Monkey: Journey to the West
These Buddhist figures are made of mammoth ivory An early Chinese travel novel Wu Cheng'en (probably) wrote his novel, A Journey to the West, in the Ming Dynasty, in [...]
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06, 2017
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06, 2017
Later Chinese Literature – Ming and Qing Dynasties
During the Ming Dynasty in the 1500s and 1600s AD, the strongest influence on Chinese literature came from Central Asia, where the world's great universities and libraries were then located. Chinese novelists [...]
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06, 2017
Fengshen Yanyi – A Ming Dynasty novel
A Chinese novel of the Ming Dynasty During the later Ming Dynasty, in the 1500s AD, a man named Xu Zhonglin wrote a novel called Fengshen Yanyi. The main character is Ji [...]
31
05, 2017
Secret History of the Mongols – Central Asian Literature
Genghis Khan The oldest book written in Mongolian is a biography of Genghis Khan, who created the Mongol Empire. Nobody knows who wrote the Secret History, but whoever it was, [...]
31
05, 2017
Epic of Manas – Central Asian stories
Uighur princesses (Bezelik Cave) Possibly some time in the Middle Ages, Kyrgyz people began telling the story of Manas, his son Semetei, and his grandson Seitek. In the first part [...]
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05, 2017
Central Asian stories and languages
Central Asian stories and languages: People speaking Mongolian Central Asian languages Around 3000 BC, most people in Central Asia spoke one of three different kinds of languages. Some people spoke Indo-European languages [...]
31
05, 2017
Tale of Igor’s Campaign – Russian stories
Igor's campaign: a Ukrainian landscape Who wrote this story? Nobody knows who wrote the Tale of Igor's Campaign. More Central Asian stories All our Central Asia articles What's it about? [...]
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05, 2017
Russian Literature
Leo Tolstoy (ca. 1900) The Mongol Empire spread reading and writing all across Central Asia. From the time of the Mongol Empire on, people in Central Asia were able to [...]
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05, 2017
African Literature – Colonization and Independence
By 1500 AD, many people in Africa had converted to Islam, and so they had learned at least some Arabic, so they could recite parts of the Koran and say their prayers. [...]
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05, 2017
Memorization Project – Medieval Africa
Just as African kids did so long ago, you can also learn pieces of poetry or Quran verses or Bible verses or readings from the Torah by heart. Memorization is fun and [...]
