THE MONGOL AND THE CHINESE GIRLSBy: Matt Joyner

Topic: Compare and Contrast the role of women in Mongol

culture to women of China in the 13th century.

There once was a girl, whose name was Lihua, and she loved learning about different cultures in school. Lihua would come home everyday after school and

would tell her parents what she different culture she had learned about. One day she came home and she was very excited about the culture they studied: the

Mongols.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Asia, a girl by the name of Arslan came home from her school, and just

like Lihua, she had been learning about different cultures. After school one day, Arslan came home very excited about the culture she had just learned about: the Chinese. It was interesting, as she had

been hearing her parents talking about the Chinese people when they talked about

the news.

Back in China the following day, Lihua heard some startling news. The culture that she just discussed the day before had invaded their country and the

invaders were coming straight for them! Lihua knew that this might happen, as her classed discussed

their brutality and the deplorable things that they make their captured people do.

Lihua’s family was later captured and taken by the Mongols to a

different city. There, they were forced to live with Arslan’s family as slaves. Arslan and Lihua’s first

encounter was awkward to say the least, but as time went on, they got to know even more

about their cultures. In particular, they spoke a lot about

girl topics.

The first thing that Arslannoticed about Lihua was that

her feet looked very weird. Lihua explained, “It’s just what we do. They call it foot binding.

It’s necessary for finding a husband.” “Oh my!” Arslan

exclaimed. “I’ve never heard of this before. I’m pretty sure that

our government and culture does not believe in that.”

Arslan and Lihua kept talking about different things, and they found out that their moms had rights to property and was a controller of the house. They cooked, cleaned, and took care of all the children.

Arslan continued to explain more about her culture to Lihua. Lihua thought to

herself, “I’ve never gasped so much in my life” when

Arlsan told her that Mongolian women even go

to war sometimes. This was very different than in her

culture.

Arslan found it peculiar at night that Lihua’s father would talk down to her mother like she was inferior. This was different from what her Mongolian parents were. Her mom was just a little bit older, and all her life, her dad respected her mom andactually listened to her advice. Thiswas because it was unmanly andimmature not to listen to her.

The following day, Lihua and Arslantalked a lot about marriage someday.

What girls don’t?! Lihua was very surprised to find out that Mongolian women did not have to marry. It was

completely by choice! In Lihua’s culture, there were arranged marriages, and your

husband was determined for you. You didn’t have the option to choose!

Lihua was so overcome with how different their cultures were! She almost cried, as if she wished she was a part of the Mongolian culture when she found

out that in the Mongolian religion, that both male and females could become shamans, and that

females were actually preferred over men because women were better at receiving messages from the other countries. “How cool is this?” thought Lihua.

It was a wonder that Lihua and Arslan could even get along

because of how different their cultures were. When they talked

about their jobs to help the economy, they finally acquiesced and could relate! Women’s job in

both cultures was to make clothes for the family, cook and prepare food, and tend to all of

the animals on the farm.

Not a day went by that both Lihua and Arslan would talk about their different cultures. They always were eager in class to participate and learn about different

cultures, and here they were communicating about their different cultures.

To this day, their descendants remain the best of friends. They remember how different their culture were back then, but the similarities that came with their culture as well. Now their descendants have

cultures that reflect both sides.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• "Mongolian Women." History 252. Web. 22 Nov. 2014. <http://web.clark.edu/afisher/HIST252/lecture_notes/mongolian_women.doc.>.

• Stearns, Peter. “Gender Roles and the Convergence of Mongol and Chinese Culture." World Civilizations: The Global Experience. New York: Pearson Education, 2006. Print.