This week I read an overview about the Song dynasty. It was interesting to see a bit of a contrast between the culture and the military of the dynasty. While the Song dynasty prospered culturally and economically, the military was weaker, leading to many attacks and defeats. There is no “best of both worlds” situation. It’s almost like if there’s one thing then there can’t be the other.
I also read an autobiography about the life of Li Qingzhao. It was interesting to see the real impacts of events that we normally just brush past when talking about history. When talking about the Jin invading the Song, it’s normally just as a part of history that leads to the next big event or as a point of comparison to other historical events. It’s rarely about how the citizens at the time were affected by the attacks. The autobiography gives a look into how Li Qingzhao was impacted along with her life before.
I also watched a video analyzing the Qingming scroll. It was cool to see just how much information you can get out of such little things. Like how someone’s robe looks can indicate someone’s status. Everything in a painting is there for a reason and can give insight into the world outside of the painter since the world influences how the painter creates to a certain extent, especially when the painting is depicting a slice of life in a town.
I also did some preliminary research for my next show and tell project. It is going to be on poets of the Tang dynasty and will be in the format of a choose your own adventure. It’s not going to be an actual story, but hopefully the format will give the information more spice compared to looking at a normal blog post.
Next week I’ll continue to work on the show and tell project and hopefully add something to the Zotero library.
