Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wang Shifu's New and Popular Stage Play!

WANG SHIFU’S NEW STAGE PLAY BEGINS

“THE ROMANCE OF THE WESTERN CHAMBERS”

1295 May 16th

By Liana Aleksanyan

Stage Literature

Dadu- It’s the most popular, dramatic love story created so far. People are going crazy for tickets and critics have nothing but good things to say. Coming out on May 16 1295, Wang Shifu’s, “The Romance Of The Western Chambers” is "China's most popular love comedy" and a "lover's bible. Wang Shifu wrote such a good play because Mongols wanted more than just some ordinary puppet shows like everyone else does.

Mongols started these shadow puppet plays. They began as a way to entertain themselves with simple puppet plays. But the Mongols wanted more than just some regular puppets. They wanted the finest entertainment for themselves. Then, provincial leaders came in and hired skilled, professional puppeteers. Mongols also wanted this because they decided they would like to have there own language and cultured puppets. The most prominent members of Dadu’s upper class are buying these expensive ten Yuan tickets. Not only was it in Mongolia that they made puppet plays but in twenty other different countries, including China. After Mongols got into shadow puppets the Han Dynasty got interest into them afterwards.

“Great play, one of the best I have ever seen. I especially like the dramatic scenes,” says Bao Yu, one of the audience members. There have been many good comments about this play. This story is about a boy and girl that fall in love. But the problem is the girl’s mother is strict with boys. And so the boy shows his feelings to the girl only by writing love poems. This shows that it’s greatly liked because it was not something Mongolians always watched.

Wang Shifu said that he has made fourteen plays so far. “We hope they come out soon! Cross your fingers!” Says Shifu. The night the play was over a play critic named Bang said, “ Astonishing! One of the best plays I have ever seen. He might be a big hit!” Seeing that one of the strict critics like his play was a shocker!

“The Romance Of The Western Chamber”- Cultural and Educational

Wang Shifu’s new play “The Romance Of The Western Chamber” is finally out! “Chinas most popular love comedy” and “lover’s bible” has struck light. Already people are going crazy and tickets are getting sold out. “The Romance Of The Western Chamber” is great for spreading culture all around the nation and other countries.

Wang Shifu’s “The Romance Of The Western Chamber” Inherits language arts of Tang and Song poems and it “absorbs folk language of all time.” Also, the fact that the girl’s mother in this story is very cultural will give others better ideas of society. This shows that “The Romance Of The Western Chamber” is spreading culture all around because it is involved in not just the Yuan Dynasty but also different ones like the Song and Tang. Second, young adults and teenagers are greatly interested in these types of poems and stories. It is known that people are more interested in drama and love scenes rather than other educational purposes. Having young people enjoy these types of plays or Wang Shifu’s play it will have a greater risk of more people talking about it. And having more people talking about it and it’s culture in the story will have others that have not seen it have a better understanding of life. Lastly, since this play was greatly popular and have much culture, it would influence other popular play writes/ puppeteers to do thing like it. To have more young people be interested in it and spread what they learned to others.

In the Ming Dynasty the play was considered “morally corrupting and dangerous.” But, the thing about that was that it’s life. The viewers were bound to know about the love affections sooner or later. It is still considered educational but entertaining.

In conclusion, Wang Shifu’s new play “The Romance Of The Western Chamber” was an educational, entertaining, and cultural story about two young lovers showing their passion for each other in a creative and artistic manner.

Getting To Have A Nice Talk With The Great Khan

Having an Interview With Kublai Khan

1) Question: What was your childhood like? And who are your family connections? Meaning, who are your ancestors?

Answer: I was born in 1215 and my parents are Toluia and Sorghaghtain Beki. I’m the grandson of Genghis Khan. My mother worked very hard raising three kids after my father has passed away. I have two brothers. Mongke is the oldest and Arigh Boki is the youngest. I’m the middle-aged child. When my older brother was ruler I was getting prepared to be next. I had my own military strength and a lot of responsibilities. When my older brother passed away, I became ruler.

2) Question: What were some big accomplishments you made in life? Or what were good things you did to help others?

Answer: People have been saying that I’m a good ruler and started to call me “Great Khan”. The rulers that were before me were known to be “brutal”. When I switched from being a conqueror to a ruler I made many developments in the Chinese culture. I provided a lot of religious freedom to my people. I established the first paper currency system, fixed roads, and expanded waterways. I also established a summer capitol in Shangdu.

3) Question: What was the relationship between you and Marco Polo?

Answer: Marco Polo was a good friend of mine. He would always go on journeys with his father Cathay. They went to Holy Land, Persia, and Tartary. I met Marcos father Cathay first. He taught me about the manners and customs of Europe. Every time I would see Marco Polo and Cathay I would always get so exited.

4) Question: What are something’s you might know about Marco Polo?

Answer: Marco Polo didn’t know Chinese that well at first so I didn’t talk to him much. But after living in China for a few years a finally started to talk fluently and I was able to interact with him. After a wile I gave Marco Polo a task. He worked as an envoy for me. When he was twenty-one I sent him on an important business trip. When he did all of his work he became a Chinese monarch. I would send him on trips to places that Europeans have never gone before. Later, after following all my tasks he eventually became governor of a great city.

5) Question: What are some of your interests?

Answer: When I turned twelve I became a skilled horseman and I very much enjoyed that. I liked that fact that I was a warrior at such a young age. I loved to learn about different religions and other customs. But what I mainly focus on is keeping my people safe and doing the best for them. Also, I would like to keep the Khan family background in good history.

Yuan Dynasty Map

The map above is a map of the Yuan Dynasty. (1271-1368). The Yuan Dynasty took over a lot of land and other nations besides China and Mongolia. Religions that accrued during the Dynasty was Buddhism, Confucianism, Shamanism/Tengriism, Christianity, and Islam. It took more land than the Song Dynasty. Ruler of the Yuan Dynasty was Kublai Khan or also known as the “Great Khan”. D

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Kublai Khan Brings Paper Currency

Liana Aleksanyan

Paper Currency is an invention in which people in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) would use to trade to get goods. Such as food and equipment just by trading paper. Instead of coins Kublai Khan decided that paper would be better and easier to use. The paper currency was used mostly all around the world, mainly in Europe. But Kublai Khan brought it to Asia in 1260 from one of his friends Marco Polo.

Marco Polo was a young explorer that lived during the time of the Yuan Dynasty. When Marco came to meet Kublai Khan he brought paper currency with him. That was when he showed Kublai the invention. But the Song Dynasty was the first to really introduce paper currency in 1023. But it didn’t spread around too much to get to other nations. After was the Yuan Dynasty and Kublai Khan really got into the paper currency. He only wanted people to trade with the paper, not with gold, silk, silver, bronze, etc. He would punish who ever used other things besides paper. Especially the foreigners.

There were good things that came out of the paper currency. Kublai Khan was able to improve roads and expand waterways. Making the citizens happier that their land was structured better. It also allowed making trading easier for the people.

Great Artist: Zi Zan 1306-1374

Ni Zan was a famous artist that lived during the Yuan Dynasty. He was raised by a wealthy family and lived in Jiangsu Province. Zan would keep a lot of antiques, paintings, poems, and calligraphy. He was a very artistic person. Since he traveled a lot with his family and needed places to stay he would go to other persons houses and pay them back with his beautiful paintings At first he would always paint riverbanks, and ink sketch work. Then later after when years went bye he would start to make paintings of bamboo. Every brush stroke he made had an emotional statement.