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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 made up a story that the boy's father killed their father during the chaos of the Manchu invasions?

2. What does the couple use to elope?

3. What does the magistrate notice that people do in order to cheat on taxes?

4. What scheme does the husband's relatives have to inherit the widow's property in Woman P'eng?

5. What northern group attacks from the north and loots the city prior to taking over China?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is the pao-chia system?

3. What is the temptation that arose from the complex Chinese legal code about marriage and widows?

4. Describe the snowfall and its effect on the farmers in T'an-ch'eng in 1671.

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

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

7. What is the story about the old widow and her fantasy that P'u Sung-ling shares?

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

9. Describe the heavy demands of the tax system in the 1640s in T'an-ch'eng.

10. Describe Hsi-liu and her struggle with Ch'ang fu.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the Woman Wang. What was her role in the book? How does she relate to Jen? What was Spence trying to accomplish by describing the Woman Wang in the book?

Essay Topic 2

Spence describes the practice of forced labor in T'ang-Chen. What are the conditions of forced labor? How does forced labor maintain the status quo in Imperial China? What rights do forced laborers have or lack? What freedoms, restrictions, and rules do they have?

Essay Topic 3

Spence's book covers primarily a third-person narrative with some stories interwoven. Do you find this style choppy? Why or why not? Is it comprehensive? Does it flow well?

(see the answer keys)

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