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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is drinking with a cousin during the earthquake of 1668?

2. Why is Ting arrested?

3. Who nominates a new heir for P'eng?

4. What do the young couple set up as a new occupation after Ting is freed by a large bribe?

5. As power changed hands in China in 1644, what did not decline?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of loot does the Manchu army take in 1643?

2. How does Hsiao-erh save the the people in the village from drought and famine?

3. What is the pressure put on widows regarding marriage?

4. Describe the story of the boy and the magical trick.

5. What is the challenge that P'eng faces after her husband dies in the story of Woman P'eng?

6. Describe what happens after the famine in T'ang-Ch'en in 1641.

7. What is the funny story involving a fox and a rebellion that P'u Sung-ling tells?

8. What is the pao-chia system?

9. How is Feng K'o-t'san described in Chapter 1, the Observers?

10. Describe Huang Liu-hung's work as an official for the county.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What public systems are maintained in the county of T'ang-Ch'eng via taxes? What private or Imperial systems are maintained? Who builds and maintains this infrastructure? Is taxation thus beneficial to the individual citizen? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

The four rhetorical modes of writing are exposition, argumentation, description, and narration. Which mode or modes are used in this book and how? List at least one example of each mode you find in the book. Explain what reason Spence might have had for using it.

Essay Topic 3

P'u Sung-ling shares stories of people with magical or supernatural powers.Do you think Hsiao-erh is heroic or exerts power in a positive or negative way? How does her story and triumph over natural disasters and poverty contrast with the real experience of citizens in T'ang-Cheng? Why do you think Spence included this story?

(see the answer keys)

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