You Wouldn't Want to Be in the Forbidden City!: A Sheltered Life You'd Rather Avoid

You Wouldn't Want to Be ...

by Jacqueline Morley, David Antram (Illustrator)

Uses humor in both text and illustrations to describe the hardships and pitfalls of living in the Forbidden City.

Genres: History, Childrens, Nonfiction, Picture Books, China

32 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2008

About the author

Jacqueline Morley studied English at Oxford University and has taught English and History. She is the author of numerous books, including award-winning historical nonfiction titles for children. Her books have won several TES Senior Information book awards.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter loves this series and constantly unearths new ones whenever she goes to the library. I was amused to see this particular entry because, at her age, this was exactly the question that occupied my mind: when President Nixon went to China and the TV showed him walking through the grand throne rooms at the center of the Forbidden City, I wondered what went on in the side rooms when it had been a real palace. So I eventually got a Ph.D. with a focus on the Qing imperial bureaucracy and found the answer about thirty years later.

But my daughter now knows the basic stuff that took me years in graduate school to learn. The book does an excellent job providing rather detailed information about the imperial examination system, the Qing central government structures, and the emperor's family life. The fact that it goes into the bureaucratic difference between the Grand Councilors and the heads of the Six Ministries is really stunning. The ethnic differences between the Manchus and the Han Chinese are clearly explained, too, along with an accurate description of the banner system. More accessible for kids is the description of the would-be government official's progress to his first job in the imperial palace, and the inclusion of some sad-but-true facts about life for women in the emperor's retinue.

The only squawks I have with the book are its overstating the Han resentment about wearing the queue, which was not considered a major issue in the mid-Qing, and the fact that the characters drawn by David Antram are jarringly not Chinese looking (or Manchu, for that matter). I give them a pass, though because both of these are acceptable within the frame of the series--everything is exaggerated to show the woeful life in the period in question, and all of the books have the same cartoon figures, no matter the time or place or ethnicity of the real people involved.

Read this and avoid the need to take a graduate seminar in Chinese history!

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Qualifying exams, intrigue and harsh punishments, life in the Forbidden City can be very hard!

[Sarah]

Non-fiction picture book series aimed at middle elementary grades--tries to be entertaining rather then purely informational.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the humor in history it gives

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again...a great book in the series but well beyond the years that I am responsible for covering.

[Kwesi Frank]

This

[Kelly Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would tie in well with the MinecraftEdu world of the Forbidden City. I wonder if each hall from the book is in the computer world?

[Laura The Book Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love all the "You Wouldn't Want to Be..." books

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book less than 30 pages long, I sure learned a lot about Chinese history! Really interesting book.

[Sudefteri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Resimleri bol ve sayfanın her yeri yazı dolu. Okumasaydım da olurdu. Çocuklara göre değil bence.

[Jbussen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd put a cap on this at 13-14 yrs old.

[Sudefteri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sayfalar içinde en ufak bir boşluk kalmayıncaya kadar her yer kullanılmış. Dört bir taraftan bir sürü bilgi ve resim fışkırıyor adeta.

1750'li yıllarda Çin'in başkenti Pekin'de en çok turist çeken yerlerden biri olan Yasak Şehir, beş yüz yıl boyunca Çin İmparatorluğu'na ev sahipliği yapmış. İçinde yaşadıkları ev, ülkenin yönetildiği karargah, birçok saray, tapınak ve çeşitli binaların olduğu kocaman bir yerleşkedir burası. Sıkı sıkıya korunur ve normal halkın geçişine izin verilmezmiş. Sadece görevliler geçebilirmiş duvarın ötesine. İmparatorlar büyük bir korku salar, keyfi olarak ölüm cezası verirmiş ama buna rağmen çokça insan onlara hizmet etmek için sıraya girermiş.

Kapakta yazdığı gibi 'orada çalışma emeline kavuşmak için neler yapılabilir' sorusuna cevap veriyor aslında kitap. Acaba hangi zorluklardan geçilir, hangi badireler atlatılır vb.
Yorucu bir okumaydı ama birçok bilgi de öğrenmiş oldum.