History, Fiction and Stuff.

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

Anthropology of 10 year olds.

I’ve been giving English lessons to a 10 year old Chinese girl. She was explaining to me how her class at school works. Some details.

The class has a King and Queen student who rule. 

The position of King and Queen are apparently earned by having the most wealth.

Wealth in this case means possession of small little rolled up pieces of paper that kind of look like cigars (she showed me a bunch) but with nothing inside (thankfully). The students make them themselves.

Initially it seems that anyone could make cigars but recently the King and Queen, in a classic example of the tendency of state power to increase over time, have declared themselves the only ones permitted to make them and all others counterfeit.

The penalty for counterfeiting is prison which apparently involves having to spend your lunch with the king and queen. Not exactly clear why this is such a punishment.

There is also an elaborate ranking system among the students. She mentioned soldiers, Royal soldiers, and Princesses. Not sure if this is complete.

She has recently raised her rank to that of Royal soldier by making a large number of cigars for the king and queen. I did not think to ask if this was before the prohibition on any other than the king and queen issuing currency or if it was permitted due to being authorized by them. 

Upon being elevated to the position of Royal soldier she received a shield made by the King as a token of her office. 

Points that remain unclear.

Just what duties or privileges are associated with the various ranks? What exactly is the benefit of promotion? 

I had the impression that this was entirely a student affair with no teacher involvement but aren’t sure. Likewise I didn’t think to clarify if this structure is limited to her class or extends beyond it.

What happens if a student refuses to submit to imprisonment? Is this where the soldiers are brought in?

What exactly is the balance of power between the two monarchs? The way she talked about it they seemed to be working completely in tandem but in the event of disagreement how would things be resolved?

Is this normal? Is this normal in Chinese schools? I was homeschooled for most of my childhood so could anyone comment if there own school had anything this elaborate?

Why do I suddenly want to be an anthropologist studying primary schools?

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

[reactionaryhistorian]

[reactionaryhistorian]

A random conversation with Bing chat. Unfortunately I didn’t get access until after it had been very much neutered. Still surprisingly good. On the last page Bing originally accepted my apology and said that it would be able to answer me better if I was clear when I was roleplaying. But this presumably encountered some sort of filter so was replaced with the fun fact message.

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

I would like to state my opinion that it was much more healthy and honest when the term master was used to describe the relationship between a dog and its owner than the modern habit ofusing parental terms.

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

I feel that it should be declared as a general principle that unless a Science Fiction (or fantasy) series is specifically about time travel it should not contain any time travel whatsoever.

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

[chaumas-deactivated20230115]

one trope I don’t recall seeing in a space opera style sci-fi setting: the traveling circus

I’ve certainly encountered stories where circuses are mentioned, but I don’t think I’ve ever read one that actually featured a brightly-colored spaceship arriving on a sleepy little planet one day and setting up a show that seduces the starry-eyed provincial youths into running off with it to the stars

[rolls up sleeves] to work I suppose

[reactionaryhistorian]

You have to look at older stuff. Like Tom Corbett and The Imperial Stars. It wasn’t too uncommon back then. (Although I can’t think of it ever appearing in anything classic.).

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

[reactionaryhistorian]

I have been watching the old scifi Anime They Were Eleven. I have just had a reveal that a certain character, Frol, was actually a girl which is treated as very surprising. Except she looks and sounds (and even acts really) so obviously feminine that I hadn’t even realised that she was meant to be disguised or that any of the characters saw her as anything but a girl which made the whole thing seem more ridiculous than shocking. (There was a scene that I think in retrospect was meant to clue me in but I interpreted it more as here being a bit of a Tomboy that actually claiming to be a man.)

Seriously in what world is this meant to look like a guy? Apparently Chinese dramas also do this.

[reactionaryhistorian]

Huh. she’s actually some sort of Alien that only develops a gender once they are an adult.

[reactionaryhistorian]

And now they are having a massive food fight. This is a rather weird anime.

[reactionaryhistorian]

They tried very hard to convince me that the main character was dead just then but I didn’t buy it. As I predicted it was all a fake.

[reactionaryhistorian]

It was actually pretty enjoyable now I have finished it if a little weird. Frol eventually chooses to be a girl so as to get with the main character. Pretty fun although several of the twists were pretty predictable.

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

[reactionaryhistorian]

I have been watching the old scifi Anime They Were Eleven. I have just had a reveal that a certain character, Frol, was actually a girl which is treated as very surprising. Except she looks and sounds (and even acts really) so obviously feminine that I hadn’t even realised that she was meant to be disguised or that any of the characters saw her as anything but a girl which made the whole thing seem more ridiculous than shocking. (There was a scene that I think in retrospect was meant to clue me in but I interpreted it more as here being a bit of a Tomboy that actually claiming to be a man.)

Seriously in what world is this meant to look like a guy? Apparently Chinese dramas also do this.

[reactionaryhistorian]

Huh. she’s actually some sort of Alien that only develops a gender once they are an adult.

[reactionaryhistorian]

And now they are having a massive food fight. This is a rather weird anime.

[reactionaryhistorian]

They tried very hard to convince me that the main character was dead just then but I didn’t buy it. As I predicted it was all a fake.

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

[reactionaryhistorian]

I have been watching the old scifi Anime They Were Eleven. I have just had a reveal that a certain character, Frol, was actually a girl which is treated as very surprising. Except she looks and sounds (and even acts really) so obviously feminine that I hadn’t even realised that she was meant to be disguised or that any of the characters saw her as anything but a girl which made the whole thing seem more ridiculous than shocking. (There was a scene that I think in retrospect was meant to clue me in but I interpreted it more as here being a bit of a Tomboy that actually claiming to be a man.)

Seriously in what world is this meant to look like a guy? Apparently Chinese dramas also do this.

[reactionaryhistorian]

Huh. she’s actually some sort of Alien that only develops a gender once they are an adult.

[reactionaryhistorian]

And now they are having a massive food fight. This is a rather weird anime.

[History, Fiction and Stuff.]

[reactionaryhistorian]

I have been watching the old scifi Anime They Were Eleven. I have just had a reveal that a certain character, Frol, was actually a girl which is treated as very surprising. Except she looks and sounds (and even acts really) so obviously feminine that I hadn’t even realised that she was meant to be disguised or that any of the characters saw her as anything but a girl which made the whole thing seem more ridiculous than shocking. (There was a scene that I think in retrospect was meant to clue me in but I interpreted it more as here being a bit of a Tomboy that actually claiming to be a man.)

Seriously in what world is this meant to look like a guy? Apparently Chinese dramas also do this.

[reactionaryhistorian]

Huh. she’s actually some sort of Alien that only develops a gender once they are an adult.