Taiwei Chang

One day, an environmentalist found the wonderful lamp coincidently. In the beginning, he did not know what it is. After he scrubbed the ashes on that lamp, an elf appeared in his view. "What do you want? I could fulfill one of your wishes, remember, just one."  After a period of thinking, the environmentalist said, "Could you clean all the pollutions that exist on the earth?"  The elf laughed, "Wow, such a noble spirit! I am so proud of you dude! But, I'm sorry. Although I can do that for sure, your wish cannot be realized."  "What? Wait! What is that mean? You just told me a paradox." The environmentalist felt confused.  Answered by the elf, "I would like to prove what I just said after I fulfill your wish. Now, let's do it!" The elf snapped its fingers, then, all pollutions on the earth disappeared.  The elf continued, "I have the power to time travel. It is time to show you what would happen on earth after your wish has ...

This story is part of the Arabian Nights unit . Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898). I have read Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp when I was a child. Although this version has some differences with the story that I have read before, I really enjoy reading it. The best part of this story I think is the existence of the wonderful lamp. In my opinion, the main point of the Aladdin story is not propagandizing kindness or peace, but depict a specific situation - what would a poor man do when he gets the god's power? This is also one of the reasons that I enjoy reading this story. In reality, many people would like to own countless wealth and infinite power, even though that is impossible. However, in the story, an unreal world, the author and reader could both imagine that. For a deeper understanding, the goal of the stories could not be an advertisement of positive values, it could also be a medium to realize impossibl...

This story is part of the  Arabian Nights unit . Story source:  The Arabian Nights' Entertainments  by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898). In this part, Scheherazade uses several stories to persuade Sultan Schahriar not to kill any ladies. I really like how this story builds the characters' personalities during some small details. Scheherazade is politic, beautiful, and knowledgeable. She would like to stick to her thoughts even though there are dangers waiting for her. Also, she is brave enough to voluntarily confront the dangers. In terms of Sultan Schahriar, although he is rude and merciless, I realized that he is also rational and sober when I reading the plots about him. For instance, when the grand-vizir said that he agrees to sacrifice her daughter. His performance was surprising and incredible. Besides, he agrees that Scheherazade's request to tell her story. After the first story, he even shows curious about the following stories, which means t...

 The Young Sindbad     When I was young, I inherited golds and jewels form my parents and indulging in squandering my wealth and time. All I want is to keep this lifestyle until I am old. However, the money will run out one day if I just have fun. At that time, I would lose everything that I have today. Changing is crucial for me. But, the question is how to find the turning point of my life. One day, I sat on the bench in my manor and enjoyed the beautiful view of the sea. A ship that returning from a voyage appeared into my sight. In the light of the setting sun, the breeze carried the sound of the waves to my ears, as if I could hear the sailors' laughter in that ship. Suddenly, something touched my inner heart, "go to sea?". Maybe this is a good choice.  An Elder     After his seven voyages, Sindbad realized that it is time to stop adventure and enjoy his life. Looking back, roc once carried him into the sea of clouds; fearful serpents once threatened h...

This story is part of the Voyages of Sindbad unit . Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898). After I saw the end of the story, I am pretty sure that I would remember many excellent plots for a long period. After I saw all of the stories which are included in the storybook, I found that Sindbad has changed his mind from the beginning to the end of his journey. On the first journey, Sindbad was exciting and cordial. He enjoyed his adventure and he felt afraid rarely. However, in the end, he became a little bit impatient, and his journey is no more interesting for him. All he wants is to stay in his home and have a rest in peace. Also, he has mentioned he would like to spend more time to stay with his family and friends. In my opinion, I think this is a really important and crucial change for the character. With the development of the plot, the character in the story would also get older. Although there is nothing about Sin...

This story is part of the Voyages of Sindbad unit . Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898). I really enjoy reading the adventure stories of Sindbad. I feel exactly the same as him when he feels weary and boring about his ideal life and decides to go for new navigation. For modern life, traveling would be an alternative way to relieve such a boring feeling.  For the story plots, I realize that they are not like Aesop's Fables which are formed by many concise stories, but specific and vivid. For me, I think these characteristics of plots are very suit for the story since readers would like to imagine some pictures or scenes in their minds when they read these stories. For instance, when Sindbad went to the valley of diamonds, there are some depictions of the size of snakes that live in the valley and the amounts of diamonds. All of these descriptions are very helpful for me to understand and indulge in the plots. Wh...

In this storybook, I plan to write several stories. Stories are separated. But all these stories would happen in the same place - a Peach Blossom Village. Since these stories are myths, so I prefer to call this village Peach Blossom Fairyland. The stories would describe some scenes about how the creatures in the Classics of Mountains and Seas meet with some people in this fairyland.  Basically, they meet with each other and something happens.  For me, I prefer to depict scenes in the storybook during a romantic style and transmit some values such as love, hope and peace. I would like to focus on the depiction of circumstances and personalities. Both of them would be an important factor for me to foil the whole atmosphere of the stories.  A list for some episodes that I want to include: 1. A Nine-tailed Fox turned into a woman. She meets a scholar who wears a turquoise gown in the fairyland.  A Scholar who wears a Gown (In Chinese Style). Web Source: Ucxinwen . 2. Hun...

My Storybook Link The Creature in the Classics of Mountains and Seas. Web Source: Canva .

     For me, I have never read about microfiction before. This class gives me a chance to realize these amazing little stories.       The style of storytelling would be simple, pithy and attractive. They are simple because all of them are very short, each was about 100 words long. Describing some things which are close to life are common in these stories.       Also, they are pithy. I found this characteristic from Tiny Love Stories. For example, in the stories, I Can't Believe You Heard Me and Boys, Bikinis and Cubed Fruit , they both depict a tiny but important thing from the life of the protagonist. In the first story, the author tells us how her husband and dog take care of her when she suffered from coronavirus. For the second story, the author talks about how love could be a bowl of cut fruit.      For me, the most intriguing story would be Ting Love Stories. I realized the power of small things from our life. ...

The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs (1894)     The little stories in Nature and Inanimate Objects would be my favorite at this part. The main characteristics are similar to the earlier part. For now, I would like to talk about those stories from some different aspects.      First, the third-person view would be the most commonly used perspective in this part. It provides the author with a border perspective. The author could use this method to avoid their own bias when they tell the story. For Aesop's Fables, the place where the author expresses his own opinion is at the end of each story. Moreover, the author uses this method to remove the side effect of the third-person view. When we use the third-person view to write a story, it always makes the story hard to build a connection with readers, and it is rigid compared to the other two points of view. However, a concluding sentence could smooth these disadvantages since it shows the author's thoughts directl...

The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs (1894)     My favorite part of this story would be the "Lions". I got some inspiration after reading this part. It is comprised of several little stories, and all those stories use the lion as their main character.     The plots of the Fables of Aesop are concise and terse. Each little story may only have seven to eight sentences, but each sentence would be an important part to push the plot forward. There are no tremendous adjectives that inset in the story or excellent descriptions of different scenes. The author's goal is only to tell the story clearly.       Besides, these little stories constitute an entity. I realized that every single story could represent a different lion. None of the lions in these little stories are the same, but they work together and show the infinite possibilities of fairy tales. For example, in the story  The Lion's Share , the lion is selfish and uncourteous. It would...

 First Article: In this article, it teaches me how to build our own feedback in processes. I realized that I need to think about some questions before writing feedback. Several processes in this article are very impressive. For instance, we should gauge and throw away my initial reaction. It is true that we all have a first impression when we talk about any issue. This suggestion helps me delete the bias in my comments. Besides, asking probing questions would also be an important factor when we create our own comments. I always like to praise others when I make feedback without providing any questions. Now, I would say that asking questions not only shows our curiosity about the topic but also helps us further understand our own biases.   Second Article: I learned the importance of feedforward after reading the article. In my opinion, feedforward is relatively easy to realize in school. Instructors could use some activities to set some suggestions and goals for their stud...

Possible Stories: I choose these three creatures from the Classics of Mountains and Seas. They all have unique charms and amazing characteristics. Basically, the myth has shown these creatures in a very mysterious way - their roosts are all far from the human's realm. For now, my thinking is that I would like to try to retell the story in a new way. I want to show some encounters between these creatures and humans in a romantic way.  1. Nine-tailed white fox: This creature has been recorded in Classic of the Mountains: South, Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas: East, and Classic of the Great Wilderness: East. These foxes live in the Land of Green-Hills. It makes a sound like a baby and is a man-eater. In appearance, they are all white and have nine tails. No one would say that they are not a kind of beautiful creature.  Nine-tailed fox. Web Source: Quora . 2. Hundun (Di Jiang): Hundun is a God who lives in Tian Mountain in ancient China (In Chinese, "Tian" means sky ). Hu...

    Once upon a time, the Scylla lived on one side of a narrow channel of water. She would destroy every ship or vessel when they sailed there.  Just like a hungry lion would hunt rabbits.  She ate every sailor in her view unless those brave and shrewd people could run away from her chase.     Day after day, year after year, she forgot who was she before she became the Scylla. She even forgot why she always feels angry. The only thing that she knew is to destroy everything in front of her.      One day, she felt tedious about all those things.  She was eager to remember why she is Scylla rather than a human. She wanted to know why she was stuck in this narrow channel. She wanted to know why there are so many monsters in this world and she is one of them.      A wise man traveled to the nest of Scylla, and he said, "Pathetic  soul, do you feel confused about your current situations?"     The Scylla answered, ...

Homer's Odyssey , translated into English by Tony Kline. (2004).         At this part, several things have attracted my attention. It is very interesting when  Odysseus meat The Ghost of Teiresias. The seer talked about the future and the homecoming journey with Odysseus. His predictions are detailed and complicated. This information is definitely very useful for Odysseus since they could make sure that this brave man gets prepared for the following challenges. After I read this part of the storybook, I found there are a lot of prophets in many different kinds of mythology. The prophet looks like an important factor to the ancient authors when they tried to create their works. In my opinion, the power to predict the future comes from reality. In myths, ancients writers magnified the ability of people in reality in order to create a fantastic world.      I always like to think about why mythologies or folk myths are so impressive? Why they cou...

Homer's Odyssey , translated into English by Tony Kline. (2004).       In the part of  Odysseus's adventure in the land of Cyclopes, the story is excellent and full of interesting plots. Although the whole content of the story is not complex, Odysseus and his men came to the island, they explored the island and trapped on the island, the author provides many delicate descriptions in these plots. For example, the author talks about the gifts which are offered by the priest of Apollo guardian god, "He offered me splendid gifts, seven talents of well-wrought gold, and a silver mixing-bowl: and wine, twelve jars in all, sweet unmixed wine, a divine draught." I think the reason for the sentence that could grab my attention is that I could imagine a print in my mind.      Then, I found that the whole story is talked in Odysseus' own perspective. During this way to tell the story, the audience could get a better understanding of the main charac...

Talking About Failure Is Crucial for Growth. Here's How to Do It Right :     The first sentence in this passage attracted my attention, "w e’ve all flopped on a big presentation". For me, actually, I failed in almost every "presentation" (quizzes, exams, etc) when I was in middle school, and the point is that I do not want to face the past. Like many other people, I also like to package myself into a beautiful box full of success and achievements. However, the reality is not perfect. Everyone made mistakes, and we need to study how to fix our problems.      The author mentioned some methods to deal with our failures such as talk about your failures to others or using your failures to make friends. I think the main point in both of these methods is that we should brave enough to express our failures and disadvantages. Hiding every mistake which is made by ourselves is a bad choice for us since we could not learn anything from our own deficiency. Moreover, making ...

Topic 1: Classics of Mountains and Seas This is one Chinese mythology. I was attracted by the creatures in the book when I was young. Also, another reason for me to choose this topic is the mystery of the book. There are some scholars in China always assert that the content of the story's geography is based on the reality. However, no one can explain why people could not find any of the terrains which are depicted in the book. So, basically, I want to show this mysterious world in my own way through this project. I think I would use several independent stories to show the whole world.  A nine-tailed white fox. Web Source: Viewofchina . Topic 2: Cthulhu Mythos Most of the online book of Cthulhu Mythos need to pay, so I could not find some useful hints in terms of that. But I find some interesting information about characteristics in Cthulhu Mythos. For me, I like this mythology because it included many unthinkable creatures and brave people. I was indulging in these stories which d...