve moved to the same place we did. I miss her,” the young girl said. 

“Oh, I know. Moving can be so hard,” said the older sister as she gave her sister a hug. “I miss my friends too. Do you remember what mom says?”

“No, what does she say?” Asked the girl.

“That we are each other’s best friends- that you, me, and our older brother are best friends because we’re family. Family is important.”

“Yes, I remember both mom and dad saying that Family is important,” said the young girl.

“Ok, time to move,” said the dad as he came in to tell his family. “The people I’ve been working with say that the water’s going to reach the area where our house is probably tomorrow so we should move today. Besides, the part of the canal that we were building is done. Most of the men are moving to the same place we are. This is good news for you kids because that means that their families are also moving to the same place. For once you kids might be able to keep some of your friends from here.”

“Really? That would be so cool!” Said the boy.

“Dad, you’re the best,” said the young girl as she gave her dad a hug.

“Ok, we’ve gotta get going. Get your things together. Remember, only take what’s important to you. We can get or make new things when we get to our new home,” said the dad.

They walked two days until they reached their new home. This time it was a little ways up the mountain, so they hoped they would be safe from the floods for a long time. Their dad kept working with Yu and the other men to make the canals in their area. It was a lot of work and took a lot of time, but they would help stop the flooding for good. The children were glad to see that a few families from their old village also moved to the same village they did. Of all of the houses the girl had lived in, this new house was her favorite because it was her home for good.

Epilogue: The Yellow River flooded for over 9 years, causing many people to move. Yu was sent to come up with a plan to stop the flooding. He worked with people from all over the country to make a series of canals to solve the problem. Later, when Shun the Great was looking for someone to take over the country after him, he decided to make Yu the next Emperor. Yu the Great started the first official dynasty of China: the Xia Dynasty (2000-1600 BC).

Lighthouse

 Today we went to visit a lighthouse...the first lighthouse any of us have ever been to. It was super, super cool. The kids loved it. We moved here (to Oregon) a few months ago (December 2024) and have been waiting until April to see some of the lighthouses because most of them are closed in the winter (and start opening up for the year in April). We got the kids "Lighthouse passports" where they can stamp each passport we visit. We hope to visit a few lighthouses this year. 

Redwoods

 We went hiking with some friends today at some redwoods...this picture is great to show how tall these trees are! 

Shells in rocks

 We went to the beach yesterday (the one we can walk to) and found lots of beautiful rocks. The beach is right where the river runs into the ocean. We also saw some rocks with holes (that we've seen before) that had seashells in it. The seashells must've got come in when they were little and then grew inside the rock.

Rose Seeds

 Every year for the last 7 or more years I've gone around our apartment complex, cutting the rose hips this time of year. They don't regularly cut the roses during the year so this time of year the roses are all gone and the rose hips have turned orange. That means that they are full of seeds. I wasn't going to collect them this year because we are moving soon, but I thought the seeds might make great going away gifts for a few close friends who like to garden. 

These are some of the rose hips cut and some of the seeds I collected. It's a bit of work getting the seeds out. They need to "sleep" for the winter before they can sprout so I normally put them in a ziplock bag with a little wet dirt and put them in the fridge. Around January they start sprouting in the bag and then February or so I can transplant the seedlings to pots to grow. I love watching the seeds sprout. It's like magic! 

Something else we noticed in the wall in our backyard are some little cocoons from an unknown insect. One of them was covered over with more dirt and the other wasn't. You can see the spots where they came out of the cocoons. 

Nature Study in the Fall

 A few days ago we spent some time in the backyard drawing leaves and walnuts (some of which had fallen and started to sprout!). It was so nice! We haven't been able to be out in the yard like this for a while because it was hot (with lots of mosquitos) in the summer, and then we had about 3 weeks of off and on rain. It was really great to be drawing outside with the kids- one of my favorite things! 

Last week we also saw some corn that someone had hung out in their yard to dry. However, with all the rain, the kernels on the corn started to sprout!