History, Fiction, and Myth

• Limit historical account or the brevity of it often gives people room to write fiction, reconstruct facts, and create myth

• First Emperor– Tyrannical character/personality

– Cruel and inhumane

– Endless ambition: the Great Wall, the Mausoleum

• Qian Long: “Perfect” Emperor with Ten Completions• Image, Myth and Reality?

• Cultural Heroes: – Kong Ming: a nearly omniscient military s

trategist/advisor

• Military Hero– Lord Guan: an unsurpassable military man

/general/hero

• Heroine:– Ban Zhao– Empress Wu

• Image, Myth and Reality?

• The Great Wall– Legend associated with Qin Wall and walls con

structed by the feudal states during the Warring States Period

– Great Wall throughout Chinese history

• Early Maps of China and the myth of the Great Wall

Myth Related to Public Work

Myth related to women and custom

• Women as a totally suppressed and exploited class

• Footbinding throughout Chinese history