Kids in Ancient China: Kangxi The Emperor (Part 4)

 This is the last part about Kangxi The Emperor and the last in our series of Kids in Ancient China (at least for now; I might research and write some more stories later). After this I might post one of the biographies I wrote, part by part. If you want to buy a PDF copy of all of the Stories of Kids in Ancient China, go to www.lulu.com or my patreon account. 

 Dictionary

“I’m going to have a new job soon,” said the grandfather to his son and grandson.

“Are you sure? Shouldn’t you be slowing down a little?” The dad asked.

“No, you should never slow down my boy! Keep going, keep going!” The grandfather sad.

“Ye ye (“Grandpa” in Chinese), what are you going to do? Is it going to be a fun job?” Asked the boy.

“Yes, I think it will be fun. I enjoy writing Chinese characters and this project has a lot to do with Chinese writing,” said the older man.

“What exactly are you going to be doing?” Asked the dad.

“It’s not me, it’s a whole group of us. The Emperor wants us to help him make a dictionary. It’s a book that will have all of the Chinese words and what they mean,” said the grandfather.

“Do you mean that you actually saw the Emperor? How is he like? How’s the Palace like? Is it as big inside as it is outside?” Asked the young boy excitedly.

“No, I didn’t see the Emperor. My good friend asked if I could help him and a group of people put this book together. It’s going to be a lot of work. You know, none of us really liked this emperor from the beginning, but I think this book, this dictionary of his, is a great idea. Nothing has ever been done like it before and it’ll be a great way for people years from now to remember how this time was,” said the old man.

“Can I help you? Can I? Can I?” Asked the young boy.

“Well, maybe. I’m not sure. I’m going to meet with a few other other old, wise men and teachers to come up with a plan. I think we might write down a list of words and then each of us take part of the list to write the  meaning of those words. Maybe you can help me think of a good way to say what each word means.”

“That sounds boring, Ye Ye,” said the young boy.

“Boring? Language is not boring young man! We can draw each word on the ground with a stick and have a good think about what it means,” said the old boy.

“It still sounds boring. I like the stick idea though. I can go with you and help you find a big stick, one that’s great for writing on the ground,” said the young boy.

“Ok, ok. Tomorrow we can go out and look for a good writing stick,” said the old man.

The next day the old man and the young boy went for a walk just outside the city but close to their home. They lived inside the city, but on the edge of it. The old man often went for walks outside the city to have a good think. 

Over the next few weeks and months the boy did help his Ye Ye. The old man would often talk with the young boy and read him the definition of words to see if they made sense. Some of the words were too complicated for the young boy, so for those words the old man would ask the other teachers and old men he was working with what they thought of them. The young boy loved spending time with his Ye Ye and helping him make the dictionary made the young boy feel important.

Yurt Stay at the Beach

 A few weeks ago we heard that there were yurts you could stay in at a beach close by (5 minute drive from our home). We knew they had campsites but had never gone camping there. I booked a stay for me and the kids and we went earlier this week and loved it! It was the first time for the kids to stay in a yurt and they had so much fun! We went down to the beach first and then went back to the yurt to cook hamburgers over the barbecue and then played a game inside. They had such a fun time. When we went back I booked another stay for us in June; they book up fast (this was the last slot available in June I think). 

Kids in Ancient China: Kangxi The Emperor (Part 3)

Here's the next part in the series. We have one more part and then we'll finish it.  

Calendar

“Why do you need a calendar, your majesty?” Asked one of the advisors to the emperor.

“Because I do. The system we had for keeping track of time doesn’t work for me. I need something better. Can you help me?” The Kangxi Emperor asked one of the Jesuit Missionaries who came from Europe.

“Of course. I would love to help you. As I explained to you before, our calendar in Europe has 12 months a year,” started the European man. His Chinese was good, not fluent, but good enough. However, when he tried to explain all of the details of the calendar they used back in Europe to the Emperor, he found the language to be very hard. “Your majesty, can I go home, talk to some of the other European men who are here, and can bring them with me later? I’m sorry, your majesty, but I’m afraid that my Chinese isn’t good enough.”

“Yes, yes, go ahead. Come back tomorrow for breakfast. I want to get started on this right away,” said the emperor.

The next day a group of European men walked to the Forbidden City to meet with the emperor over breakfast. They all had notes with them for Chinese words that they didn’t know but might need to use in their talk with the emperor. For many of them, this wasn’t their first meal with the emperor, but for some of them it was their first breakfast with the emperor. There was so much food:  steamed buns, porridge, lots of fruit, some vegetables, and tea. Although it was a nice breakfast, some of the European men missed their French and Italian breads with butter in the mornings. (Of course they didn’t tell the Emperor that!).

“You have all come here this morning to help me make a new calendar. Tell me about the calendar you use in Europe,” the Emperor started.

“It has 12 months a year. We have four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.”

“Yes, that is a good idea,” said the Emperor. They talked a little more and the emperor said, “I need some time to think about all of this.” 

The emperor wanted a calendar that would work for him and the people of the country. The new calendar was well liked by everyone in the country.

Kids in Ancient China: Kang Xi The Emperor (Part 2)

 Here's part 2 of the story about Kang Xi The Emperor:

 Map of Beijing

“Dad, can I go with you today?” Asked the young boy. His dad was working with Karel Slavicek, who was making a map of the city of Beijing. Part of the reason he wanted to go with his dad was to explore and help his dad. The other reason was because he loved his “Uncle Karel,” a man who came from Europe. In Beijing there was a group of people who traveled all the way from Europe. They called themselves Jesuit Missionaries. The little boy loved hearing them tell their stories about their travels, the roads they went on, and about their life before China. Some of them had just come to China and were learning Chinese. These people often told the best stories because they acted  out a lot of their stories since they didn’t always know the right Chinese words.

Uncle Karel had been in China a few years already so his Chinese was good. It wasn’t perfect, but he could have a conversation and tell wonderful stories to the young boy. He started working with his dad and a few other people to make a map of Beijing. The boy’s family was from Beijing and his dad was an architect. That’s why his dad was chosen as one of the people to work on this big map. At first the boy didn’t even know what a map was. He had seen his dad work with paper before, drawing designs for buildings. 

Every time he asked his dad what a map was, his dad would say, “Pretend that you’re a bird and you fly high above the city. What would you see?”  

“I think I would see trees and buildings,” the boy would say.

“Anything else? How about the big palace where the emperor lives. Would you see the water around it and maybe some of the bridges?” Asked the father

“Yes, and I could even look inside the big palace! That’s something that no one ever gets to do! Dad, can I be a bird and fly over the city like this?” He asked.

“No, but you can help me make the map,” said the dad.  

This day was a sunny autumn day. Autumn was the boy’s favorite time or year because it was when all of the Gingko trees and the other trees changed colors. The weather was usually nice too. He asked his dad again if he could go and his dad’s answer was, “Sure, why not. You can help me. Today we need to walk and count how many steps we take to get from one side of the Forbidden City to the other.” 

“You mean that I can go to the Forbidden City with you and Uncle Karel today?” The boy asked excitedly.

“Yes, you can help us. But we need to count our steps, so you can’t distract us!”

“So I can go inside the Forbidden City?” He asked.

“No, of course not! No one ever goes in there! We’re going to walk on the outside part of the big palace, by where the water is and see how big it is.” 

“Then what?” The boy asked.

“Then we go back to Uncle Karel’s house and write it down. He’s really good at drawing, much better than me. I just do the walking and tell him the numbers. He puts it all together in the map,” the dad said.

“How long will it take until you finish the map?” 

“Probably a few more months. We have to measure everything by walking everywhere and counting our steps. Uncle Karel wants the map to show exactly how big and small everything is.”

“Dad, you have the coolest job!” The boy said as he gave his dad a hug.

Kids in Ancient China: Kangxi The Emperor (Part 1)

 Here's another story (or part of a story) for the Kids in Ancient Chinese history collection. It's also a few part story; this is the first part. Enjoy!

Can you imagine becoming emperor at the age of seven? This was Kangxi  (May 5, 1654-December 20, 1722). When he was born, he was called by a different name “Xuanye” but changed his name to show that this was a new life for him. If you were to change your name, what would you change it to? He was the second person to become emperor during the Qing Dynasty. This was an interesting time in China because a completely different people took over China. Some of them didn’t even know Chinese, but they ruled over China! They had the men wear their hair in a “queue.” This is when men have a long braid of hair in the back and then no hair on the top. It must’ve been cold in the winter without hair! Hopefully a lot of the men had good, warm hats to wear! The women’s clothes changed too.  They were now supposed to wear a Qipao, which is a type of dress that had buttons close to the shoulder. For men to have a queue was a big thing. If you were a man who was seen not having the long braid (or not trying to grow one!) You could be put in jail! They wanted to show the people that this was a new China.

What about Kangxi? Why is he so famous? He’s probably one of the most famous emperors in all of Chinese history, which is a  lot to say! China has had many, many emperors. For a country to have over 4,000 years of history, there has to be a lot of emperors! So, how did Kangxi look like? During Kangxi’s time a lot of people came from Europe to China and when they went back, they talked about how China was and about the emperor. From what people have said about him, he was tall. Not really tall, but a little taller than most people around him. He loved exercising and one of his favorite hobbies was hunting. 

Kangxi was a busy man! It’s often said that he went to sleep very late because he was always reading about how the country was doing and about different parts of the country. He was the first emperor to learn how to play a musical instrument that wasn’t from China. He learned to play the harpsichord, which is a type of piano. Do you think they made the harpsichord in China or brought it with them from Europe. If they brought it with them, it must’ve been a lot of work! This was before there were cars and moving trucks. Let’s read about a few other things this famous emperor did in his lifetime:

An old habit....

 In China it's often hard to get small change; even more so now that most people use their cell phones to pay for things instead of using cash. It seems that the whole country instinctively knows about the lack of small change because they do it everywhere. It's hard to break small change. Even though it's been two years now since I moved, yesterday this habit came back. I went to the used book store by the library and bought a few things that were $6. I didn't have a $5 and a $1 so I gave her a $10 and a $1. That way she could give me back a $5. In China, this would be super normal. They wouldn't want a $10 because they'd have to give you back four $1s. They'd much rather prefer a $10 and a $1 so they just give you a $5. However, I'm not in China anymore and the lady looked at me with a confused look: why did I pay $11 instead of just $10? It really threw her off! She gave me back 5 $1 bills. 

Kids in Ancient China: ZhengHe (Part 2)

This is the second part of the story of ZhengHe. There's a park that has a huge statue of him on a boat with water spraying up on the boat to make it look like water. 

 Part 2

Thankfully, I made it through those two weeks of training. They were two of the hardest weeks of my life! However, those of us that made it through became great friends and worked together like a team on the ship. We started walking to the place where the ship was, in another city that was by the sea. It took us a good few weeks to get there.

Once we got there, many of us said “Wow” because this was the first time we had ever seen such a big ship! It was huge! It had four decks and could have  up to three hundred people on the ship at any time, but usually it had two hundred to two hundred fifty people. 

We sang songs and talked a lot while we did our chores and jobs on the ship. One thing we talked about was ourselves, our families, and our leader: Zhenghe. It was at this time that I heard more about his story. He was born as Ma He to a Muslim family who lived in Yunnan and had one older brother and four sisters! I remember thinking how fun his childhood must’ve been having such a big family! I myself only had one brother and one sister. 

Later he moved to Nanjing where he worked for the Prince of Yan. It seems that he enjoyed his time working for the Prince. It was during this time that he was able to go to school and learn a lot about a lot of different things. They say that if he had stayed in Yunnan, he might not have ever had the chance to have a good education like he got in Nanjing. Nanjing was the capital of China at the time. He also was called Sanbao at the time, which had something to do with three jewels, a Buddhist name. When I heard this, I thought, “Wow, this guy has had three different names in his life? Mahe, Sanbao, and Zhenghe.” It made me glad that I only had one name!

When I first started working on the ship, it was the second time that Zhenghe went on a big trip. This time were were going South, maybe even to go around to where a place called India was. All of us were excited because this was the first time many of us had ever left Yunnan or our country before. It took us what seemed like a long time to get there, but we weren’t alone. There were about fifty other ships going with us. Ours was one of the biggest ships and Zhenghe himself was on our ship. When we finally got to the first place we were going to, I was surprised to walk around and see people that I couldn’t understand. Their language, clothes, and food were all so different! We ended up going to a lot of places that first trip I went on. Since then, I’ve been on at least two other trips.

The last trip we went on we saw a lot of people with dark skin color. Their clothes were beautiful and colorful and the animals we saw were crazy! We saw an animal that looked like a white horse with black stripes on it. They said this animal was called a Zebra. We also saw an  animal with a really long neck and spots on it, which I’m told is a Giraffe. We brought back some of these with us to China and everyone thought that these animals were great. They, like me before this, had never see any animals like them before!

I’ve been told that we’re going on another big trip in a few months. Generally, each of these trips takes from a few months to over a year. They’re saying that this trip might even take up to two years and that there might be more than one hundred ships coming with us! I wonder if I’ll be on the same ship as Zhenghe again or a different one. Sometimes I’m on the same ship, the big ship, and sometimes I’m on a smaller one. I like to be on the big ship because it’s more exciting. The big ship is always the first ship to go and being on the same ship as Zhenghe is really cool. 

Epilogue: Although the story about this sailor isn’t true, Zhenghe was a real person and one of the great explorers China has ever had. Zhenghe (1371-1433 or 1435) took seven trips to different countries to explore, trade, and let more of the world know about China. It’s said that when he took his first trip, there were thousands of sailors and up to three hundred ships! He was supposed to bring back treasures for the Emperor. These trips were such a big deal that they started a special school in Nanjing for people to learn other languages to go on the ships and work as translators once they got to the other countries on the ships. Zhenghe died on his seventh and last trip of unknown causes. He never made it back to China.