21 HISTORIES

 

Main Piece:

 

Boring thing he had to learn in middle school – compilation of stories, events, almost like an almanac, these scholars go write in 100 years what happened – this person becomes king, this land goes to who, this person gets exiled, facts and facts.

 

Section such as farming, war, royalty – these sections in 100 year sections – detailed accounts of the things that happened in these 100 year periods.

 

Usually in each section there’s categories such as strange events/phenomenon – there’s crazy shit in there ex: on this day/time the fire was freezing cold / I saw the geese flying backwards / I saw dragons creeping in the woods.

 

21 chapters goes through time periods

 

Each emperor has a person who just takes cares of his hats / crowns / and another that just takes care of his concubines…etc.

 

Background Information:

Why do they know this piece?

Had to learn it as part of the curriculum.

 

Where/Who did they learn it from?

School

 

What does it mean for them?

Makes him learn the differences of royalty between the East and the West. Again, part of his identity of being Chinese/Chinese history, things that are particularly/uniquely Chinese: emperor not treated as human – as a God/force of nature, can’t even criticize them

 

 

Context of Performance:

Sitting inside friend’s room just talking.

 

Thoughts:

 

As a Chinese Indonesian born and raised in Surabaya, Indonesia until I was six, it was interesting that I was not subject to the same kind of rigid curriculum (nearing propaganda) as my friend had received in China.

 

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why my identity as an Indonesian (I am Chinese by blood but we live in Indonesia at the time), my identity as an Indonesian isn’t that strong to say, my friend’s identity as Chinese.