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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 …

Haniwa: Constructing A Sacred Place For The Afterlife, Ashlyn Rawls, Clarissa Aliberti, Rylee Baisden

Featured Research

Haniwa are small, hollow terracotta statues that were placed on aristocratic graves during the Kofun period of Japan, which translates as “old tomb.” These unique figures were rather simple at the beginning of their creation, but over time they became increasingly complex taking the forms of people, animals, and other objects. These fascinating funerary objects serve a greater purpose than just ordinary tomb decorations. The haniwa tie into the Confucianist tradition of being made to be used and to protect the spirits of the dead. Influenced by Confucian tradition, in which “filial piety” is recognized as a high level of …

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 …