The Writer's Garret

As The World Turns – “Beijing: the Forbidden City”

Lesson 5

Grades: 6-12 Time: 1-2 hours

Overview: Building on prior lessons, students will sit on their hand-designed magic carpets and imagine flying across the Pacific, over Hawai’i and the many island nations along the way, before landing in Asia. Students will briefly stop by Taiwan and Hong Kong, and be introduced to the ways they are similar and different from the mainland of China. Students will discuss how these three distinctly Chinese locales grew apart. Their common heritage will converge at “The Ballad of Mulan,” where they will consider Chinese poetry, calligraphy, symbols, and art. They will take a trip to the Palace Museum (also known as the Forbidden City). Students will record their thoughts and impressions of Asia and China in their travel journals.

Objectives: Students will have the opportunity to explore differences between East and West. explore Asian-American heritage. explore U.S. connections with China. learn about the concept of “global economy.” expand vocabulary and learn Asian roots to some commonly used concepts. explore importance of geography and setting to historical and sociological benchmarks. understand how culture and ideology can impact and history. understand how science and technology have shaped the Modern Age. explore the relationships between ideas and things in language and culture. practice calligraphy. practice expository writing. study Chinese visual and written art forms. study an ancient Chinese ballad showing gender empowerment hundreds of years earlier.

Preparation:

Review fact sheets on Taiwan and Hong Kong; Chinese calligraphy; and The Palace Museum; Review "The Ballad of Mulan," which was only touched on briefly the day before. Look into the “yueh-fu” poetic form. Review calligraphy and poems from prior meeting day. Bring pens / pencils, large labels, colored sharpies, paper, card stock, scissors, glue for fans. Make sure you have all permission forms, evaluations, or required reports for granting or administrative purposes, and have reserved projectors and computer rooms as needed. Bring in maps /globse, travel magazines, and travel books. Bring travel journals and magic carpets to class. Review these sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/ GREAT Video: http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide- 191501619-beijing_vacations-i The Writer's Garret

Points for Discussion & Emphasis:

1-Finish discussing the relationship(s) between Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Where have student, friends, and / or family traveled to any of these locations? Where is Taiwan in relation to China? Where is Hong King in relation to China? What is (or was) "The Republic Of China"? Who are the "Four Asian Tigers"? What does "Formosa" mean (the former name of Taiwan, it is Portuguese for "Beautiful Island"). What happened in Hong King in 1997? What is the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin? What is vernacular? Can we think of ways we have formal speech in English vs. informal speech? Which countries first colonized these two territories, and what has the lasting impact of that colonial history been? Are there territories in or associated with the United States that make for good comparisons to Taiwan and Hong King? How so?

2-Discuss the structure, meaning, and cultural importance of "The Ballad of Mulan.” What is a ballad? What is a folk tale? How old is the story of Mulan? What is yueh-fu form and how is it related to haiku? What is the concept of "gender"? Why does Mulan want to go to war? Why do you think the poem ends with a question? What is a pictogram? (Show ancient examples: Native American rock art; Egyptian hieroglyphs; Aztec and / or Mayan glyphs. Show modern examples: road signs; symbols such as "Recycle" and "No Smoking".) What is an ideogram? How different would your experience be if you could read this poem in the original Chinese?

3-Discuss the Palace Museum / Forbidden City and Beijing. What is a Museum? Why are museums important? What elements of Chinese culture from that era survive today? Why was this location known as the "Forbidden City"? What is porcelain? What is jade? Why do they have symbolic meaning for the Chinese? Do we have precious stones or metals that have symbolic meaning for us? What does “gold” mean to us? Do see examples of symbolism in the Palace Museum? Did any of the students watch the Olympics in Beijing? Why is Tiananmen Square the heart of Chinese Culture to the Chinese? Why do Westerners view it differently? How does this event parallel what we learned about Kent State? Was this another case of “Civil Disobedience”? The Writer's Garret

Classroom Procedure: Presentation: 10-15 minutes Spin globe to show students once again the trek from Japan to China. Students will make sure they have their passports in a safe place, hop on their magic carpets, and head down to Tawian. Discussion #1. Share maps of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China.

Presentation, "The Ballad of Mulan": 10-15 minutes Have class members read "The Ballad of Mulan" aloud, stanza by stanza, round-robin fashion. Discussion #2. Show class original (Chinese character) version of "The Ballad of Mulan".

Individual Writing Exercise, Chinese calligraphy: 20-50 minutes 1. Circulate the Chinese calligraphy handout (provided) and discuss the basics of how Chinese characters translate "things" into "ideas", and how, in Chinese calligraphy, pictures form words. 2. Have students practice making new characters to express certain ideas from the provided subset of Chinese characters. 3. Have students develop their own system of pictographic writing, and use those pictographs to capture or describe important ideas from "The Ballad of Mulan". Help those students who feel uncomfortable drawing by suggesting simple, stylized ways to describe certain ideas through things. Encourage students to draw upon their private / personal associations to turn these abstractions into concrete expressions. 4. Alongside these pictures they are to write a small poem that captures their sense of being in China. 5. Students will then put this on a piece of paper, glue on the calligraphy, their poem, and anything else they want to create a fan to demonstrate the elegance of visual, tactile, and written art inspired by the Far East and beauty of China. Presentation, The Palace Museum / Forbidden City: 10-20 minutes Show students provided images of The Forbidden City in Beijing. Show students provided images of pottery / porcelain, jewelry and bronze sculptures from The Palace Musuem. Discussion #3. Individual Writing Exercise, Travel Journal (optional): 10-15 minutes Students should write 1-2 paragraphs in their journals about what they see, smell, taste and who they interact with in China. The Writer's Garret

Preparing Students for next meeting: 5 minutes Make sure students get forms filled out and signed by parents or guardians. Have students bring in a towel for next meeting. Have students consider which of their written pieces they like the best to select for revision and inclusion in the anthology.

Suggestions, Comments, Enhancements, & Modifications: Make sure that more time is spent on students “experiencing” the material rather than hearing you talk about it. Make certain you leave enough time for making the journal, adding in an itinerary, writing in it, and reading work aloud. Use a lot of comparisons with our life in the U.S. to other places in the world, emphasizing similarities over differences. Ask students for analogous situations or common cultural traits or purposes. If their families are from other countries (e.g., Mexico, Vietnam), ask them to share additional, personal comparisons. Don’t try to cover every topic—but do focus on those that can invite healthy debate and opportunities to think “big” thoughts. Feel free to reduce the number of writing and group assignments to permit a deeper writing exploration of the remaining assignments. Encourage contemporary and personal connections with geographically or temporally removed material. Make sure that students know to be respectful of one another when commenting on each other’s work or participating in small groups. Encourage ongoing design additions to their magic carpet and daily writing in their journals. Make sure in advance and obtain permission if necessary for computer usage, and be prepared to bring ample picture books, magazines, poems, etc. if necessary so that all students can be engaged! Hua Mulan

This article is about a legendary Chinese heroine. For the Disney film based on this person, see Mulan. For the protagonist of the Disney film, see Fa Mulan. Hua Mulan

Oil painting on silk, "Hua Mulan Goes to War"

Traditional Chinese

Simplified Chinese

Hanyu Pinyin Hu Mùlán

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Hua Mulan (Chinese: ; pinyin: Hu Mùlán; Wade–Giles: Hua1 Mu4-lan2) is a legend from ancient China and was originally described in a Chinese poem known as the Ballad of Mulan ( ). In the legend she fought for 12 years and merited 12 ranks of rewards, which she refused and retired back home instead.

The historical setting of Hua Mulan is uncertain. The earliest accounts of the legend state that she lived during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534). As a child, Mulan loved riding horses around her gaff and shooting arrows, as well as reading books about war, as she was from an area dedicated to practicing the arts of fighting. It is recorded that she was born around Hú Nán Sh ng Ch i Shì, a province in northern ancient China that practiced the arts of the sword, as well as fighting and kung fu. Mulan was around 18 when she joined an all- male army in place of her father, who was too old, and a younger brother who was still too young. During her war years, she fought against forces from the Middle East and the Mongolian/nomadic tribes, and was able to claim victory for China for a short period of time. She was then offered a title, but rejected it and went home. It is said that she died of old age, not from war. History

The Ballad of Mulan was first transcribed in the Musical Records of Old and New ( ) in the 6th century, the century before the founding of the Tang Dynasty. The original work no longer exists, and the original text of this poem comes from another work known as the Music Bureau Collection ( ), an anthology of lyrics, songs, and poems, compiled by Guo Maoqian ( ) during the 11th or 12th century. The author explicitly mentions the Musical Records of Old and New as his source for the poem. The poem is a ballad, meaning that the lines do not necessarily have equal numbers of syllables. The poem is mostly composed of five-character phrases, with just a few extending to seven or nine.

The story was expanded into a novel during the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Over time, the story of Hua Mulan rose in popularity as a folk tale among the Chinese people on the same level as the Butterfly Lovers. It is one of the first poems in Chinese history to support the notion of gender equality. In 1998, Disney released an animated movie entitled Mulan based on the story. In the movie Mulan served the Chinese emperor against the Nomadic invaders. According to the Ballad of Mulan she actually served the Khan, a commonly used title of a nomadic tribe leader. However, several Chinese dynasties which had originated from nomadic peoples but were later highly sinicized, kept using this nomadic title in some occasions along with the Chinese title of "emperor". The Northern Wei dynasty, being one of them, was founded by Xianbei people in the 4th century, and later suffered new waves of nomadic invasions from Rouran. This period of history matches with the scenarios described in the Ballad, which is the reason why Northern Wei is widely considered to be the right period when the story happened.

Name

In Chinese, the compound word mulan ( ) refers to the "Magnolia liliiflora" (mù by itself means "wood" and lán means "orchid"). The heroine of the poem is given different family names in different versions of her story. According to History of the Ming, her family name is Zhu, while the History of the Qing say it is Wei. The family name Hu ( , meaning "flower") has become the most popular in recent years in part because of its more poetic meaning.

Films

The story of Hua Mulan has inspired a number of film and stage adaptations without taking into account pre- modern Chinese plays and operas about the subject. These include the following:

Hua Mulan Joins the Army (1927 film) – a Chinese silent film released by the Tianyi Film Company and directed by Li Pingqian. Mulan Joins the Army (1928 film) – Mingxin Film Company production, directed by Hou Yao. The film was unsuccessful, in part due to the Tianyi film that was released the previous year. Mulan Joins the Army (1939 film) – popular Chinese film made during the war, directed by Bu Wancang. Lady General Hua Mulan (1964 film) – Hong Kong opera film. A Tough Side of a Lady (1998 film) – Hong Kong TVB drama series of Mulan starring Mariane Chan as Hua Mu Lan. Mulan (1998 film) – Disney animated feature based on the Mulan legend. The Secret of Mulan (1998 film) - a low budget animated film combining Mulan with A Bug's Life. Mulan II (2004 film) – Disney animated sequel following Mulan. Hua Mu Lan (1999 series) – Taiwan CTV period drama serial starring Anita Yuen as Hua Mu Lan. Mulan (2009 film) – Live action film about the Chinese Legend. Stars Zhao Wei (Vicky Zhao) as Hua Mulan and Chen Kun as Wentai, and theme song sung by award-winning songstress Stefanie Sun. Mulan (2011 film) directed by Jan de Bont, produced by Christopher J. Brough, written by John Blickstead, starring Zhang Ziyi

English language literature

Yao Mulan, Lin Yutang's main character in his 1939 English-language novel Moment in Peking, is named after the legendary warrior. Maxine Hong Kingston re-visited Mulan's tale in her 1975 text, The Woman Warrior. Kingston's version popularized the story in the West and led to an adaptation by Disney, but contained many arbitrary changes that have been widely criticized by other Asian-American scholars, such as Frank Chin.[citation needed] In The Dragonstone by Dennis McKiernan (1996), the character Aiko is a Hua Mulan inspired warrior who sneaks off to battle against imperial decree. In the alternative-history fantasy series Temeraire, by Naomi Novik, specifically, the book Throne of Jade (2006), the legend of Mulan is (indirectly) referred to, as a woman taking her father's place in the military, assuming the role of an aerial commander on dragonback. In deference to this honored legend, all officers in the Chinese Aerial Corps are women, which sets it apart from the English Corps, which uses female officers only for Longwings, a dragon breed which refuses male captains. Cameron Dokey created 'Wild Orchid' in 2009, a retelling of the Ballad of Mulan as part of the Once Upon A Time series of novels published by Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The Legend of Mu Lan: A Heroine of Ancient China[1] was the first English language picture book featuring the character Mulan published in the United States in 1992 by Victory Press.

Miscellaneous

Hua Mulan Crater on Venus is named after her.[2][3] A character inspired by Hua Mulan is the mascot of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 in China.[citation needed] New Tang Dynasty TV's 2006 Chinese Spectacular featured a stage performance of the story of Mulan. Hua Mulan was included as a card in the Anachronism card game by TriKings in 2005.[citation needed] In the Discovery Channel series "Warrior Women", aptly hosted by actress Lucy Lawless, the legend of Mulan is incorrectly referenced as having been inspired by the true story of Chinese female general Wang Cong'er. A black comedy parody of the Mulan story was done in American McGee's Grimm (2008–2009), in which the title character changes the story to make Mulan a bloodthirsty misandrist though it is untrue.

Games

Mulan has inspired a number of video games and characters adaptations taking Mulan into modern Chinese culture and across the globe. These include the following:

Mulan, a Disney video game featuring Hua Mulan Kingdom Hearts II, an RPG by Square-Enix and Disney Interactive Studios that features a world based on the Disney film

Bibliography

Dong, Lan. Mulan's Legend and Legacy in China and the United States (Temple University Press; 2010) 263 pages; Traces literary and other images of Mulan from premodern China to contemporary China and the United States. See also Woman warrior List of women warriors in folklore

Peach Blossom at Dalin Temple Bai Juyi

Person between fourth month fragrant Across the world this June, the petals all have fallen, fragrant end But the mountain temple's peach blossom has just Mountain temple peach blossom begin begun to bloom. bloom out I regretted so much that spring had gone without a Great regret spring go not find trace trace, Not know change over this here come I didn't know that it had only moved up here.

Marble Steps Complaint Li Bai

Jade steps grow white dew White dew grows on the marble steps, Night long encroach gauze stocking And in the long night, soaks into my stockings. But fall crystal curtain But now I let the crystal curtain down, Exquisite view autumn moon And gaze through it at the autumn moon.

View Chinese text in traditional characters.

Compare Ezra Pound's translation. Other Chinese poems about Separation and Autumn.