Contextualizing Chaoben: on the popular manuscript culture of the late Qing and Republican period in China -- Apologia in Chaoben -- Written in the margins: reading into texts -- Teacher Xu: entering a classroom in late Qing China -- A Qing dynasty astrologer's predictions for the future -- Constructing the family in Republican China: Shandong in text: comma here 1944 -- Mr. Bai and Mr. Qian earn their living: considering two handwritten in text: without hyphen notebooks of matching couplets from China in the late Qing and early Republic -- The troublesome ghosts: part 1 -- The troublesome ghosts: part 2.
Summary:
In this book, Ronald Suleski introduces daily life for the common people of China in the century from 1850 to 1950. They were semi-literate, yet they have left us written accounts of their hopes, fears, and values. They have left us the hand-written manuscripts (chaoben) now flooding the antiques markets in China. These documents represent a new and heretofore overlooked category of historical sources. 0Suleski gives a detailed explanation of the interaction of chaoben with the lives of the people. He offers examples of why they were so important to the poor laboring masses: people wanted horoscopes predicting their future, information about the ghosts causing them headaches, a few written words to help them trade in the rural markets, and many more examples are given. The book contains a special appendix giving the first complete translation into English of a chaoben describing the ghosts and goblins that bedeviled the poor working classes.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.