The present is best understood by the past. The present is created by the past merely building upon itself. One may argue that we learn nothing from history, but there are reservations about these doubts because history is simply repeated if it is forgotten. Even so, something that is exempt from history textbooks are the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary times. If we want to understand ordinary people, we need to turn the clock back as far as the cradle of society.
Arguably one of world's biggest nations with a significant foot-holding in history, China has had a strong claim to fame. Being the inventor of countless concepts, including paper, coinage standardization, and grand ship building centuries before the Titanic, China has remained in great recognition since its seed was planted thousands of years ago (China - Dynasties and Contributions…show more content… In a novel called Flower Shadows on a Window Blind, two girls coming of age explore their bodies together. This exploring was interpreted as an ordinary of growing and developing. Sometimes, a woman could convince her husband to take a female lover as a concubine, and the two will "share" her. On the other side, two women could get married in some regions, and even adopt female children to inherit their land. These marriages were called Golden Orchid Associations, or jinlanhui. (Neill 262)
Chinese society flourished with the Ming dynasty, but it all crumbled apart in the early 16th century, as Manchu rulers came into power. (Neill 262) Manchu Ruler Kangxi attempted to bring order to society by punishing homosexual behavior, such as male prostitution, nicknamed, "rabbits." These laws were more about family-oriented values than they were a judgement of homosexuality. In any case, journals of disgusted westerners point to how inadequately enforced these laws were, and the frequency of which homosexuality is mentioned in literature. (Neill
