Asian Art and Architecture Commons^™

White Snake, Black Snake Folk Narrative Meets Master Narrative In Qing Dynasty Sichuanese Cross-Stitch Medallions, Cory Willmott

Cory A. Willmott

The cross-stitch medallion in figure 1 was collected by my grandmother, Katherine Willmott, in the early 1920s when she was a missionary in Renshow, Sichuan Province, West China. Many years after I inherited it, I learned that it depicts a folk narrative called “White Snake; Black Snake” that was traditionally performed both on stage in the legitimate theaters and in Chinese shadow puppet dramas (Highbaugh n/d:6).

The story may be summarized as follows: There were two female snakes, White Snake and Black Snake, who were inseparable friends. They both changed into beautiful young women. White Snake got married and bore …

Teaching With Twitter: A Collaborative Experiment Using Twitter In The Classroom, Brian Vetruba, Makiba Foster, Kristina Kleutghen

University Libraries Presentations

In a world where social media are becoming part of our daily existence in a variety of ways, Twitter is making inroads as a method for engaging students. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning found a higher rate of student engagement with faculty and course material--as well as better grades—among students who were Twitter users. Kristina, Makiba, and Brian will describe a collaborative experiment in integrating Twitter into two Art History courses in the fall of 2011. They will share lessons learned and engage participants in a discussion of best practices for using …

The Paradox Of Gender Among West China Missionary Collectors, 1920-1950, Cory A. Willmott

Cory A. Willmott

During the turbulent years between the Chinese nationalist revolution of 1911 and the communist victory of 1949, a group of missionaries lived and worked in West China whose social gospel theologies led to unusual identification with Chinese. Among the regular social actors in their lives were itinerant “curio men” who, amidst the chaos of feuding warlords, gathered up the heirlooms of the deposed Manchurian aristocracy and offered these wares for sale on the quiet and orderly verandahs of the mansions inside the missionary compounds of West China Union University. Although missionary men and women often collected the same types of …