Kate Lingley 龍梅若
@klingley.bsky.social
Art historian of medieval China; Assoc Prof, UH Mānoa. Feminist; foodie; early-music nerd; Jewish mother; SF/F fan; knitter; Maine native. She/her. Buddhist monuments and women's history in early medieval China. IG @kate.lingley, blog https://mbotd.blog/
Reposted by Kate Lingley 龍梅若
What are the mitzves of Thanks Giving, a festive meal, to eat the turkey bird, to hear the story of thepilgrim, to watch the football game. And some say to argue with an uncle.
November 25, 2025 at 6:37 PM
What are the mitzves of Thanks Giving, a festive meal, to eat the turkey bird, to hear the story of thepilgrim, to watch the football game. And some say to argue with an uncle.
Except, of course, that my knees are 30 years older.
However, it's also true that the pipe that drains my kitchen sink and dishwasher is blocked at the moment, so for the past few days I've been doing the dishes by hand, in a plastic basin, squatting beside the bathtub, and that's just as much a return to the 1990s (in my experience) as the rest.
November 25, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Except, of course, that my knees are 30 years older.
Art meets Life: I've been watching this series called 雪迷宫 (English title "The First Shot"). It's set in 1997 in a fictional northern city called Halan, and it's about a special police unit dealing with the first influx of meth into the city. In some ways it's a typical anti-drugs series BUT:
雪迷宫; The First Shot - YouTube
Native Title: 雪迷宫 Also Known As: First Shot , Da Yi Qiang , Xue Mi Gong , 第一枪 Screenwriter: Zhang Yuan Ang, Mai Li Ya Si Director: Lu Xing, Chen Zhou Fei Gen...
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Art meets Life: I've been watching this series called 雪迷宫 (English title "The First Shot"). It's set in 1997 in a fictional northern city called Halan, and it's about a special police unit dealing with the first influx of meth into the city. In some ways it's a typical anti-drugs series BUT:
As usual Kody is thinking smart thoughts about art making. It reminds me of a throughline in my own current research, which I have worked through in several recent talks: the uses of convention and its significance, in contrast to the unconventional. A thread:
Been thinking about art-making and intentionality all day and how that intentionality - that level of decisiveness that's joyously required if you don't have a kitchen of chefs who want up their minds in post - is what I love about art, and, on the flip side, is also why AI generations suck.
November 20, 2025 at 2:20 AM
As usual Kody is thinking smart thoughts about art making. It reminds me of a throughline in my own current research, which I have worked through in several recent talks: the uses of convention and its significance, in contrast to the unconventional. A thread:
Third season of “Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty” 唐朝诡事录之长安 just dropped, and I was going to wait, but gave in and it does not disappoint as far as the production having done its homework. The first story arc is called 康国之金桃 “The Golden Peaches of Samarkand” which, yes please
November 11, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Third season of “Strange Tales of the Tang Dynasty” 唐朝诡事录之长安 just dropped, and I was going to wait, but gave in and it does not disappoint as far as the production having done its homework. The first story arc is called 康国之金桃 “The Golden Peaches of Samarkand” which, yes please
Reposted by Kate Lingley 龍梅若
The level of pumpkin carving to which I aspire
(By the artist Michael Cherney)
「忽肚痛不可堪，不知是冷熱所致，欲服大黃湯，冷熱俱有益。如何為計，非臨床。」
(By the artist Michael Cherney)
「忽肚痛不可堪，不知是冷熱所致，欲服大黃湯，冷熱俱有益。如何為計，非臨床。」
October 29, 2025 at 12:16 AM
The level of pumpkin carving to which I aspire
(By the artist Michael Cherney)
「忽肚痛不可堪，不知是冷熱所致，欲服大黃湯，冷熱俱有益。如何為計，非臨床。」
(By the artist Michael Cherney)
「忽肚痛不可堪，不知是冷熱所致，欲服大黃湯，冷熱俱有益。如何為計，非臨床。」
An auntroduction!
Honestly one of my fav academic article titles ever:
‘Critical aunty studies: an auntroduction’ by Kareem Khubchandani
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
‘Critical aunty studies: an auntroduction’ by Kareem Khubchandani
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Critical aunty studies: an auntroduction
Though aunties are ubiquitous figures across global public cultures, they have received limited scholarly attention. Given the location of these women, femme, and queer figures at the periphery of ...
www.tandfonline.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:33 AM
An auntroduction!
Wait, "Critical Aunty Studies"?!? I want in. My book manuscript is full of aunties. Heck, one of my chapters is provisionally titled "Big Auntie Energy."
October 29, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Wait, "Critical Aunty Studies"?!? I want in. My book manuscript is full of aunties. Heck, one of my chapters is provisionally titled "Big Auntie Energy."
I did not inherit the gene for sports fandom, much as I appreciate its power, but the sport I didn’t quite follow was baseball. Of late I’ve completely lost the thread thanks to the pandemic, a stint as dept chair, and my kid’s health issues, but tonight’s posts are really bringing me back.
some of us were forged in the fires of the 2004 ALCS
we'll be here all night
we'll be here all night
October 28, 2025 at 5:54 AM
I did not inherit the gene for sports fandom, much as I appreciate its power, but the sport I didn’t quite follow was baseball. Of late I’ve completely lost the thread thanks to the pandemic, a stint as dept chair, and my kid’s health issues, but tonight’s posts are really bringing me back.
@bokane.org my 师妹 who works at the Palace Museum (Beijing) occasionally reports on visits from the palace cats and apparently there is one named 饺子 who takes turns sleeping on everybody’s desks 😁 sadly not an orange cat but a pure white one, so maybe not Gyoza’s brother from another mother
October 19, 2025 at 6:03 AM
@bokane.org my 师妹 who works at the Palace Museum (Beijing) occasionally reports on visits from the palace cats and apparently there is one named 饺子 who takes turns sleeping on everybody’s desks 😁 sadly not an orange cat but a pure white one, so maybe not Gyoza’s brother from another mother
Paging @wendyxu.bsky.social Bada Shanren plushies?!? 🤔
Animal plush toys bring life to ancient paintings
english.news.cn
October 14, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Paging @wendyxu.bsky.social Bada Shanren plushies?!? 🤔
Meta AI offered me a “classical” version of my old phone case (with an early sixth-century empress on it) and I’m fascinated by the implied ideas about “classicism” here, which seems to mean… made of bronze and covered in vines? 🤔
October 14, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Meta AI offered me a “classical” version of my old phone case (with an early sixth-century empress on it) and I’m fascinated by the implied ideas about “classicism” here, which seems to mean… made of bronze and covered in vines? 🤔
Commenting on student papers which analyze the hunting scenes from the Jiuyuangang tombs, I am suddenly confronted with the problem of Bears In Early Chinese Art. So far the students seem pretty uniformly convinced these are rats, which is giving them an odd take on hunting in the late 6th century.
October 14, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Commenting on student papers which analyze the hunting scenes from the Jiuyuangang tombs, I am suddenly confronted with the problem of Bears In Early Chinese Art. So far the students seem pretty uniformly convinced these are rats, which is giving them an odd take on hunting in the late 6th century.
Reposted by Kate Lingley 龍梅若
its a roguelike called samsara and there is only one way to quit
”im addicted to this Buddhism game” —things someone who is good at buddhism would say???
October 10, 2025 at 5:12 PM
its a roguelike called samsara and there is only one way to quit
A local Chinese family gave me these paintings of the Tang general Xue Rengui 薛仁贵 and his wife Lady Liu 柳氏. They can’t be very old but I’m kind of fascinated to consider why they were made in the first place, where the little biographies come from, and why they’re shown wearing Ming-ish dress.
October 1, 2025 at 12:41 AM
A local Chinese family gave me these paintings of the Tang general Xue Rengui 薛仁贵 and his wife Lady Liu 柳氏. They can’t be very old but I’m kind of fascinated to consider why they were made in the first place, where the little biographies come from, and why they’re shown wearing Ming-ish dress.
Wow, I usually make ma'amoul that masquerade as moon cakes for the great Sukkot/中秋節 convergence, but this is better
Ceci n’est pas une pomme
(It’s actually a baozi -sweet white flour bun with golden custard filling - figured it was apples and honey season)
(It’s actually a baozi -sweet white flour bun with golden custard filling - figured it was apples and honey season)
September 26, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Wow, I usually make ma'amoul that masquerade as moon cakes for the great Sukkot/中秋節 convergence, but this is better
I’m about 3/4 of the way done with a large piece of Orenburg lace. Much more and I won’t be able to photograph it on the chaise any longer. I really like the pattern, especially the edge.
September 21, 2025 at 2:25 AM
I’m about 3/4 of the way done with a large piece of Orenburg lace. Much more and I won’t be able to photograph it on the chaise any longer. I really like the pattern, especially the edge.
On the door of a classroom just now. Not sure I know what the right answer is tbh.
September 18, 2025 at 8:25 PM
On the door of a classroom just now. Not sure I know what the right answer is tbh.
Also I made soup noodles on a very not-souptastic muggy day (I blame the hurricane currently giving us a miss to the north, but also September and October are the hottest months here).
September 10, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Also I made soup noodles on a very not-souptastic muggy day (I blame the hurricane currently giving us a miss to the north, but also September and October are the hottest months here).
Gift from a student who really has my number. I thought this was going to be tea leaves but it is yellow millet for making my favorite breakfast porridge 小米粥
September 10, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Gift from a student who really has my number. I thought this was going to be tea leaves but it is yellow millet for making my favorite breakfast porridge 小米粥
I have said it before: the best food is often the unapologetic mashup, the unholy marriage of tastes. This is a great town for fusion cuisine, and I have just learned that a local Italian-Asian joint has a dish called Gnocchi Mapolognese (Mapo as in 麻婆), which has gotta take some kind of prize.
September 10, 2025 at 3:09 AM
I have said it before: the best food is often the unapologetic mashup, the unholy marriage of tastes. This is a great town for fusion cuisine, and I have just learned that a local Italian-Asian joint has a dish called Gnocchi Mapolognese (Mapo as in 麻婆), which has gotta take some kind of prize.
It is really fun to be on the sidelines while my children discover the music of the second half of the twentieth century. They don’t listen to quite so much Queen any more, but they’re now on a Fleetwood Mac and Dire Straits kick and it’s great to let them run the music while I’m driving.
September 7, 2025 at 10:40 PM
It is really fun to be on the sidelines while my children discover the music of the second half of the twentieth century. They don’t listen to quite so much Queen any more, but they’re now on a Fleetwood Mac and Dire Straits kick and it’s great to let them run the music while I’m driving.
Reposting so I can keep track of the replies, which are great. I'd like to listen to more good Mandarin music too, even though as a musician I spend most of my time in medieval/renaissance Europe. And I'm leery of admitting to what I do like, because I'm pretty sure it is kind of basic.
An uncomfortable thing I've believed for a long time: Music in Mandarin is mostly not great, especially recently. Most everything I run into is a similar run of sappy ballad.
I want to be proved wrong. Who is doing cool things in the pop/rock/folk/indie space in Mandarin?
I want to be proved wrong. Who is doing cool things in the pop/rock/folk/indie space in Mandarin?
September 5, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposting so I can keep track of the replies, which are great. I'd like to listen to more good Mandarin music too, even though as a musician I spend most of my time in medieval/renaissance Europe. And I'm leery of admitting to what I do like, because I'm pretty sure it is kind of basic.
Medieval Buddhist of the Day: This is Lei Mingxiang, a donor I met at Yaowangshan this summer, and her late husband Tongti Qianchi, in 570. I guess by this point they are both late. Anyway the Yaowangshan stelae are all badly eroded so I drew their donor portraits from the rubbing.
September 1, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Medieval Buddhist of the Day: This is Lei Mingxiang, a donor I met at Yaowangshan this summer, and her late husband Tongti Qianchi, in 570. I guess by this point they are both late. Anyway the Yaowangshan stelae are all badly eroded so I drew their donor portraits from the rubbing.
THREAD - I stopped posting much about Chinese dramas because I haven't seen many with interesting historical connections, which is mainly what I want to talk about in this space (I haven't given up watching them, and am currently enjoying the Scooby Gang in "Seven Relics of Ill Omen"), HOWEVER:
August 30, 2025 at 11:21 PM
THREAD - I stopped posting much about Chinese dramas because I haven't seen many with interesting historical connections, which is mainly what I want to talk about in this space (I haven't given up watching them, and am currently enjoying the Scooby Gang in "Seven Relics of Ill Omen"), HOWEVER: