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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. Since the widow does not have any rights at all, what do the cousins believe that by killing the boy they could get in the Woman P'eng story?

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

3. Who does Liu meet with the police who is threatened by starvation?

4. When the lazy person returns and begs the widow, what role does he assume again?

5. Who does the widow beat because he is lazy in one of P'u Sung-Ling's stories about widows?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Huang's relationship with local landlords and unpaid taxes.

2. Describe Hsi-liu and her struggle with Ch'ang hu.

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

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

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

6. What is the story that P'eng's husband's relatives make up in order to attack Lien?

7. What did Huang Liu-hung say about the peasant misery in the famine?

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

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

Spence frequently describes the importance of virtue in relationship to widows. He points out that virtue is sometimes prompted by a desire for honor. Is this real virtue? Why or why not? Is this desire linked to cultural norms or human pride or both?

Essay Topic 2

Taoism strongly emphasizes the relationship of people to the environment in harmony. How does this belief system contrast with the violence depicted in the book? Can such actions such as Ts'ui and Li's in response to injustice be reconciled with Taoism? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Explain the role of women in rural China in the 1600s when the women in the stories and the main narrative are living their lives. What precedents do they feel compelled to follow? What restrictions do they have? What freedoms did they have that 21st century women do not have?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 915 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample