China Literacy Map
Claudia Santana
TAL 203
04 Aurora.wma
April
15th,
2008
Chinese Culture Literacy Map
Lon Po Po A RedRiding Hood story
from China
Other Books
Dragonwings
Cat and Rat
Coolies
Rabbit’s gift
In-depth Analysis
The First
Transcontinenta
l Railroad
1906 San Francisco
Earthquake
The Golden
Mountain
Pictures and
Information adapted
from…
Dragonwings
• Laurence Yep, 1975. New York: Harper
Trophy.
• Grade:5th-6th.
Dragonwings is the story of a Chinese boy
who moves to America during the 1900’s to
live with his father, who he had never met.
He has to adapt to having a father, adjust
to a new culture, learning a new language,
being discriminated against, and following
his own traditions and culture . It is at the
same time the story of the father who has a
dream and his fight to make it come true.
This book is about friendship,
understanding, perseverance, acceptance,
and love.
Lon Po Po
A Red-Riding Hood story from
China
• Ed Young, 1989. New York: Philomel
Books.
• Grade: 3rd-4th
Lon Po Po is a tale about three
children whose mom leaves for a day
to visit their grandmother. During that
time a wolf visits them pretending it is
their Po Po (grandmother). They
children realize this and fool and kill
the wolf at the end.
Cat and Rat
• Ed Young, 1995. New York: Henry Holt and
Company, Inc.
• Grade: 3rd.
Cat and Rat is the legend of how the Chinese
Zodiac was developed. According to the story, the
Chinese Emperor invited all the animals to a race.
The first twelve to make it to the finish line will be
added to the Chinese calendar. The book also
explains how and why cats and rats do not get
along due to this race.
Coolies
• Yin, Chris Soentpiet. 2001. New York: Philomel Books.
• Grade: 3rd-4th.
Coolies is the story of two Chinese brothers who travel to
United States to work on the construction of the railroad in the
mid 1980’s. China was going through a rebellion against the
government and the people were starving. The two brothers
decided to leave their poor family in the search for work to
give their family a better life.
Rabbit’s Gift
George Shannon, Laura Dronzek. 2007. Florida:
Harcourt, Inc.
Grade: 2nd
Rabbit’s Gift is a folktale which is attributed to the
Chinese culture, even though, stories like it have been
found in many other cultures (Irish, Spanish, French,
etc.). Rabbit’s gift is a story about friendship, sharing
and being generous. The Rabbit finds two turnips during
his search for food for the winter. He realizes than one is
more than enough for him, so he decides to share it.
Other Books
• My Mei-Mei by Ed Young.
• I, Doku by Ed Young.
• Yeh Shen, A Cinderella story from China by Ed
Young.
• The Golden Mountain Chronicles by Laurence
Yep.
• Henry’s First-Moon Birthday by Lenore Look.
Illustrated by Yumi Heo.
1906 San Francisco Earthquake
•
In Dragonwings, the author writes
about the earthquake that shook San
Francisco in 1906 and its effects not
only on the Chinese people, but
everyone in general. The earthquake
struck on a Wednesday at 5am on
April 18th, 1906. The epicenter
occurred two miles from the city of San
Francisco, but was felt form Oregon to
Los Angeles and even Nevada.
The earthquake was caused by the
rupture of the San Andreas Fault, a
distance of 296 miles. The magnitude
was of 7.8 on the moment magnitude
scale.
What was more devastating that the
earthquake were the fires that were
caused by it and went out of control.
Most of them because of natural gas
mains that broke.
San Francisco after the earthquake
Fires devastating the city
The First Transcontinental Railroad
•
In Coolies, the author tells the story of two brothers who travel to America
to work on the construction of the first transcontinental railroad.
The two companies building the railroad were the Union Pacific and the
Central Pacific Railroad. The Union company employed mostly Irish men,
war veterans and Mormons (built the tracks in Utah territory). The Central
Pacific decided to employ Chinese after realizing that they were hard
workers, even during the winter time and bad conditions. They were paid
less than the others, they were treated badly, exposed to many dangers
and were looked down upon. The Union Pacific started building from
Omaha, Nebraska and the Central Pacific from Sacramento, California.
The two routes met in Promontory Summit, Utah were the railroad was
completed. The Chinese were not even acknowledge when the railroad
was finished.
Both railroad companies meeting at
Promotory Summit, Utah
The Golden Mountain
• In Dragonwings, the characters kept referring to San
Francisco, California, as the Golden Mountain. This
name was given to the city by the Chinese after gold
was discovered there on 1848. Many immigrants,
including Chinese, traveled to the state looking for
gold during the California Gold Rush.
San Francisco’s Chinatown
In depth Analysis-Characterization
•
Dragongwings
Laurence Yep’s description of the characters in the book makes us better
understand the Chinese culture, and its traditions. The adults act in a more
conservative way, always following their traditions even though they may be
in a different country. It is harder for them to adapt to the new culture and its
people. The younger ones keep with their traditions but are more flexible
and more understanding of others.
The author reveals the hardship of an eight year old boy who moves to a
different culture and is exposed to things and people he had never seen
before. Not having heard about anything pertaining this new world
(America) he has his own beliefs of how things may be. When talking about
an American lady, who he had never seen before, Moonshadow thinks, “I
had expected her to be ten feet tall with blue skin and to have a face
covered with warts and ear lobes that hung all the way down to her
knees…” He is surprised by things like the telephone, electric light, a horse,
etc.
Characterization cont.
Adaptation to another cultures is emphasized in the book, how the
characters struggle to accept a new culture, but not forget nor change their
own. “Perhaps the truth about dragon lies somewhere between the
American and the Chinese version.” This is Moonshadow trying to
understand that different views are not necessarily wrong; they are just
different.
Yep also thoroughly describes the struggle of Windrider to live by the
Chinese traditions and follow his dream of building and flying a plane. Even
though he is criticized by many, he is perseverant and does not give up and
tries its best to accomplish his dream. His wife, even though she is in China,
and his son support him until the end. “… your father has undertaken no
small task; but since I cannot be there, you must love him doubly hard. You
must give him not only your own support, but also try to give him mine as
well.” She is not only showing understanding, but also love.
In many ways through characterization, the author reveals the minds and
souls of the characters that are brought lo life in Dragonwings.
Pictures and Information taken and
adapted from…
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www.wikipedia.org
http://www.mppl.org/kids/caldecott.html
http://www.vickiblackwell.com/lit/lonpopo.html
http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/HarperChildrens/Kids/Bo
okDetail.aspx?isbn13=9780064400855
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Coolies/Yin/e/9780142500552
http://www.storyplace.org/eel/activities/readinglist.asp?id=40&t
hemeID=11
http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Provinces/
http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/r/RAILROAD.html
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/79fall/railroad.htm
http://www.american.edu/bgriff/dighistprojects/boyle/chinatown
s.htm
http://www.carolmendelmaps.com/mapsf/downtownsf.html
http://www.warriortours.com/links.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Transcontinental_railroad_ro
ute.png
http://www.harcourtbooks.com/bookcatalogs/bookpages/97801
52060732.asp
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/images/country/china-flag.jpg
http://chineseculture.about.com/library/symbol/np/nc_fox.htm
http://www.chinesenames.org/chinese-tattoo.htm
http://www.orientaloutpost.com/shufa.php?q=rabbit
http://picturechina.net/category/portrait/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_Earthquake