Compare and Contrast the role of Mongolian women to Chinese women in the 13th century.

1. THE MONGOL AND THE CHINESE GIRLS
By: Matt Joyner
Topic: Compare and Contrast
the role of women in Mongol
culture to women of China in the
13th century.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. The first thing that Arslan
noticed 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.”

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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 and
actually listened to her advice. This
was because it was unmanly and
immature not to listen to her.

10. The following day, Lihua and Arslan
talked 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!

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

16. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• "Mongolian Women." History 252. Web. 22 Nov.
2014.
<http://web.clark.edu/afisher/HIST252/lecture_n
otes/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.