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If History Were a Group of Cats #1
如果历史是一群喵:夏商西周篇If History Were A Group of Cats: Xia, Shang And Western Zhou Dynasty
"《如果历史是一群喵•夏商西周篇》是肥志酝酿许久打造的系列“如果历史是一群喵”中的首册，该书以诙谐幽默又接地气的方式，通俗地讲述了夏商西周多个时期的历史故事，比如大禹治水、商汤灭夏、周公治国等无数人熟悉的桥段。十二只激萌喵咪演员将化身经典人物，搭配可爱直白的语言重新让你体会历史的魅力。
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If History Were A Group of Cats: Xia, Shang And Western Zhou Dynasty is the first volume of the book series If History Were A Group of Cats. With humorous and down-to-earth way, the book tells the historical stories in Xia, Shang and Western Zhou dynasty vulgarly, including the familiar plots of King Yu tamed the flood, Shang destroyed Xia and established Shang dynasty, Duke of Chou governed the state, etc. 12 adorable cats will play the roles of classic figures, with cute and straight forward words, which will help you re-experience the charm of history.
"
If History Were A Group of Cats: Xia, Shang And Western Zhou Dynasty is the first volume of the book series If History Were A Group of Cats. With humorous and down-to-earth way, the book tells the historical stories in Xia, Shang and Western Zhou dynasty vulgarly, including the familiar plots of King Yu tamed the flood, Shang destroyed Xia and established Shang dynasty, Duke of Chou governed the state, etc. 12 adorable cats will play the roles of classic figures, with cute and straight forward words, which will help you re-experience the charm of history.
- GenresGraphic NovelsChina
292 pages, Paperback
Published October 20, 2017
18 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 3, 2020
This non-fictional book introduces its readers to the early states of Chinese history: starts from the colorful mythical era and how the tribes in the Middle Land (the flatland around the Yellow River) developed into different kingdoms, etc. And the author used cartoonish kitties to cosplay as the well known historical figures as well!
The mythical era is full of tribe wars and other exciting stuff such as magical spells, deities, flying immortals, mythical beasts, etc. It is really interesting, to say the least. Plus I also like how the sentences from various original history texts are also added into the narration, it allows us to see how the historians recorded those ancient myths/history.
Here are some juicy tales from the mythical era and the early kingdoms:
(1) According to the myths, a woman named Queen of Wind (a meteorologist?) created the first compass during a main tribe war among the three major tribes. Plus the God of Storm and the God of Thunder were also involved with the warfare.
(2) according to the myths, The Black Maiden of the Ninth Heaven, who is in bird form but has a human's head, is a terrific warrior, who taught the Yellow Emperor how to win the tribe war.
(3) One of the greatest generals in the early history of the Middle Land is a queen, who wielded an army and did battles across the kingdom, owned her own lands and subjects and actually paid tax to her royal husband.
(4) As we learn more about the conflicts between the Middle Land tribes and the Eastern barbarians, we also learn that the Yellow Emperor had four faces, and Chiyou, the leader of the barbarians ate sand and stones for breakfast (and lunch and dinner too), his skin was also tough like iron too.
(5) according to some of the myths, a few great tribe leaders flied away on a white bright cloud....so......does it mean they are actually aliens flying away from the Earth on their UFO?
I'm looking forward for the second volume of this kitty-history-series.
The mythical era is full of tribe wars and other exciting stuff such as magical spells, deities, flying immortals, mythical beasts, etc. It is really interesting, to say the least. Plus I also like how the sentences from various original history texts are also added into the narration, it allows us to see how the historians recorded those ancient myths/history.
Here are some juicy tales from the mythical era and the early kingdoms:
(1) According to the myths, a woman named Queen of Wind (a meteorologist?) created the first compass during a main tribe war among the three major tribes. Plus the God of Storm and the God of Thunder were also involved with the warfare.
(2) according to the myths, The Black Maiden of the Ninth Heaven, who is in bird form but has a human's head, is a terrific warrior, who taught the Yellow Emperor how to win the tribe war.
(3) One of the greatest generals in the early history of the Middle Land is a queen, who wielded an army and did battles across the kingdom, owned her own lands and subjects and actually paid tax to her royal husband.
(4) As we learn more about the conflicts between the Middle Land tribes and the Eastern barbarians, we also learn that the Yellow Emperor had four faces, and Chiyou, the leader of the barbarians ate sand and stones for breakfast (and lunch and dinner too), his skin was also tough like iron too.
(5) according to some of the myths, a few great tribe leaders flied away on a white bright cloud....so......does it mean they are actually aliens flying away from the Earth on their UFO?
I'm looking forward for the second volume of this kitty-history-series.
March 5, 2024
น่ารักมาก สนุกมาก ไทยออกมาเล่มเดียว เลยมาค้นในgoodreads เจอ10เล่มจะเป็นลม เล่มแรกเล่าแค่3ราชวงศ์แต่พีคๆทั้งนั้นเลย ชื่อแมวแต่ละตัวก็ชวนหิวมาก
January 19, 2022
I have finished the first volume of 《如果历史是一群喵》! This first book was focused on 夏商西周, and it really a basic overview of the history. Overall, I think it’s very cute and funny, but not very comprehensive. I’m fine with that though; I’m just reading these for a fun time and a primer on Chinese history.
The structure is fairly simple: the first book has 13 chapters which each cover a major chunk of an era. There isn’t much text on each page, unless you count the yellow citation boxes that appear on every page. These citations aren’t necessary to understanding what’s being discussed in each chapter, but they can be interesting to just skim from time to time. The text is balanced with plenty of drawings that frequently feature funny dialogue bubbles. Every chapter is around 20-30 pages long, but because the text is so sparse, they feel shorter than that. At the end of every chapter is 编者按 editor’s commentary section and 附录 appendix. These give more details about the events discussed in the chapter, often with references to sources and scholarly opinions. There’s also fun little tidbits about the historical figures that didn’t fit in with the rest of the chapter.
There’s also a little place under the 编者按 where all of the “actors” are listed. So the premise of these books is that each cat is actually an actor who is playing a role in each chapter. I thought this was super cute. After the 附录 page, there’s a three page spread where we’re introduced to one cat and get to see them as a person. We also get to see what their bedroom looks like. Pictured is my fave 瓜子, who loves money.
As for the level, I’d say this is somewhere around high intermediate or advanced (it depends on how much of a challenge you’re looking for). The book really does simplify things, but even then it uses a large amount of fairly obscure vocab related to war, politics, etc. The 编者按 section at the end of each chapter does tend to cite older works pretty often, which means there’s some Classical Chinese thrown into the mix (there’s also CC in the citation boxes on each page, but those are more optional).
I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading the next one, which covers 春秋战国!
The structure is fairly simple: the first book has 13 chapters which each cover a major chunk of an era. There isn’t much text on each page, unless you count the yellow citation boxes that appear on every page. These citations aren’t necessary to understanding what’s being discussed in each chapter, but they can be interesting to just skim from time to time. The text is balanced with plenty of drawings that frequently feature funny dialogue bubbles. Every chapter is around 20-30 pages long, but because the text is so sparse, they feel shorter than that. At the end of every chapter is 编者按 editor’s commentary section and 附录 appendix. These give more details about the events discussed in the chapter, often with references to sources and scholarly opinions. There’s also fun little tidbits about the historical figures that didn’t fit in with the rest of the chapter.
There’s also a little place under the 编者按 where all of the “actors” are listed. So the premise of these books is that each cat is actually an actor who is playing a role in each chapter. I thought this was super cute. After the 附录 page, there’s a three page spread where we’re introduced to one cat and get to see them as a person. We also get to see what their bedroom looks like. Pictured is my fave 瓜子, who loves money.
As for the level, I’d say this is somewhere around high intermediate or advanced (it depends on how much of a challenge you’re looking for). The book really does simplify things, but even then it uses a large amount of fairly obscure vocab related to war, politics, etc. The 编者按 section at the end of each chapter does tend to cite older works pretty often, which means there’s some Classical Chinese thrown into the mix (there’s also CC in the citation boxes on each page, but those are more optional).
I really enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading the next one, which covers 春秋战国!
February 2, 2021
Cute. It's nice to revise some old history with something light, before I start reading some serious books about it.
December 31, 2022
Absolutely adorable and a super fun way to learn Chinese history! I love the art and the individual characters, along with the references to different historical documents and more detailed explanations following each chapter. Excited to read the rest of the series!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews