First Short Paper

Please post the TITLE of your first short paper and a LINK to it (from your own blog) here by Wednesday October 9th at 8 pm. Your paper should be around 1,000 words and should present an argument with supporting evidences from class readings. You should pay attention to academic style and carefully cite your sources. Consult paper guidelines under Course Content on Blackboard for more information.

Short comments to two other papers are due by Wednesday October 9th at 10 pm. Comments should focus on aspects such as argument, evidence, and presentation.

92 comments:

  1. "Change"
    http://ryantemplet.blogspot.com/2013/10/change-first-short-paper.html

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    1. This is a great paper, it really is crazy how much change China has had over the years. This paper catches every aspect of the change that we have read about and seen in the readings. The quotes that you chose reflect the change in China perfectly.

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    2. Its great how you tied in how change occurs at different levels; nations, individuals, etc. with the culture and background of the different size in populations faced with change.

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    3. I vrey like you point.A nation wants to change, first from the ideological change ideological change from the cultural change. Ideological change is not easy, it is to swallow a lot of people to get the idea of ​​change.

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    4. "They'd rather die than take one little step."
      This paper was very well written; I liked your discussion of cannibalism preceeding this quote from "Diary of a Mad Man." It was interesting how you said that those in western countries would stand up for their rights if problems were encountered, but I feel I see the same cannibalism methaphor connect with many of the western countries of today. Change is scary, despite the era and despite the location; however, we all cope in different ways, and it can be said that Confucian China could have dealt with change a tad better than history tells us.

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    5. I like your paper. China has changed a lot year by year. people open mind and have more freedom, improve the society and open country. Nation, individuals,cultural,etc change, it dose make China better and better

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    6. Your title captured my attention first. We've been so focused on what type of change that I never looked at the big picture that this was a nation changing tremendously. I liked what you said "I have learned that there is one thing that is absolutely essential for a nation, a state, or a people, to survive and to thrive: change." China was a struggling nation of old Confucian styles. If China wanted to stay a contributing country, it was essential for them to change with the changing times.

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    7. I agree with this essay, and feel as if my essay could offer great support to some of your arguments. Traditionalism is a dying breed, but it still needs to be preserved. As change continues to happen across the society and culture, the change is not as welcomed by the public, yet still a necessity for the progression of China to take place.

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    8. Your title and paper in general captures the change that we have learned and read about up to this point in class. Your quotes really brought everything together for me and made me realize the change that actually took place in China.

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    9. I agree, China has changed much throughout the centuries and even now it is still changing. My old Chinese teacher takes his students to China and he said to me on this years trip that "I'll always love China and the best part is while the culture remains within the society, the methods which display it improve each decade". Indeed, China has, does and will forvever be a changing nation.

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    10. I really like your point about the media being our educator today, and literature being the educator in this period of Chinese history. This is what makes May Fourth literature so important, it has values which actually impact a large number of people because it is accessible to everyone as a source of information.

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    11. I really do like your perspective on change in mainland China. I particularly agree with what Chris is talking about as far as traditionalism and how it is becoming less and less of a factor. As much as we think that the new way is the best way, it is tremendously sad that so much history is falling by the wayside.

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    12. I think you did a really good job and your ideas were great!

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  2. "Love and Classes"

    http://chi331zhengjun.blogspot.com/2013/10/love-and-classes-in-night-tiger-was.html

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    1. I agree with you. “Fu Mu Zhi Ming, Mei Shuo Zhi Yan”, and “Men Dang Hu Dui” are traditional Confucian-based ideas. It is old thoughts, old customs, and old habits. People have no right to choose their lovers during their whole life except you are a rich man.

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    2. Old thoughts about love quest is conservative, because of cultural development has also made people love the pursuit of reality, thinking is changing.

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    3. You did a good job. In my oppinion, love is the most important part of the marriage. It would not be happy that a marriage without love. Meanwhile, I also can understand why the old generation will have this ideas.They grew up in different era, experience different situation and they were educated differently. Even nowadays, "Men Dang Hu Dui" sitill influence the people's thought. Most people think that money is not important for them also it is not a reason affecting thier marriage, but if the three essential views of people like philosophy, values and world views are totally different, most of the marriage cannot last for a long time.

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    4. I agree that a marriage would not be happy if there was no love. However, people at that time period did not really married for love. They married because it was what everyone else did around that age. Marriage was viewed as a way to pass on the family name. Because there is no love, the matching of a man and woman would be based on their social status. I can understand how the this view can contradict the Western views.

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    5. I think in the feudal marriage, have some redeeming value.Although the marriage system in the feudal society is very bad,but parents introduce the other people is not necessarily bad."Men Dang Hu Dui" sometimes is a good way to get marriage. Because in this society , Lovers not only depends on both sides of the feelings, also consider money.

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    6. I agree with your opinion. In ancient China, matching of a man and woman depends on their family background and social status. That was unfair, people should have their own freedom to marry who they love.

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    7. I also agree, there was a time where it was acceptable for marriages to be arranged. With traditional Chinese values, everyone had their marriages arranged. Arranged marriages are a hard concept for me to grasp because it is something that is so different than what I'm used to. People should be able to choose who they marry, and out of love, not based on the class system.

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    8. I think it was an interesting issues. People today get married for love (most of the time), but back in traditional times people used get married to whoever their parents set them up with, whether they loved the other person or not.

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    9. There a lot of tragedy love story written because parents disagree to marry with lower class people. However, there are a lot of real tragedy happened because of two different social class people get married. Do you think it happens because of different living habits and life perceptions?

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  3. "Miserable Modern China "
    http://chi331shao.blogspot.com/2013/10/miserable-modern-china.html

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    1. I agree with you. If Wei Fusheng didn't keep the feudal thoughts about arranged marriage for his daughter and accept free western viewpoints, Lian Gu and Haung Dasha would have a contrasting future in the end of the story. People should pursuit the free love and accept new ideas.

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    2. Huang's love and behaviors would never been accepted by the hunter' family because of the traditions. Hung represents the new "youth" during the May Forth Movement, he is more likely to chase the way of love too romantic and none material, which is nice. But, according to the story, he basically did nothing to capture his love. He did not have full confidence to go against the tradition. But LianGu makes a big step, as a woman at that period of China, she realized that in the deep heart she cant live without Huang and reject the ranged marriage offered by his father.

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    3. I agree with your idea that life was miserable at that time period, especially for Westernized women. The society did not wanted accept change and that brought the miseries of Liangu.

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    4. I agree with Chang Lifan and this is what I am trying to say in my essay. I think Huang didi not try his best to chase his love.

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    5. I too reference "The Night a Tiger was Captured" and I liked how you said "the old unchanging Confucian ideas were to blame in this tragic story." This is a perfect sentence to bring the ending of the story to conclusion. You are definitely right that Confucian ideas were to blame for the ending of this story.

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    6. I agree. This is a problem with the China of that era because they were very close-minded when it came to foreign ideas (especially Western ideas). This has changed in China over time and it would have changed earlier if people like Wei Fusheng were more accepting of foreign ideas that might prove to be useful for China.

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    7. I also agree with you all, being closed minded in never a good situation. You have to evolve and be able to change to be able to be successful and you can not do that if you are closed minded. Also great essay! I really enjoyed it.

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  4. Do We Need "A Perfect Match" In Marriage
    http://rouwang.blogspot.com/2013/10/do-we-need-perfect-match-in-marriage.html

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    1. I am completely agreed with you. The arranged marriage is not the right way to build a family, and a couple ought to have a matched thought. If a couple has no matched thoughts and habits, they will feel bored and no communication with each other in the future life.

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    2. I agree with you. The arranged marriage caused many tragedies in ancient China. A marriage between family of equal social rank and status or based on their class and value of wealth is absolutely wrong. People should have freedom to choose their own spouse, not just arranged by their parents. The arranged marriage is unfair to the couple, especially for women at that time.

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    3. Couldn't agree with this paper more, the whole arranged marriage aspect of a culture makes for dysfunctional homes and people who grow up with a belief that is immoral. The people of a country should be able to marry who they want and for that reason not for social or economic benefit.

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    4. I agree the arrange marriage. I think this is the easy way. Class system is very important in marriage. Love is important in the marriage, however, the marriage is not only about love, but also including habit and financial conditions.

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    5. Obviously arranged marriage we see today as wrong and often oppressing However, we must also look and understand the culture of China at the time. If we were living in their society then and faced family seclusion along with public humiliation all for "free-love" I'm sure many of us would not speak the way we do now. The fact of the matter is we have to understand one's culture and values before judging what is right from wrong.

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    6. I do highly agree with you. Arrange marragies usually end up on the wrong end because when the male and femal get together, they usually have very little information on one another. Therefore, there is no real connection between the two. As for now, there are some people that stand by the idea of arrange marriages, however, the majority is clearly against it.

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    7. I agree with you. In the feudal society, people are not free of marriage.They need the freedom to love.

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    8. I completely agree with your opinion. Arrange marriage has thousand years history in ancient China. People in ancient China used have to obey their parents intentions. people should have freedom to marry who they want to marry.

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    9. I also strongly with your point of how bad arranged marriages can be. In my opinion, love is much more important in marriage than class. Arranged marriages limit a person's free will and choice.

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    10. I certainly agree with your opinion about arranged marriages. People should marry for love, not because it is tradition to marry the people your parents chose for you. Good paper!

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    11. i agree with your idea about arranged marriages. Marriages is not only about love but also live together as a family. Parents want their children have a good life but they may give their children more freedom

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    12. I completely agree with your opinion on arranged marriages. I looked a little deeper into the reason why they were so popular at the time and found that in Confucianism it was used to bring different families together with different surnames. This was to used as a way to alleviate incest at the time, due to it being considered not virtuous. Very good and interesting paper!

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    13. Much like the other students, I agree with your perspective on arranged marriages. I mentioned briefly in my paper how girls were often expected to marry a particular other person in order to satisfy their parent's desires to join with another member of the same (or a higher) class. I agree with Ryan that love is a much more important factor than the class of whomever one is arranged to marry.

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  5. "Redefinition of Morality in Modern China"

    http://chi331vb.blogspot.com/

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    1. I really did enjoy reading your paper! I found what you said to be quite interesting saying how with modernization our values and way of thinking have to be adjusted slightly in order to "co-exist" with one another. You also used a lot of textual evidence to prove your point which makes for a solid argument.

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  6. My First Short Paper Link

    http://kennedynguyen.blogspot.com/2013/10/kennedy-nguyen-chi-331-001-1092013.html

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    1. It is interesting how the concept of "madness" ties all of these stories together, yet there is a different kind of "madness" displayed in each instance. I agree that sometimes the so-called crazy character is actually just the person who thinks differently.

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  7. My First Short Paper:
    The “San-cong” and Liangu in “The Night a Tiger Was Captured”
    http://tgstark2011.wordpress.com/

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    1. It was engaging how you proposed the questions of whether or not Liang exemplifies the the San-cong; it allows readers to keep in mind your stance and gives them something to think about while reading. Its also great how your points build upon on-another and help support your claims.

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    2. I had a very similar position on authority - Liangu placing her ultimate authority in herself rather than the authority proposed by tradition. Great analysis of the San-cong in the story and supporting evidence!

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    3. i was impressed by your connection between "San-cong" and "Liangu" because both of them represent the role of Chinese woman in May Fourth Movement. I agree with you idea of analysing Tian Han's writing style. Especially how different that Fusheng and Younth love Liangu. and yes, China experience May Fourth Movement and should recognize the perspective of self-independent.

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    4. I like how you mentioned that the author might have wanted to write a happy ending, but chose to go with a tragic one. It's true that while this ending is "more realistic" for the Confucian mentality, it also helps make the story more effective because the reader becomes attached to the characters and the tragic ending actually reveals the brutality of the outworn traditions.

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  8. My first short paper link
    "Slave Mother"
    http://yihangchen.blogspot.com/2013/10/first-short-paper.html

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    1. You present a good argument about how women were restricted by their financial dependence. I had never thought about poverty as an important issue in "A Slave Mother."

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  9. Traditionalism and Women's Suffrage

    http://bitter2016.blogspot.com

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    1. "What we should do is set ourselves ablaze so that we might be a torch to those who come after us"
      I think that it was great that you included this quote from Shih, because that is exactly what she did. I also enjoyed your comparison of suffrage to traditionalism, and how they contradict one another. Its interesting to think that traditionalism is not exactly a bad thing, if those traditional thoughts are thoughts that coincide with modern waves of thought. As we move further along, and our thoughts of today become traditional years from now, will they begin to contradict the views that we desire, or will we always maintain the views that we have now? Seems odd when worded that way, but we should aim for a "traditional" structure of thought that is not only universal in this time period, but universal for years to come; seems impossible to me, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised when change is necessary.

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  10. A Close Reading of “Diary of A Madman” by Fei Wang
    http://mathwangfei.blogspot.com/

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    1. It's interesting to point out that you consider Luxun as a madman. Yes he is, in some cases. He want to yell out and wake someone up. So he must be "mad" to some extent.

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  11. A Different Perspective

    http://angelho1123.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-different-perspective.html

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    1. I'm glad someone chose to focus particularly on the two women writers we read about. The perspective gained from reading their memoirs is very important for understanding the whole picture at that time in history. After reading about the transitions women in China made, I'm interested to find out more about the later movements in the 1900's.

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  12. "Chinas Battle of Culture and Influences"

    http://jonathanlau-firstmidtermpaper.blogspot.com/

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    1. I like your quote, “...anyone... 'studying foreign things' must be a down-and-outer at the end of his rope...", which supports the strong disdain of any outer-influences and the struggle of changing culture. Your essay was quite well written as well; you might could've used more sources to reinforce your argument, however. But it was good and insightful.

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  13. "The realism of The Night of A Tiger Was Captured"

    http://zhengshunjiao.blogspot.com/2013/10/first-short-essay-realism-of-night-of.html

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    1. i agree with you that dramma is different from reality, but we can learn information from dramma and know romantic is hard to achieve in real life. Even if old generation are traditional and feudal, they still love elder generation. Elder generation should consider what exactly love is not just get together

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  14. "Negative Effects of Filial Piety"
    http://annesblogforchi331.blogspot.com

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    1. Your argument and supporting evidences are excellent.What really made this so interesting to me is your view of filial piety. The parts about "modern-day Dihua" and "modern-day Liangu" were perfect and really help the reader to relate to their situations using modern day examples. Well done.

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    2. Anne, this is such an excellent essay! You provide an in depth look into filial piety and its effects on society that give the reader a new perspective. I like how you compared fictional works, but also memoirs in your analysis. You also provide real world application. I really enjoyed reading it!

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  15. http://nataleyprint.blogspot.com/2013/10/literary-analysis.html

    "A Literary Analysis of "Diary of a Madman"

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  16. "LOVE"
    http://ywz21.blogspot.com/2013/10/love.html

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  17. "Individualism"

    http://chi331individualism.blogspot.com/2013/10/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

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  18. "One night in rainy season": it is not a dream story
    http://zzh249.blogspot.com/

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    1. Agree with what you said "Shi had well control of making changes of the narrator’s unconscious mind." He did a pretty good job on describing the scenes of the rains. And different angle from "I" is just like a guide to know about what's Shanghai looks like at that time.

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  19. "The Influence of New Culture Movement"
    http://chi331wangjunyang.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-influence-of-new-culture-movement.html

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  20. "The Movement Toward Cultural Revolution"
    http://yiwenchen222.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-movement-towards-cultural-revolution.html

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  21. http://bkthomas92.blogspot.com/2013/10/passion-force-within-us-all.html

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    1. For the record, blogspot really needs to add an "edit post" function.
      The title of my essay is: "Passion, the Force Within Us All".

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    2. Well done, from The Boxer to May Forth Movement, you had a clear clue that combined those readings together to present the idea, "passion, the force with us all". The evidence you quoted well supported the main idea.

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  22. "Thought Enlightenment of Modern China"
    http://sunshine0713.blogspot.com/2013/10/enlightenment-first-short-paper.html

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  23. Changing Gender Roles in China

    http://nataliegantz.blogspot.com/

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  24. Love stories in old Chinese Feudal society
    http://rhu228.blogspot.com/2013/10/ren-hui-chi-331-101013-first-paper-love.html

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  25. "Clinging to Confucianism"
    http://chiwaugh.blogspot.com/2013/10/chi-331-essay-1.html

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    1. I enjoyed reading this essay because it contrasts my essay. I spoke about how the change is necessary but your arguments depict how before the culture changes, the preservation of Confucianism is pertinent.

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  26. "Compromise"
    http://castillochi331.blogspot.com/

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  27. http://weijiaming.blogspot.com/2013/10/strictgender-roles-in-modern-chinese.html

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    1. My paper is called "Strict Gender Roles in Modern Chinese Literature".

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  28. http://lifanlifan.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-love-between-huang-dasha-and-liangu.html

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  29. Reading, Writing, Revolution!
    http://vlmidterm1.blogspot.com/2013/10/reading-writing-revolution.html

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  30. Cultural Changes
    http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1406832076429566884#editor/target=post;postID=2525572097323985531;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname

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    1. Duc, please repost your link. The current one is not accessible. I'll delete the current post once you repost.

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  31. Liang Qichao, what did he do? by Max Milton https://plus.google.com/app/basic/107839701841897891177/posts?cbp=af7ywkqo27yq&sview=25

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