Daily Life in China, on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion by Jacques Gernet - Book Report/Review Example

“Run Zhihuán run! Tell Ma! The is on fire!” Cheng Gong’s terrified cry was filled with utter desperation.1 His blistered little feet in his torn leather shoes were trying to cover all the distance to his house as soon as he could as he hurtled across the beaten earth pavement2. He tried to steal a glance from the corner of his eye of what havoc the fire wreaked behind him, praying that the fire had somehow died down, wishing his neighborhood would get saved of the prying flames of the ruthless fire. The flames leaped and twirled around the houses in a wild fervor. Though Cheng Gong had heard about some of the most destructive fires in the city’s history, he would have never imagined his calm and peaceful city of Hangchow burning like this before his eyes. His beautiful Hangchow sandwiched between serene and tranquil blue lakes, outlined with gentle green hills. Either side where the hills disappeared would start the array of neatly stacked multistoried wooden houses roofed with brightly colored tiles. Those houses that once stood here were being blazed as if the flames sought vengeance from it since centuries, the once crowded streets echoing with strollers on the go were now filled with shrieks and cries as people saw all their prized possessions being brought down to ashes in mere seconds. The streets where kids once ran after the pedlars who sold cooked food for small cash and where once bustling shops with buyers busy bargaining burgeoned, were now filled with people running for their lives in an absolute panic.3 Cheng Gong could feel nothing but helpless, but he was not going to heave a sigh of relief until he took his mother out of danger. Cheng Gong opened his eyes to a gentle splash of water. His vision was blurred. “Cheng, Cheng! Wake up. We are safe. Your Ma is safe!” someone was shaking him. He envisaged it already; the ever excited voice could be of no one but Zhihuán, who always carried a wide toothed grin on his face. Cheng woke up with a heavy head, rubbing his eyes he woke up to find the worried face of his mother who he leapt to hug quickly. Cheng had never seen his father. He only remembered that he and his mother had secretly moved to the neighborhood one night. What Cheng did not know was his mother had fell prey to period in the Sung dynasty “when women’s situation apparently took turn for the worst”.4 Though Cheng’s father was being restricted to a single marriage due to monogamy in Hangchow, but that was in no way restricting him to a single woman. He would hit his wife, bruise her badly, and bring unknown women home. But women were not allowed to divorce their husbands at their own will so Cheng’s mother was suffering silently. She went through the ruthlessness everyday until Cheng’s father divorced her one day with little Cheng Gong in her hands.5 Though all the houses in Cheng Gong’s neighborhood had been burnt down to ashes, victims were seeking refuge in the courtyards of monasteries, boats settled on the lakes and shelters with water proof coverage. Cheng Gong was living in a small crowded room with 6 other people.6 He had no clue when he would be back in his little house, his little room which he shared with his mother. His house was like all the typical houses which crammed the districts of Hangchow. It did not have much though; the main room was unobtrusively designed, with a rectangular table sitting low on the ground propped up with straight legs along with chairs with quite tall backs. The room also had a little altar with a tablet having the names of people who were dead. Ma always asked him to light lamps before it and he always wondered why his Pa’s name was not up there.7 His small room had one bed. The wooden planks joined together with carved frame for support did not make a very comfortable bed, coupled with the plaited rush pillow to sleep on. Cheng Gong was always mesmerized by the stories his mother narrated to him about the lavish lifestyles of the nobles and officials and the opulent houses they lived in. Their beds made out of black lacquer, covers bordered with floss silk, parallelepiped pillows depressed in the centers tucked at one end. Terracotta animals and dragons adorned the ridges of the majestically upturned double sloped roof, which were forbidden for the common population.8 What a dream it would be to live in one of those houses Cheng Gong thought. His room also had a few paintings of the ‘great fighters’ as Ma used to tell Cheng. “You will get there one day, Cheng Gong, one day”. Cheng Gong with other victims of the great fire spent some tough years, living through all the hardships, cramped up in small rooms and shortage of food. Cheng Gong learnt a lot in these tough years. He had the urge to change the condition of all the peasants in Hangchow like him who suffered the most after these fires. It was fine morning when it was announced that a great army was being prepared to protect Hangchow from an eminent invasion. Although Hangchow was comparatively a difficult place to be invaded due to the numerous lakes and muddy rice fields, the enemies could never be underestimated.9 Teenager boys to young men were all being taken to pay their services. It was the time when Cheng Gong’s mother told him that he had the blood of warriors running in him through generations, his descent met with Cao Cao. He was to serve and protect his city his country, learning from the previous mistakes. He remembered the story of the great Cao Cao his mother narrated to him once when he was a child. Cao Cao had led the successful battle of Guando and united Northern China. But his huge army fell to a heavy defeat at Red Cliffs. With great stealth and intelligence, the army of only 30000 people of Zhou Yu annihilated Cao Cao’s hefty army. After the delaying tactics used by Zhou Yu’s army of feigning surrendering, so that the course of the wind would change, he was on his way to make history. The already sea sickness struck Cao Cao’s army was destroyed in minutes as his fleet of ships connected stern by stern was set ablaze by Zhou Yu’s army.10Cheng Gong was to serve the army, vowed that he would become a just warrior and eliminate the shortcomings he lived to see in the Song Dynasty. Works Cited Patricia Buckley. The Inner Quarters Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period. Berkeley: U of California, 1993. Print. Gernet, Jacques. Daily Life in China, on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford UP, 1962. Print. "To Establish Peace." Chronicle of Han. Print. Read More