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queenfredegund · 1 hour

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Thousands of protestors singing “Do You Hear The People Sing” in a Hong Kong international airport. This is part of a 3-day sit-in and is only one example of the many marches, rallies, and sit-ins that are occurring daily.

The people of Hong Kong are fighting. Please do not let their voices go unheard around the world.

#hong kong riots #this was so moving....

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queenfredegund · 4 hours

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Today’s Classic: Book Readers in Art (Dedicated to bookporn, tilly-and-her-books, bookstodevour, and all the bookworms around tumblr!)

1. Franz Eybl’s ‘Girl Reading’ (1850)

2. William Adolphe Bouguereau’s 'The Story Book’ (1877)

3. Charles Edward Perugini’s ‘Girl Reading’ (1878)

4. Atilio Baccani’s ‘Lady Reading a Book’ (1876)

5. Sir John Lavery’s ‘The Red Book’ (1892)

6. Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s 'Young Girl Reading’ (1770)

7. Charles Amable Lenoir’s ‘To the Return of Times Lost’ (19th Century)

#art #paintings #franz eybl #william adolphe bouguereau #charles edward prugini #atilio baccani #john lavery #jean honoré fragonard #charles amable lenoir #18th century #19th century

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queenfredegund · 6 hours

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Daenerys Stormborn, she was called, for she had come howling into the world on distant Dragonstone as the greatest storm in the memory of Westeros howled outside, a storm so fierce that it ripped gargoyles from the castle walls and smashed her father’s fleet to kindling.

#ASoIaF #GoT #daenerys targaryen

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queenfredegund · 8 hours

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Lady Washi - Ferocious warrior and administrator

Lady Washi (1498-1557) was a woman of Zhuang ethnicity. Her father was the sub-prefectoral magistrate of Guishun, present-day Jingxi, Guangxi province, China. She was taught military strategy and martial arts during her childhood.

Lady Washi was married to Chen Meng, the local leader of Tianzhou (present-day Tianyang). In 1523, Chen Meng ignored his wife’s advice and rebelled against the imperial Ming government. He was ultimately killed by Lady Washi’s father. One of Chen Meng’s sons, Chen Bangxiang, took his father’s place, but Lady Washi killed him after he raided her lands.

She then petitioned the court, asking for Chen Meng’s grandson, Chen Zhi, to be allowed to inherit the position and be placed under her care. Her request was granted. Lady Washi thus became regent as Chen Zhi was too young to rule. He died in 1553 and Lady Washi then served as a regent for his son.

She was a talented administrator who had her people’s trust. Lady Washi also proved instrumental in fighting the Japanese pirates who made incursions on the entire eastern seaboard. In 1555, the emperor named her female assistant regional commander. At that time aged of 57, Lady Washi led 5,000 soldiers in battle, killing many pirates, and acquired a reputation as an accomplished warrior.

She thus helped the imperial troops to secure their first victory in this long campaign and her exploits were celebrated by the local people. The emperor awarded her with silver coins.

For another woman who fought against the Japanese pirates, see Lady Qi.

Bibliography:

“Lady Washi”, in: Lee Lily Xiao Hong, Wiles Sue (dir.), Biographical dictionary of Chinese women: Tang through Ming (618-1644)

Mou Sherry J., “Wa”, in: Higham Robin, Pennington Reina (ed.), Amazons to fighter pilots, biographical dictionary of military women, vol.2

#women in history #warrior women #lady washi #imperial china #ming dynasty #16th century

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queenfredegund · 13 hours

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Rebecca Ferguson as Princess Ergenia in Hercules (2014)

#hercules #ergenia

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queenfredegund · 16 hours

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I grew up under the reign of the indomitable Kitten Little, First and Fiercest, who was a massive grey and white thundercloud of a cat. She was unquestionably gorgeous, smart as a whip, and meaner than satan with a hangover. She was also very incorrectly named–she was huge and old well before I was born, and only got huger and older as the years went on. During her years as Head Cat of our household, she conducted the complete domination of no less than three dogs (one of whom was a stray doberman), was implicated in the suspicious deaths of two of her predecessors, and supervised the raising of me and my siblings. Because her domain was overrun with tiny humans and inferior pets, she was frequently found lurking on the fireplace mantel, or on the ledge of the second-story balcony that overlooked the living room. From this position of power she could glare down at all of us and be safe from any grabby hands. Not that our hands remained grabby for long–Kitten Little was very clear in her communication that she would be touched on her terms only.

Kitten Little was a capital-C Cat. In her household, you respected animals. Or else.

Even as a small child, I loved all animals, but I adored Kitten Little. She was the iron-fisted ruler that I wanted to grow up to be, and I spent countless hours carefully observing her and trying to win her respect. This adoration was, in part, because of the fact that the neighbor’s German Shepherd refused to go anywhere near her. That dog had gotten loose one summer and bit me in the face, so I was very appreciative of Kitten Little’s dogless bubble. That incident had also instilled in me a fear of large dogs that would last for a good two years.

Being afraid of dogs meant that I absolutely refused to go over to my best friend Alicia’s house, because Alicia’s family were dog breeders. Huskies, mostly, but at that age all I cared about was bitey and bigger than me. She often invited me over, but I always told her no. Finally, around her birthday, she convinced me to come around for a sleepover: we would go to the movies first, and by the time we got to her house, her dad would have put all the dogs in kennels outside, so I could sleep peacefully in a dogless house. Based on these terms, I agreed.

Things went well. The movie was good, the dogs were all outside, and eventually we crashed in Alicia’s room. It was fine until I woke up around midnight and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

My night vision is very good, and I didn’t want to wake anyone up by turning on the lights, so the kitchen was dark when I slipped in. That’s why it took me a few seconds to realize there was something on top of the fridge.

Something…pretty large. Something with gleaming eyes, huge ears, and a tail. At first I thought it was a dog—it was too big to be a cat–but the movement of it was wrong. It was too still.

And the tail, draped over the edge of the fridge, was twitching gently at the very tip.

I knew that twitch.

I had seen that twitch a thousand times when Kitten Little had had enough and decided she was about to conduct a little surprise murder.

I realized that whatever was on top of the fridge was a cat. A huge cat. I don’t mean a big housecat–Kitten Little was a good metric for how big house cats could get, and this thing was easily twice her size. And I was small for my age, which meant this thing was at least half my size.

I had studied Kitten Little well. I knew what that tail twitch meant, what that fixed stare and hunched shoulders translated to. There was a fucking wildcat on top of Alicia’s fridge, and it was about to pounce on me.

I knew that there was no way I could outrun this thing, no way I could dodge it. I carefully, carefully, backed out of the kitchen. I did not break eye contact. As soon as I broke line of sight with the thing on top of the fridge, I booked it back to Alicia’s room and shook her awake. “Alicia,” I said calmly, “there is a leopard on your fridge. I think we have to do something about it.”

“No there’s not,” Alicia said.

“Yes, there is, I’m really very very sure there is.”

“No, he’s not a leopard,” Alicia said. And then proceeded to explain that they had a goddam pet serval.

Things that you should know about servals:

They are a type of african wild cat

They are primarily nocturnal

They hunt prey by jumping on it, landing on its back, and biting the back of the neck to kill it

Things that you should also know about servals:

They make fucking terrible pets, because they are wild cats. It’s very difficult to meet their needs in a home setting, and they will want to do the things they do in the wild, such as jumping on top of small, unsuspecting prey animals. Like myself.

“Alicia,” I said, less calmly, “Why did you not tell me about him?”

“You’re scared of big dogs. He’s not a big dog.”

This was, admittedly, true.

In the morning, I got a proper introduction to the serval, which was actually sort of great; I held no hard feelings about the near miss, and was pretty excited to meet him. It went well overall. Nonetheless, I was relieved to go home, to my dog-less, serval-less house.

Kitten Little sat up on the mantel. Her eyes were huge and gleaming, her ears sharp, her tail poofy and twitching.

“Will you murder me if I try to pet you today?” I asked.

Kitten Little stood, lifted her tail upright, and flopped the very tip over.

I knew what that meant. I clambered up on top of a chair to offer my hand, and Kitten Little permitted me to pet her very soft and fluffy self for about five whole minutes before pulling out the claws to tell me I was done.

The serval might be bigger and scarier, but I knew the truth: no cat was allowed to murder me.

Kitten Little had already called dibs.

#cats #lmao

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queenfredegund · 18 hours

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chinese hanfu by 朱山尽_

#hanfu #costumes

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queenfredegund · 20 hours

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the neville sisters and their dog ｡:ﾟ૮ ˶ˆ ﻌ ˆ˶ ა ﾟ:｡

#the white queen #anne neville #isabel neville #english history #york dynasty #15th century

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queenfredegund · 23 hours

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pictures: Dumplings and delicacies unearthed from a Tang Dynasty tomb in Turpan, Xinjiang Province in 1972. Now exhibited in the Ancient China section in the National Museum.

The origin of dumplings (Jiaozi)

According to historical records and unearthed relics, dumplings became the popular food in as early as the late Han Dynasty. But back then, its name was Huntun馄饨, and people steam-fried it like they now do with steam-fried dumplings. Yan Zhitui in Northern Qi said, “Today’s Huntun has a moon-like form and is eaten by all the people.”形如偃月，天下通食. This moon-shaped Huntun is actually today’s dumpling. It also has another name: Jiaoer娇耳. Just as quoted in “Zheng Zi Tong”《正字通》, “Today’s Huntun is another name for Jiaoer. Its wrapper is generally made from rice or flour, and the center is filled with stuffing. It looks like small balls and the size can be quite different. People steam-fry it.” Ming Dynasty book “Wan Li Ye Huo Bian”《万历野获编》 cited some interesting couplets said by Beijingers then: “The thin-wrapper Baocui and the thick-stuffing Huntun, the leaves Jiaoer and the flowers Shaomai”. It’s clearly seen that people had drawn distinctions among Huntun, Jiaozi and Shaomai at that time. The dumplings unearthed in Turpan is in the same shape as today’s dumplings, which proves that over 1,000 years ago, dumplings became not only a well-known food in the Central Plains in China, but also a favorite food of people in the Western Regions through the journey on the Silk Road.

<(￣ˇ￣)/ {Don’t forget to eat some Jiaozi on the Winter Solstice}

#food

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queenfredegund · 1 day

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