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Sing-song Girls
Sing-song girls (), also known as flower girls, is an English term for the courtesans in China during the 19th century AD. Origin Before the founding of modern China in 1911, concubinage was legal. In Chinese custom, males carry the family name and the family's heritage after marriage. To ensure male heirs were produced, it was a common practice for an upper-class married male to have one or more concubines, provided he could support them.Morris, Peter Thomas. (1992) ''Cantonese Love Songs: An English Translation of Jiu Ji-Yung's Cantonese Songs of the Early 19th century''. Hong Kong University. The custom could be invoked without the wife's consent: the husband's actions were protected by law. Concubines would co-exist in the family along with wives and children. A man might choose a courtesan to be his concubine. Many of these courtesans would sing songs to attract potential husbands, hoping to become secondary wives. Terminology Western observers in China during the nineteenth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the island of Great Britain. Existing on a dialect continuum with Scots, and then closest related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages, English is genealogically West Germanic. However, its vocabulary is also distinctively influenced by dialects of France (about 29% of Modern English words) and Latin (also about 29%), plus some grammar and a small amount of core vocabulary influenced by Old Norse (a North Germanic language). Speakers of English are called Anglophones. The earliest forms of English, collectively known as Old English, evolved from a group of West Germanic (Ingvaeonic) dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century and further mutated by Norse-speaking Viking settlers starting in the 8th and 9th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communist Party Of China
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang, and, in 1949, Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Since then, the CCP has governed China with eight smaller parties within its United Front and has sole control over the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Each successive leader of the CCP has added their own theories to the party's constitution, which outlines the ideological beliefs of the party, collectively referred to as socialism with Chinese characteristics. As of 2022, the CCP has more than 96 million members, making it the second largest political party by party membership in the world after India's Bharatiya Janata Party. The Chinese public generally refers to the CCP as simply "the Party". In 1921, Chen Duxiu and Li Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yiji
A ''yiji'' () was a high-class courtesan in ancient China. Yiji were initially not involved in the direct sex trade, but rather were entertainers who performed music and arts, such as poetry, music and singing, to please dignitaries and intellectuals. They were respected and renowned for their art and education in the classics, and were hired to perform to both male and female clients, as well as employed by the state. Though yiji could in individual cases choose to sell sexual favors to a client, this was not a part of her profession as a yiji, but a parallel favor outside of their profession as a yiji and regarded as separated from it. After the establishment of the Qing dynasty in 1644, however, the Yiji were banned from being employed by the state. This made them dependent of the patronage of private clients, which resulted in the development of the profession to prostitution, as male clients started to demand sexual favors in exchange for patronage. A yiji could come from va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tawaif
A ''tawaif'' was a highly successful entertainer who catered to the nobility of the Indian subcontinent, particularly during the Mughal Empire, Mughal era. The tawaifs excelled in and contributed to music, dance (mujra), theatre, and the Urdu literary tradition, and were considered an authority on etiquette. Tawaifs were largely a North Indian institution central to Mughal court culture from the 16th century onwards and became even more prominent with the weakening of Mughal rule in the mid-18th century. They contributed significantly to the continuation of traditional dance and music forms and then to the emergence of modern Indian cinema. History The patronage of the Mughal court before and after the Mughal Dynasty in the Doab region and the artistic atmosphere of 16th century Lucknow made arts-related careers a viable prospect. Many girls were taken at a young age and trained in both performing arts (such as Kathak and Hindustani classical music) as well as literature (ghazal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oiran
is a collective term for the highest-ranking courtesans in Japanese history, who were considered to be above common prostitution, prostitutes (known as ) for their more refined entertainment skills and training in the traditional arts. Divided into a number of ranks within this category, the highest rank of were the , who were considered to be set apart from other due to their intensive training in the traditional arts. Though by definition also engaged in prostitution, higher-ranking had a degree of choice in which customers they took; , in contrast, did not engage in sex work at all. The term originated in Yoshiwara, the Yūkaku, red light district of Edo in the 1750s, and is applied to all ranks of high level courtesans in historical Japan. The services of were well known for being exclusive and expensive, with typically only entertaining the upper classes of society, gaining the nickname for their perceived ability to steal the hearts and match the wits of upper-cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kong and north of Macau, Guangzhou has a history of over 2,200 years and was a major terminus of the maritime Silk Road; it continues to serve as a major port and transportation hub as well as being one of China's three largest cities. For a long time, the only Chinese port accessible to most foreign traders, Guangzhou was captured by the British during the First Opium War. No longer enjoying a monopoly after the war, it lost trade to other ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, but continued to serve as a major transshipment port. Due to a high urban population and large volumes of port traffic, Guangzhou is classified as a Large-Port Megacity, the largest type of port-city in the world. Due to worldwide travel restrictions at the beginni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Of Smoke
''River of Smoke'' (2011) is a novel by Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh. It is the second volume of the Ibis trilogy. Synopsis The promotional text refers to the storyline which can be summarized as follows: After the incidents on Ibis, which was caught in a storm and eventually ended up in Mauritius, but with a few passengers less, the story help in this novel begins from where it left off. From the details of the changing lives and traditions of Indian migrants in Mauritius, the novel traces the fate of other characters from Ibis and describes the opium trade in China. The novel has a rich tapestry of characters from various cultural and geographical backgrounds whose common interest is trade with China. The plot is set in Fanqui town, a small strip of land used by foreigners to trade with local Chinese traders, a year before the first opium war. Plot introduction In the year 1838, three ships are caught in a raging storm in the Andaman Sea. The ''Anahita'', owned by Bahram Moddie, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh (born 11 July 1956)Ghosh, Amitav , ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' is an Indian people, Indian writer. He won the 54th Jnanpith award in 2018, India's highest literary honor. Ghosh's ambitious novels use complex narrative strategies to probe the nature of national and personal identity, particularly of the people of India and South Asia. He has written historical fiction and also written non-fiction works discussing topics such as colonialism and climate change. Ghosh studied at The Doon School, Dehradun, and earned a doctorate in social anthropology at the University of Oxford. He worked at the The Indian Express, ''Indian Express'' newspaper in New Delhi and several academic institutions. His first novel The Circle of Reason (novel), ''The Circle of Reason'' was published in 1986, which he followed wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daughter Of Fortune
''Daughter of Fortune'' ( es, Hija de la fortuna) is a novel by Isabel Allende, and was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection in February 2000. It was published first in Spanish by Plaza & Janés in 1998. Isabel Allende says "of her female protagonist in Daughter of Fortune, Eliza, that she might well represent who the author might have been in another life.""Daughter of Fortune: Introduction." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 18. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 19 August 2009e-notes.com "Allende spent seven years of research on this, her fifth novel, which she says is a story of a young woman's search for self-knowledge." "Allende also believes that the novel reflects her own struggle to define the role of feminism in her life." Allende also wrote a sequel to ''Daughter of Fortune'' entitled '' Portrait in Sepia'' which follows Eliza Sommers' granddaughter. Plot summary In Chile during the 1840s, young Chilean Eliza Sommers is raised and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Han Bangqing
Han Bangqing (; 1856–1894),Downer, Lesley." ''The New York Times''. November 20, 2005. Retrieved on March 27, 2015. also known by the given name Ji (寄), courtesy name Ziyun (子雲), and pseudonyms Taixian (太仙), Dayi Shanren (大一山人), Hua Ye Lian Nong (花也憐儂), and Sanqing (三慶), was a late-Qing dynasty Chinese writer from Lou County, Songjiang Prefecture, Jiangsu (now a district of Shanghai).Wang, David Der-wei. "Foreword." In: Google Booksbr>PT9 Biography As a child he went with his father to live in Beijing."Chinese Literature from 1841 to 1937." The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature. Ed. Kang-i Sun Chang and Stephen Owen. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, 2010. 439. Print. He failed at the imperial examinations many times, even though he had a reputation as a prodigy in his childhood, and eventually wrote for the newspaper ''Shen Bao'' in Shanghai. In 1892, he started what can be considered China's first for-profit literary magazine, the ''Wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Costume Society
The Costume Society is a British organisation formed in 1965 to promote the study and preservation of historic and contemporary dress. It publishes a scholarly journal, ''Costume'', as well as one-off publications; and organises events and study days. History The Costume Society was formed in 1965, arising from a developing interest in the history of fashion and a desire on the part of its founders to foster serious research in an area which previously had been the domain of the amateur collector. The immediate genesis of the organisation was a meeting held at the Victoria and Albert Museum on 13 October 1964. Its first chairman was Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith, Keeper of the Department of Public Relations at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), followed by Donald Beeson King, art historian and keeper of textiles at the V&A; Roy Strong, V&A director, Anne Buck, curator of the Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall in Manchester, and June Swann, Keeper of the Boot and Shoe Collection at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a way of life, Confucianism developed from what was later called the Hundred Schools of Thought from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BCE). Confucius considered himself a transmitter of cultural values inherited from the Xia (c. 2070–1600 BCE), Shang (c. 1600–1046 BCE) and Western Zhou dynasties (c. 1046–771 BCE). Confucianism was suppressed during the Legalist and autocratic Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), but survived. During the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), Confucian approaches edged out the "proto-Taoist" Huang–Lao as the official ideology, while the emperors mixed both with the realist techniques of Legalism. A Confucian revival began during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). In the late Tang, C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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