"The Courtesan's Tale" from Life Along the Silk Road, by Susan Whitfield, Director of the International Dunhuang Project, is a synthetic account, not a primary document.
Whitfield, former director of the International Dunhuang Project has created Larishka's tale from a composite of primary sources, this story is entirely plausible, and many of the specifics are documentable, but the narrative is created by Whitfield.
1. What are some of the ways that trade, politics, ethnicity and gender are related to each other in Larishka's life? Give specific examples from Whitfield's article.
2. What choices does Larishka have? What choices does she not have? What surprises you about this account of Larishka's "life"? What questions do you have about it?
3. Does the Larishka ‘biography' change your view of life in Tang dynasty China? How does it compare with Strayer and Nelson's descriptions of the period?
4. Why do you think your instructor assigned the primary sources The Dancing Horses and Iranian Whirling Girl? What aspects of Tang dynasty Chinese culture described in Strayer and Nelson do these documents illustrate? Do they change, enhance, confuse or contrast with the world described by Strayer and Nelson?
5. How would you compare Susan Whitfield's goal in writing about Larishka with John Green's goal in talking about Heian Japan? How would you describe Whitfield's writing and conceptual style? For a few points of extra credit: How did you like the readings for today? Was anything particularly interesting? Was anything particularly frustrating? Has the work this week been easier or harder for you than last week?
Key Terms for Crash Course Episode 227: Heian Japan and Cultural History
Heian Japan, cultural history, MurasakiShikibu/Tale of Genji, superelite people in the historical record, Japan's relationship with Tang Chinese culture, Japanese Buddhism, social status in Heian Japan, politics and economics in Heian Japan, women and literary production, superelite women's lives in Heian Japan
Reading Guide for "The Courtesan's Tale" fromLife Along the Silk Road, by Susan Whitfield,
Director of the International Dunhuang Project, UC Press, 1999.
(Please note, this is a synthetic account, not a primary document. Whitfield, former director of the International Dunhuang project has created Larishka's tale from a composite of primary sources, this story is entirely plausible, and many of the specifics are documentable, but the narrative is created by Whitfield.)
1. How does Larishka's life illustrate Tang Cosmopolitanism (Internationalism/Globalism)?
2. What are some of the ways that trade, politics, ethnicity and gender are related to each other in Larishka's life?
3. What choices does Larishka have? What choices does she not have? What are her relationships with her partners like? How does she change over time? What is the role of sexuality and reproduction in her life? What role does appearance and adornment play?
4. What surprises you about this account? What questions do you have about it?
Redaing
1. The Courtesan's Tale : Larishka,839-890
2. The Dancing Horses of Xuanzong's Court
3. Iranian Whirling Girls By Po Chu-yi