Chinese History

Meet my latest craze & interest: Chinese history.

I took interest since the multi-award movie Hero. The Great Qin ShiHuang 1st 'united' China. I would rather think of him as the one who 'formed' China.

Next was the drama of the beautiful concubines & their feud from the Qing dynasty (last dynasty of Imperial China): War & Beauty. I began to understand more. Turned out history isn't just about war, war, war & war.
I have always been more interested in cultural development & cultural revolution. Because, it is culture that builds charater. It is culture that makes us of what we are today. And it is culture that we behave the way we do.

I began my craze & ask my poor hubby so much question. I take as my Chinese encyclopedia simply for the reason of his Chinese literacy. i'm not kidding. His command in Chinese is very good.
Of course that doesn't mean he would know Chinese literature or history. But he has the basic knowledge better than anyone I can ask. Anytime. His father has an even greater knowledge, considering his Hong Kong background. But everytime he talks, I felt that I was listening to Cantonese literature instead. TAk faham.
And of course, that's where poor hubby came in as translator.

Recently having completed watching The Conqueror's Story (another HK TVB production). I directed even more question at details to my 'Chinese encyclopedia'. He gave up & told me to get some books to read about Chinese history. He went on to say that Chinese history is so long, I might have to read till 80yrs old and still might not finish them.

Now I would admit that my interest wouldn't last that long.

Asking question is the shortest route mah. Once he sent me off to evening nap so that he'd be left alone to watch the final Tennis match involving Federer. Too bad. I woke up at the last moments of the match.

Passed by MPH yesterday. Ah!!!! My luck! Illustrated book 'History of China from ancient to 1911'. Save all the physical description! Crown with beads.. Crown with bun. Whatever.. Just look at the pictures & read description of period & incidences. How nice.

Oh the names do drive me up the wall. I the Malay & English educated, can't make out of the Hanyu Pinyin words half the time. I'll probably be waiting for my 'Chinses encyclopedia' to be back for further clarification. But without the chinese characters, he'd stil be lost sometimes. That's the art of Chinese. To me. Chu & Chu are the same. Tell me about the strokes I would listen but keep my silence (thinking that it is Pluto language).

So.. for the moment I'm burying my nose into the 'comic'.