Mongol and Chinese Girls
Jaden LightPrompt: Compare and contrast the role of
women in Mongol culture to women of China in the 13th century
Once upon a time there was a girl named
Arban who lived in Mongolia. She loved to play dolls but
never had anyone to play
with.
There was also a girl named Chen who lived
in China. She also loved to play with
dolls. She always tried to play with her sister but she was too young
to understand what was going on.
One day Chen’s family
moved to Mongolia after
an attack. They moved next door to
Arban’s family.
Arban and Chen soon met and
became friends right away. They soon found out they both loved to play dolls and
finally had someone to play
with.
One day while they were playing dolls they noticed their dolls were very different. Chen’s
doll had her feet bound. Arban asked
why and Chen told her it was because that’s what Chinese women do and it’s required to
find husband.
This conversation lead to a discussion about
marriage. Arban discovered that
Chinese women had no choice in their husband. Their marriages were
arranged by their parents. This was very
strange to Arban because Mongolian
women didn’t have to get married and if
they did they could choose their partner.
They kept talking about their
marriages and their parents and found
that they were very different. Arban’s
parents were seen as equals and would
listen and take advice from each
other.
However, Chen’s
parents were not equals.
Her dad would talk down her
mom.
They continued playing dolls and
kept learning more about each others culture. One day they learned that their moms both were responsible
for cooking, cleaning, and taking care of
children.
Both their moms also had rights to property and had the job of tending
to animals
As the girls kept playing dolls, Chen found religion the most
surprising. In Arban’s religion, shamans could
be both men and women. In fact women were actually preferred
because they could receive messages from other countries more
easily than men. However, in Chen’s
religion only men could be Shamans.
Chen also found it surprising that
Mongolian women sometimes go to war as well. This was so different from what
she knew in her culture.
Every day that Arban and Chen played
they learned more and more about each other’s cultures and were able to share it with their parents.
Every day they found something new they would be eager to
share it at the dinner table that night.
As best friends
"13.6 Pba Mongol Women." 13.6 Pba Mongol Women. Web. 22 Nov. 2015. •
• (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2015, from http://web.clark.edu/afisher/HIST252/lectures_text/women_medieval_china.pdf
• "Ancient Mongol Women." Ancient Mongol Women. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.
SOURCES