Post #14 Form B (FINAL POST!!!)

A lot happened to Heavenlight in a very short period of time. She had an affair with the son of the Emperor, Little Phoenix. Then the emperor died. She went off to become a nun at a monastery. Little Phoenix, the new Emperor, called her back to him. She gave birth to his son. She became a concubine. She then had the Empress kicked out and killed after Heavenlight’s daughter was poisoned by the Empress. She became the new Empress. She gave birth to another son. She had her sister become a concubine to the Emperor as well so that his interests would not leave the immediate family. “The Emperor had stopped pursuing the beauties to spend alternate nights in our beds.” (131) Her sister’s daughter fell into favor with the Emperor. “I learned that the sovereign’s heart had been inflamed once more and that his conquest had already been consummated. Her name was Harmony. She was Purity’s daughter.” (135) Her sister died of sadness upon hearing about the relationship. And her niece, Harmony, hates her guts. Talk about a whirlwind of activity and a ton of incest.

Post #13 Form A

“The Empress had been married at fourteen, and now, at twenty-two, her stomach was still flat, while in the other palace, a succession of concubines and slaves brought imperial children into the world. Infertility is a major crime committed toward the ancestors, and any man whose wife is sterile is free to repudiate her. Many former Empresses had lost their titles on these grounds, and the Empress Want was well aware of the danger that threatened her.” (102) In America women are not looked down upon just because they can’t have children. In fact, since decent birth control was available to women, many choose not to have any children. Also, in America a husband can’t repudiate his wife just because she is sterile. A husband can’t repudiate his wife at all. There is only divorce, not renouncement married couples who no longer wish to be married. This is a big culture shock and shows just how little worth a women was given in ancient China. Especially a sterile one.

Post #12 Form B

People are very emotional in this book. Love, sorrow, wrath, jealousy, abandonment, loneliness, desperation, desire, it’s all here mixed together like a drama gone horribly astray. One moment people are in love, the next they are in mourning, the next they are jealous and inflict their anger on those around them. Many people have died from sorrow and abandonment. “I stayed at the bedside of the Delicate Concubine Xu, trying to persuade her not to let herself die. Beneath her linen sheet, she weighed little more than a feather. She spat blood and was wracked by violent coughing. She reached out for me with her frozen bony hand. We talked endlessly about our first few years in the Side Court, the Institute of Letters, and the late sovereign. I begged her to receive a doctor. She smiled and gave me no reply. I could see in her eyes her determination to follow her master into the next world. She died a few days later.” (86) Many more have been killed as a result of wrath and jealousy. It all happens so quickly that after a while it’s hardly even noticeable just how many emotions are experienced on each page.

Post #11 Form A

“There was much talk of the future. But was there any future for the concubines of the dead sovereign? The mothers of kings may have been able to join their children posted in the province-kingdoms, but ordinary women had to choose between living in the funerary palace of the August Deceased, becoming nuns in monasteries, or dying alone in the Side Court.” (84) This is a major cultural difference. In ancient China, the women within the Forbidden City belonged to the sovereign. If that sovereign died they no longer belonged there and the new sovereign would bring in his own women for the Forbidden City. Those who had belonged to the deceased sovereign had to choose between going to live in the funerary palace for the rest of their lives, devoting their lives to Buddhism and becoming nuns in monasteries, or killing themselves so as to join their sovereign after death. Um, we don’t do that anymore.

Post #9 Form A

“Now that my brother the King of Wei has removed his opponent, the title of heir automatically falls to him. He’s a suspicious man, a grudge-bearer. His accession will be the beginning of the end. He will kill all his brothers to keep his crown.” (75) This is a major cultural difference in this quote because, in America, the leader isn’t chosen by the previous leader, nor is the leadership hereditary. We vote on who our next leader will be we don’t seek a ‘mandate from heaven’. Also, no matter how venomous our politicians might be they don’t kill each other in order to gain the title of the next leader. If they were to kill anyone they would have no chance at attaining the title. Due to killing anyone being considered a terrible crime in the US, there isn’t any need for them to kill off their brothers in order to hold onto the right to the crown.

Post #10 Form B

Dear Shan Sa,
I have many praises for you. I admire how Empress has such vivid, figurative language yet still carries a heavy dose of bluntness. Your elusions and descriptions are beautifully written and the entire book has a poetic feel to it. “The palace of Precious Dew was displaying its beds of irises and orchids. With its ceilings as high as the vault of the heavens, its curtains of pearls, its screens inscribed with calligraphy, and its succession of sinuous galleries, it was a labyrinth of intrigue. Its countless doors opened onto a little corner of sky, a sloping roof, a window in the shape of a crescent moon, a rockery smothered in the twisted limbs of a wisteria or an emerald pond around which white cranes flitted.” (70) Every character has many sides and emotions which are far more complex and developed than even some people.Yet you do not falter at even the most taboo of subjects. I admire that. I truly do. However, amongst the admirations there are also questions for you. What about Empress Wu’s tale inspired you to write this book? How much of her tale is historic, how much is myth, and how much stems from your imagination?
Your admiring reader,
Virginia

Post #7 Form A

“The rebel province was overcome by the imperial army’s attack. The King of Qi was brought to the Capital in chains. A decree from the sovereign stripped him of his position, his title, and his nobility. Now deposed, reduced to the state of a commoner and imprisoned, he received the order to commit suicide.” (73) This is a major cultural difference for a ton of reasons. First, we don’t really chain people up anymore. People are handcuffed but the way it’s phrased in this sentence it sounds like more than just handcuffs. Secondly, in the US at least, we don’t really have ‘nobility’ nor do we give orders to commit suicide. And even if the order to commit suicide was given to someone, it is very unlikely that they would carry it out unlike in ancient China.