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Ancient China’s Tiger Queen
Archaeologist Sarah Milledge Nelson, alumna of the University of Michigan, distinguished university professor emerita at the University of Denver, and award-winning author of scholarly works, has just published Ancient China’s Tiger Queen, her third novel. In it, Nelson tells the story of a real queen of the Shang dynasty in ancient China, who was also a general, a shaman, a landowner, and the mother of three children. Nelson talked with UMMAA about the whys and hows of writing fiction as an archaeologist, and what novels can accomplish that archaeology cannot. To get more news about women in ancient china, you can visit shine news official website.
Nelson’s first and second novels are Spirit Bird Journey and Jade Dragon. Although the three books are not a trilogy, they are connected, explained Nelson.
“The theme that relates them is strong women leaders,” she explained. “And they go in chronological order: Early Neolithic, Late Neolithic, and Bronze Age." Tiger Queen takes place in the Shang Dynasty, which was during the second millennium BCE.
Though they are fictional tales, her novels all have unassailable foundations in archaeology.
“I have invented as little as possible,” she said. “I made use of both archaeological and written materials. I wanted to be able to reply to those skeptical of the women leaders in the stories. To those who have asked, “How do you know the chief was a woman?” my reply is simply, how do you know it’s not so? Using the archaeological evidence, a story with a woman chief is just as plausible as a story with a male chief.”
Nelson’s first two novels are based on excavations she participated in. Spirit Bird Journey is based on her work at Osanni on the west coast of Korea. That novel was translated into Korean, and for those who want to visit it, there is a museum at the small village nearby. The second novel takes place in northeast China, at Niuheliang, which is called the Goddess Temple for a sculpture fragment made of unbaked clay: a female face inset with green jade eyes.
Ancient China’s Tiger Queen is based on the first readable Chinese writing—that of the oracle bones—and the grave of Fu Hao, a consort of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty. Although Nelson was not part of the crew at this site, she visited it three times and spoke with Dr. Zheng Zhen Xiang, the director of the first excavation of Fu Hao’s tomb, and two Anyang archaeologists still working there, Jing Zhi Cheng and Tang Ji Gen.
Nelson read and taught for years about the Shang dynasty and King Wu Ding’s most important queen, and she wrote and rewrote the novel over a decade.
The main character of Ancient China’s Tiger Queen is Lady Hao (fu is the Chinese word for lady, Nelson explains), who (in the story) introduces horses and chariots to Shang from her homeland to the north, and thus allows her husband, King Wu Ding, to establish an empire.
To help guide readers who are not familiar with the history of Shang, each chapter begins with a quote to situate the story in the archaeological discourse about the site. Author’s notes are added at the end to explain some debatable interpretations of the evidence and to allow students to critique those choices. For example, nobody knows why or how horses suddenly appear in Shang.
“The origins of horseback riding in China are still in dispute,” Nelson wrote. “In fact, there is still controversy over the earliest horse riding in Central Asia, which presumably antedated that of China by thousands of years… Horse bones are found in several sites in the Chinese Neolithic, especially the north and west, regions that would have been in touch with horse breeders on the steppes. This is the region where I have imagined Lady Hao to have been born and raised. But no one has yet studied how Neolithic horses were used, or even whether they were wild or domesticated.”
It’s not hard to see the dominant theme in Nelson’s work. In addition to three novels, Nelson has published ten scholarly books—including the classic Gender in Archaeology: Analyzing Power and Prestige, which is still selling and still cited after more than twenty years—and edited eight other volumes.
Nelson believes that archaeological explanations will always be about males until archaeologists are able to show that women were an important part of cultural evolution, and the agency of women is established and taken for granted. For the most part, when you say “the leader,” people think of a male, Nelson points out. She wants to put a dent in that assumption.
But despite her efforts, and those of fellow archaeologists, the rate of change has been slow.
“In terms of archaeology, I don’t think [gender] has been taken seriously by those who write grand theory,” Nelson said. “Very few women have made an impact on the field in terms of theory. Feminist/gender archaeology is still considered a fringe endeavor in many places.”
Frustrated with the lack of progress in gender archaeology, Nelson decided to try a different tack: try to connect with the public through novels about women in archaeology.
What are the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines?
Last weekend, China reached a milestone of having administered more than one billion doses of its homegrown COVID-19 vaccines, the majority of which were developed by local companies Sinovac and Sinopharm.To get more news about sinopharm update, you can visit shine news official website.
What’s more, hundreds of millions of doses of these vaccines have been shipped to more than 80 countries worldwide.Sinopharm was given emergency approval by the World Health Organization (WHO) in May this year, and Sinovac in June.
But what do we know about these vaccines? How do they work, are they safe, and how effective are they in the real world?Both are inactivated virus vaccines. This means they’re made from viral particles produced in a lab, which are then inactivated so they can’t infect you with COVID-19. Many other vaccines use similar platforms, including injectable polio, Hepatitis A and flu vaccines.
Both companies use similar technology, and the vaccines are mixed with an adjuvant, which is a substance added to vaccines to stimulate a stronger immune response.
The vaccines contain many proteins the immune system can respond to, stimulating the production of antibodies to fight COVID-19.Side-effects common after most other COVID-19 vaccines, such as fever and fatigue, were found to be uncommon after Sinovac or Sinopharm.
Once vaccines are approved and being used in large populations, they’re continuously monitored for very rare side effects. No significant safety concerns have been identified amid Sinovac’s rollout in China, Brazil, Indonesia and Chile.
In saying that, there were very low numbers of adverse events identified overall, which would suggest substantial under-reporting.For example, there were only 49 serious adverse events reported following 35.8 million Sinovac doses administered in China.
In a population of that size, we’d expect to see a larger number of illnesses and deaths recorded in the few weeks after vaccination just by coincidence alone, even if not causally related to the vaccine.
Only 79 people reported mostly mild adverse events following 1.1 million doses of Sinopharm in China, much lower than usual rates of adverse event reporting following immunisation.
A potential side effect of particular concern is what’s called “vaccine-associated enhanced disease”. This is a very rare side effect of some other vaccines which use a similar “inactivated” technology to the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.
It occurs when a vaccinated person is exposed to the virus and develops a serious inflammatory condition, and results in them getting more severe symptoms than they would have without the vaccination.
This hasn’t been reported for these vaccines to date, although WHO recommends ongoing safety monitoring to identify any cases that occur.Sinovac’s efficacy at preventing symptomatic infection was 51% in Brazil, 67% in Chile, 65% in Indonesia, and 84% in Turkey. The differences in results may be due to different variants circulating in each country at the time and differences in the populations included in the studies.
Sinopharm’s efficacy in preventing symptomatic infection was 78% in UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan combined.
As with all the COVID-19 vaccines for which data are available, efficacy against the more severe outcomes is greater. Efficacy against hospitalisation for Sinovac in Chile, Brazil and Turkey was 85%, 100% and 100%, respectively.Data published in April from a large real world study in Chile suggests Sinovac is 67% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infection. It’s effectiveness against hospitalisation was 85%, ICU admission 89%, and death 80%.
However, it’s concerning there have been increases in infections in some countries where these vaccines have been extensively used, but detailed reports are not available.For example, Seychelles has fully vaccinated 68% of its population, mostly with Sinopharm and the remainder with AstraZeneca.
Seychelles has recently experienced a surge in cases, which suggests the herd immunity threshold may not have been reached. The exact threshold for this is unknown but is influenced by variants in circulation, the number of people vaccinated, and the effectiveness of the vaccines.
Detailed epidemiological studies are required to investigate this but news reports suggest 20% of those hospitalised and 37% of new active cases are fully vaccinated.
China’s 2022 Economic Outlook Based on GDP and Economic Indicators from 2021
As the world’s second-largest economy, China is expected to account for more than 18 percent of the global economy and contribute more than 25 percent of global economic growth in 2021, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).To get more economy news today, you can visit shine news official website.
The GDP growth rate easily topped Beijing’s target of “above six percent”, thanks to a sustained export boom and a low comparison base – in virus-ravaged 2020, the economy grew merely 2.2 percent.In the last quarter, China’s GDP grew four percent from a year earlier, down from the 4.9 percent growth in Q3, the 7.9 percent in Q2, and the 18.3 percent in Q1. Despite the slowdown, the Q4 GDP year-on-year growth exceeded economists’ forecasts of 3.6 to 3.7 percent, and on a quarterly basis, it grew a moderate 1.6 percent.
The lower GDP growth in Q4 was a result of a combination of factors – a less favorable comparison base, a property downturn under the government’s continued deleveraging efforts, virus disruptions, weak domestic spending, and diminished support from exports.
Looking ahead, economic growth in 2022 faces various headwinds. Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS, warned China is now facing “triple pressures from shrinking demand, supply shocks, and weakening expectations”. Compounding the problem is a worsening demographic picture – in 2020, the birth rate in China fell to its lowest point in more than four decades, at a faster-than-expected pace.Economic data show that China’s economy is mainly driven by strong industrial output and exports. In 2021, the two-year average growth of industrial output exceeded the pre-COVID-19 level in 2019 and the year-on-year growth rate of exports in dollar terms hit the highest level since 2011. However, the two-year average growth of services, consumption, and investment all failed to return back to the pre-pandemic trajectory, which dragged down the wider economic performance.
On the demand side, investment made a surprisingly negative contribution to GDP growth in Q4 at -11.6 percent. This is mainly because the government’s deleveraging efforts led to a sharp drop in real estate investment, which further impacted secondary sector output growth.
While investment in manufacturing continues to recover, among which investment in high-tech manufacturing increased 22.2 percent for 2021, it has been insufficient to recoup the overall loss.
China’s net exports contributed a much-needed 26.4 percent in Q4, indicating that a sustained export boom has prevented a worse economic slowdown by the end of 2021. However, exports growth showed signs of slowing in the last quarter as developed countries withdrew stimulus packages, leading to a pullback in external demand.
China’s fixed-asset investments – including investment in infrastructure, machinery and equipment, and real estate development – grew 4.9 percent for the whole of 2021, down from a 5.2 percent expansion for the first 11 months.
Of it, investment in real estate saw a sharp drop, as the government restricted developer financing and home purchases in an effort to curb property speculation and credit expansion. In the second half of 2021, the cumulative year-on-year growth of real estate investment dropped from 15 percent to 4.4 percent.
Although debt restrictions eased in Q4, year-on-year growth of real estate investment further slowed to 4.4 percent in the January-December period from a six percent increase for the first 11 months.
Infrastructure investment grew at a snail’s pace last year, which rose a slight 0.4 percent for the full year, down from a 0.5 percent growth pace in the first 11 months. Land sales slump and tightened regulation of local government hidden debt have constrained investment in infrastructure.
Manufacturing investment continued to pick up. Investment in manufacturing grew by 13.5 percent in 2021 from a year ago, with investment in special purpose machinery rising the most, up 24.3 percent year-on-year.