Blog Post 4

We danced. We laughed. We celebrated. In our minds, that is. Kublai Khan wanted us. I think we were going to become Mongols.

“Yeah, I guess that’s cool,” stammered Chao.

“Pfff, Chao you sound like my grandma when I ask her what she does for work. “Oh you know...I get around. Um, listen I have to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Yup she grew up rich. Never had to work a day in her life, but she’s gone now. Fey got a far away look in her eyes. I snap in front of her face to get her into the present again. My gosh,  I think, you think you’d pay attention when Marco Polo was standing in front of you. We knew all the people associated with Kublai Khan, and Marco Polo was one of them. He spoke again:

“Alright then. It’s settled. You will pack your things and follow me to where you will be introduced to Kublai Khan.”

“It sure is settled sir,” I said dumbfounded.

“Please call me Marco, young thief”

“Um, okay. Well, what are you waiting for boys, let’s get packing,” said Fey.

“I leave you three to it. I will be back in five minutes. Be ready or stay home.”

We all chatted excitedly about what was in store for us at the palace of the Great Khan.

“What do you think we will be doing guys. Personal thieves, spies, or even Mongols. We could become Mongols!” said Chao. Fey calmed him down, and we finished gathering our very small assortment of possessions and clothing. We exited our home with minutes to spare, but Marco Polo was there nonetheless. We silently followed him until we made it to a chariot. We passed an awful lot on the way there, but I am going to fast forward a while to when we made it to the palace. WHen we got there Marco Polo signaled the guards at the entrance in some way, and we entered. Kublai Khan was sitting on the throne.  Marco Polo introduced us and all three of us almost fainted. Three dusters were thrust into our hands. We laughed thinking it was a joke, but we were then ordered to start on the fifth floor, and dust all the rooms going up by nightfall in three hours. The reality of his words suddenly dawned on all of our faces. And so it goes. We all sighed and started planning our escape from the horrid palace. Looking back. I realize how really laughable the whole thing really was.

Blog Post 3

When we walked home (at least that’s what we called it) after and find a mysterious man walking next to us. He has a hooded jacket over his face and is walking next to us in unison. We think he must be just going our way, but that idea seem foolish by the time he is walking all the way to the road where our home was just a bush jump away. We lingered outside the bushes, but the man stopped with us. 
“What the hell. I really don’t care,” Fey said, “You wanna see inside our house Mr. Mysterious Man? Come on in. If you’re one of the watchers, don’t think too much of where all our stuff came from.” But I think we all knew that he wasn’t a watcher. Watchers were people that watch for crime in our city. The Mongols did a fine job, but our riverside city was “slightly neglected” according to the rich snobs in our town. The man stepped in to the bushes with us and stopped.
“This is our crib. We didn’t really expect any visitors. So sorry if our mess is bothering you,” Chao said sarcastically. Our house was made up of a fence of sticks (or rather 7 ft. tree pieces) with a roof of side by side sticks. It was cozy even though it wasn’t the most durable. Inside we had a lot of stolen goods. There were linen blankets on the ground, for silk was too expensive. It was our masterpiece and it was the closest place to home for all of us.
“What Chao meant to say was welcome to our home,” I said, giving Chao a look.
“Geez Cheng! He’s the one barging into our house uninvited!” I rolled my eyes. The mysterious man had not said one word, or acknowledged any of us at all. We waited. Fey spoke up:
“Hey! Mr. Mysterious. You followed us to our home. Now what. Do. You. Want?! The mystery man looks at her and takes a long look at her with his eyes barely showing from under his hood.
“I am here to take you away,” he said in a raspy voice. 
“Um, seriously who are you?” Fey asked in a snarky tone.
“Supporter, friend, and ambassador of Kublai Khan and the Mongols.”
“Okay. I might like you a bit more, but can you please tell us your name,” I said in an irritated tone.
“My name is Marco Polo.” He took off his hood and we all gasped and stared.

Blog post 2

Turns out that the cellar I was in, I wasn’t invited into. Lets just say there was some hitting (them) and some running (me) involved. I ran. On, and on, and on before finally resting with my back against a hard Taiwania tree. The bark smelling so natural and fresh that I just wanted to drift off...no! I will not drift off. I am not going to drift off. I do not want to be late to meet my friends! I wish that the China that was conquered by the Mongols, would be just like the China it was before the Mongols took over. As my mother used to say: Those 懊惱 Mongols, (those annoying mongols...well, maybe she didn’t say exactly that). Some time later I wake up back against the tree, and I realize I haven’t eaten in 2 days! That shows how poor I am. I walk for a while until I feel gravel crunching beneath my feet. Now you might be pondering those “friends” I have, and I don’t blame you. I live with those friends, actually. One might say we are almost like family. A family of thieves that is. I walk to the side of the road and dive into the bushes when I think nobody is watching. I see Chao walking toward me. We exchange hellos, and set off to find Fen. We find her and start our trek to the silk road. It didn’t take long. Fen said if we kept living like this, we would become soft. Chao and I laughed and said that she would never be soft, ever. We made it to the main road, and found the first merchant selling food. We bought the three bowls of rice with the money we just recently stole from an innocent passerby. We ate our rice in companionable silence.

Blog post 1

Tuesday, April 19, 1266

I am not in despair or grieving the people of my past, for they will not be in my future. My present is my life, but the future is always unknown. That must be what I love about it. I am not proud of my past, and I am trying to make my future something to be proud of. Where I am going in this spontaneous life of mine? I woke up in a dank, empty cellar of which I had no recollection at all. Today was already off to a bad start. I stand up and I have a painful throbbing in my head, but I know I am happy, for Genghis Khan had lead the Mongols to take over China in its entirety. I don’t understand the fuss. It was going to happen unquestionably. The thing is Genghis couldn’t live forever, so his grandson Kublai Khan eventually became our leader. Dictator one might say, but what do I care, I am not perfect either. Kublai Khan is actually a great ruler, why else would he be called “Great Khan.” -He asked to be called that you say? Yeah, but so did five family members before him. What difference does it make?- The people of China are divided into two main groups. The supporters and the protesters. I don’t know why the supporters only consist of my friends and me, but I know there are assorted people across China whom are too obsessed with what their peers will think of them to come out and say they wish they were one of the Mongols. Poor, opinion deprived people. Being safe in no fun! I say all hail Kublai Khan, but that might just be because I secretly hope I will be accepted to join their revolt. Wait, it isn’t rebellion if it’s legal is it? Well, what does it matter? Me and my childish dreams. Why am I so entwined in my thoughts when I should be living my life like a normal Mongol-loving, lazy, aloof, sullen teenage boy who has lost everything he loved, and it’s all his fault. Too bad there is only one of those in our world. And his hand is moving the ink over these very pages you are now reading.

Yuan Dynasty Puppet Pilgrimage Blog Post #4

I have finally arrived in Nanjing! Oh sorry I forgot to introduce myself, I am Puff the magic dragon from America. I’m traveling up a portion of the Yangtze River from Shanghai to Nanjing. It is short and sweet. But now back to the point. I am in Nanjing! I have made it to my friend’s house that had prepared food for me in advance. I was so hungry I ate all of it. There were lots of fruits, nuts and things that were grown because of the improved agriculture. Then I went to bed because I was so tired from the walk. Now it is the next morning I am going to see the sights. The first place I am going to is the Sarira pagoda in Qixia Temple it was built in AD 601. The Sarira pagoda looks really cool and the whole temple does too. My next stop is a bixie sculpture at Xiao Xiu’s tomb it was built in AD 518. The stone sculpture of the southern dynasties is considered as the cities icon. I thought it was superb but it was just a statue. Now I am eating lunch at my friends house it is just as good as the food before because of obvious reasons. It is because of the economy uplift and the agriculture blah blah blah. After I eat I will then have to go home. It is sad but now it is time to go back to America. My travels have been fun. Puff the magic dragon leaving.

Yuan Dynasty Puppet Pilgrimage Blog Post #3

I am Puff the magic dragon and this is my 3rd journal entry. I am traveling up a portion of the Yangtze River to see the sights and learn new things. Right now I am walking all the way to Nanjing, from Shanghai. I know it seems like a long way but I am ready for it plus it will give me time to think. If my calculations are right then I will arrive in Nanjing in 6 days. It is morning now so I shall leave. I will sadly not be walking up the river for time reasons but I will see it once I get to Nanjing. On my way I will see people who trade. First I am traveling to Kunshan, when I get there I will stay where I can. I think there will plenty of places to stay because of the advances in economy that were made. The next day I will walk to Suzhou, I can only stop for one night though. I would kind of like to stay longer to understand the culture. But I can’t I must make it to Nanjing. My only problem is money I may not have enough to make it all of the to Nanjing because everything is more expensive to the rich. I guess I’m rich. Did you know they started printing paper money? It is so cool. My next stop will be Wuxi. I will try to be cheap on wear I stay. Then I will go to Changzhou by then my feet will probably be killing me. But I have to push on because I want to see Nanjing. My final stop before I go to Nanjing will be in Danyang it will be the longest walk yet. It will be probably more than a full day. I am so excited. I shall arrive in Nanjing on the sixth night with practically no money. But I do have a place to stay, with an old friend from America. Now I must start my very long journey to Nanjing!

All About Daily Life (Puppets Pilgrimage)

Daily Life:

First of all, we are going to talk about the rich people. The main part of a wealthy Mongol woman’s dress was the tall “gugu” headdress. It was usually worn with a fancy robe also with shiny bands at the neck and wrists. An assistant carried these for the rich Mongol women. At court, they also wore less fancy things like decorated overcoats. Now, on to the men. They would wear a signature garment with cummerbund waist. They were made of fabrics associated with specific ethnic groups. For special events, they would wear robes usually of cloth of gold, also called nasij, and had pearls and expensive stones. On casual days, men would wear less formal long garments with colorful badges on their chest and back. Also causal everyday belts for activities such as hunting. Chinese theater developed the most in the Yuan Dynasty. There were short plays, skits, and monologues. They Yuan Dynasty drama become a very popular and well seen form of entertainment. Being social was a big part of daily life in China in the Yuan Dynasty. Because the Chinese emperor was from Mongolia, Mongols were always high up in the social class. I want to be at the top of the social class too! At the second social class level were foreigners and people with government jobs. At the bottom were architects, military engineers, poets, musicians, etc. Dinner was the most important meal of the day for the Yuan people. They sat at a round table with a round bowl in the center. I guess they like round stuff! The bowl had boiling water that they would all dip pieces of mutton and vegetables in the water in the round bowl until the mutton and vegetable were fully cooked. Sounds like fondue! It is interesting to compare our daily life to theirs!    

-Karliel/Karl

All About Religion (Puppets Pilgrimage)

Religion:

I know and I have seen many different religion beliefs and practices. China has always been a multi-religion country for a very very long time. Chinese religion is not an organized system of beliefs and practices. It also has no leadership, no headquarters, no founder, or no denominations. One religion is buddhism and a few more are taoism, confucianism, Islam religion, Christianity and the Mongolians had their own religious practices. Most of the religions have special songs and different styles of clothing. When I visited China last year, I noticed they still had the same clothing and songs as they did when the Yuan Dynasty occurred. Confucianism is a well known and popular religion in China. Buddhism is now one of the most important religions in China, even before Confucianism. There are three different kinds of Buddhism. They are Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Southern Buddhism. Each of them have a different number of monks and temples. Buddhism and Taoism were the main religions in the Yuan Dynasty. Outside of the Dynasty, there were about 300 Taoist temples all around China, scattered along with 3,000 Taoist that lived in them. There were two unique religions that belong to the Mongolian minority. They were called Shamanism and Totemism. Those are some crazy names for religions. Mongolian rulers encouraged the religious culture of the Yuan Dynasty. Buddhism was the Mongolian’s own religion. Also, the religion of Taoism was their own religion. So now I know that religion was very important for the Chinese and me!    

-Karliel/Karl

All About Animals (Puppets Pilgrimage)

Animals:

Some of the animals along Wuhan and Chongqing are traded and some are just wanderers. Me as Karliel or Karl whatever you prefer, I think I would like to be a wandering animal, an animal that gets thrown around in different humans hands or I would not like to be someones responsibility. I want to be free as an animal. Not saying I am one, hehe. Since humans are animals I now know that people have special songs and religious things that they do for their religion. I know that because I saw a video on the internet that I searched up about religion and I even tried to do it with the people, also remember humans are always going to be mammals and animals. Camels, horses, goats, and sheep were traded for their meat, some of them for dairy, some of them for the animal being able to carry supplies on a big trip, and for their local needs. Horses were also used in the military to ride on and also used for chariots. People rode camels to get to places while the camels would carry all of the people’s belongings. They would walk in long lines of camels called caravans. Camels were the most popular animal to ride, followed by horses. Donkeys were also popular during this time in China for similar uses. They relied on livestock for social life to keep people wealthy and so they could keep their jobs. Herds of animals provided many things, such as meat, dairy, wool, and leather. They made clothes, meals, and household items out of those things.

-Karliel/Karl

All About Food (Puppets Pilgrimage)

Food:

In the Yuan Dynasty people have many kinds of foods. Watermelon and sorghum were discovered in paintings and that is how they became popular. Tea cost a lot of money, but it was very popular. I wonder why it was so expensive! Apparently, this was because it took a long time to pick the tea leaves, make the tea, and roast it. Yuan people hunted a lot and that is how they got meat by riding horses and hunting. Oh la la! Mutton and grain act as staple foods. Food in the Yuan Dynasty has central Asian style which means they are more milk products. There was advanced shipping and because of that a lot of food was imported. When Marco Polo came, there was a general overview of two periods of chinese food focused on different features of usual foods of different dynasties. This is how it became what it is today. On the Silk Road, people would trade different types of food such as grains, spices, vegetables, fruits, and meats. Yum! I looked at a meat stew recipe that the Yuan Dynasty would make. It uses meat from the backbone of the pigs. When it soaks, the delicious flavors are made. Another recipe that I saw that looked delicious was tangyuan,or also called the “tang yuan.” It is a chinese recipe made from glutinous rice and is served in boiling hot water. Tangyuan was a food that people would destroy during festivals. It is a festival food that some would eat because it has become a dessert over the years. Food is one of my favorite things to research! That you for letting me express my new knowledge!

-Karliel/Karl

Yuan Dynasty Puppet Pilgrimage Blog Post #1

I am Puff the Magic Dragon from America; I am traveling up a portion of the Yangtze River. It is the Yuan Dynasty. Before I begin my journey let me tell how the Yuan Dynasty began. It started with Genghis Khan who led the Mongols to defeat a lot of china. But the founder and ruler of the Yuan dynasty was Genghis’s son Kublai Khan. It is the first time foreigners have ruled over China and the first time they initiated direct contact between China and the west. There was then a new capital being built in 1266 AD based on traditional Chinese models. That is how the Yuan dynasty began; now it is still growing but hasn’t changed much. The government of the Yuan dynasty has little Chinese officials. I will start in Shanghai and see as much sights as possible. Then I will travel up stream any way I can. I will end in Nanjing, seeing the culture and the sights there. I know, I know it’s not very far to travel but my time is short. Besides my other colleagues are traveling up the rest of the Yangtze River. That reminds me, I also need to tell you more about the Yangtze River. People here in China call it the Chang Jiang or the Yangzi. It is the longest river in Asia and the third longest river in the world. It stretches 6,300 kilometers from the glaciers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Qinghai across southwest, central and eastern China, it ends in the East China Sea at Shanghai.

Yuan Dynasty Puppet Pilgrimage Blog Post #2

I am Puff the Magic Dragon from America; I am traveling up part of the Yangtze River to see the trades and sights. I am starting at the end, in Shanghai and ending in Nanjing. The river here is pretty; it splits into different parts that end up in the ocean. Everything here is pretty, especially the agriculture. The crops here are very "interesting," there is: sorghum and cotton that were introduced recently. Sorghum and cotton are also trades among China. I hear years back it was really dull here in Shanghai. It must have flourished, art is accepted everywhere. I think a new era is beginning it is beautiful. There is theatre and opera, but that sounds boring I'd rather do something more fun. There is an easy government that lets scholars teach in private academies, they do not have to teach at government schools. There is advanced technology in the Yuan dynasty in China. There is so much more things than there used to be. The newer Tech is brought by merchants oversea, stuff like: horses carpets, medicines and spices. Important items from China were also exported, things including: textiles, ceramics and lacquer ware. These are for other countries to share the wealth with china, I suppose. In Shanghai I found the culture is very compelling my travel up the Yangtze River I have found that China is very interesting. Next I will travel to Nanjing along the Yangtze River and I can't wait to see what I will find.