April 18, 2017 - 01:25
Idea 1: The disability figures represented in ancient China’s literature
Although not very often, we can find disabled figures in ancient China’s literature. Zhuang Zi has one chapter in his book describing differences in body figures and disability. Historical Records written by Sima Qian (who is also disabled), one of the most important history book in ancient China,included a couple disabled figures. There were also several folk stories that include one of more disabled characters. I want to examine these literatures and try to look into the social status of disability in ancient China revealed by these non-fiction literatures.
Idea 2: Haidi Zhang, the Chinese Helen Keller
Haidi Zhang is a writer and the chairperson of China Disabled Persons’ Federation and is often called the Helen Keller of China. Growing up reading her stories, I find her more like a created figure rather than a real person as she was considered this “model figure” and almost every primary school student in China has written about her in their essays. Reading her works now, I found a lot of her arguments problematic and deeply associated with political ideologies. I want to critically examine some of her work and reports and news about her, and think about her position in the modern Chinese disability community.