Analysis
One Idiom a Day: Chinese Wisdom in Stories
塞翁失马，焉知非福（Sàiwēng shī mǎ, yān zhī fēi fú） “Sai Weng lost his horse. Who knows if it may not turn out to be a good thing?” During the Warring States period, an old man lived near the northern border of China. People called him Sai Weng .
By Frances Gaoabout 6 hours ago in BookClub
What were the different types of beggars in ancient China, and what was their living situation like?
In ancient China, during the Han Dynasty, beggars were referred to as "qi gai" (乞丐), but at that time, beggars were not merely those seeking basic necessities such as food. Some also relied on unique personal skills to obtain various resources. Before the Song Dynasty, beggars were commonly known by different terms such as "qi ren" (乞人), and "gai ren" (丐人). It was only after the Song Dynasty that the term "qi ge" began to refer specifically to individuals who sought only survival resources.
By cn_exploreabout 10 hours ago in BookClub
How did ancient Chinese people purify water and what challenges did they face
Ancient people primarily drank well water, although they also consumed surface water such as river water, stream water, and lake water. These water sources are free from modern industrial pollution, but they still pose risks of contamination by microorganisms and parasites.
By cn_explore2 days ago in BookClub
How a Disappointing Book Made Me Reflect on 9/11
Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu has a simple premise. People in a community receive an emergency alert on their cell phones to seek immediate shelter due to an incoming missile, and find out about 15 minutes later that it was a false alarm. I thought it would be a community reacting together to address the following question: What would you do with the last few minutes if your death was imminent, and would you be happy or regret that decision when you find out that impending doom wasn’t coming? If that was what you were looking for, then I am sorry to disappoint. Instead of a book where a group of people reacts to annihilation, we get a collection of short stories where the majority of them have the emergency alert as a footnote at the end of the story.
By J. Davis Mallory6 days ago in BookClub
The Writing Boom and the Reading Bust: An Uneven Literary Landscape
Feasting on: I’m Done Publishing Aarsh Malik On Vocal Media, and I felt his pain. So, I went deeper into myself as a writer who had been writing for more than twenty years, had written more than five books, co-authored some books, and published more than 2000 articles on various writing platforms. His words forced me to ask myself this question:
By Annelise Lords 14 days ago in BookClub
