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/
@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
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.
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.
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
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.
Twin A makes bagels on a school night 🤩
August 28, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Twin A makes bagels on a school night 🤩
Somebody picked up a piece of palm leaf (the attachment of the leaf, which is like a fibrous sheet of bark) and doodled on it a bunch of little campus vignettes, then pinned it to a cork board near my office.
August 20, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Somebody picked up a piece of palm leaf (the attachment of the leaf, which is like a fibrous sheet of bark) and doodled on it a bunch of little campus vignettes, then pinned it to a cork board near my office.
New semester, new door card featuring a little guy from @dochackenbush.bsky.social
[One word for pangolin in Chinese is… 鲮鲤 línglǐ]
[One word for pangolin in Chinese is… 鲮鲤 línglǐ]
August 19, 2025 at 8:29 PM
New semester, new door card featuring a little guy from @dochackenbush.bsky.social
[One word for pangolin in Chinese is… 鲮鲤 línglǐ]
[One word for pangolin in Chinese is… 鲮鲤 línglǐ]
My KID made BAGELS (from scratch). Also including some of his other recent hits (boule, fougasse, focaccia). He is fifteen. @seamus.bsky.social you are partially to blame, thank you for your service.
August 9, 2025 at 1:36 AM
My KID made BAGELS (from scratch). Also including some of his other recent hits (boule, fougasse, focaccia). He is fifteen. @seamus.bsky.social you are partially to blame, thank you for your service.
Costco is selling the official salmon of the Qing imperial family (ok, it’s actually a Chilean company, but still).
July 31, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Costco is selling the official salmon of the Qing imperial family (ok, it’s actually a Chilean company, but still).
Tuesday just got slightly more interesting. 🌊
July 30, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Tuesday just got slightly more interesting. 🌊
Monstera deliciosa fruit. Botany (and dessert) with a side order of geometry.
July 23, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Monstera deliciosa fruit. Botany (and dessert) with a side order of geometry.
A crack in the pavement tile outside my apartment building looks extraordinarily like the head and neck of a bear. Tell me I’m not the only one who sees it.
(Makes me think of the Madeleine books, in which “a crack on the ceiling had the habit of sometimes looking like a rabbit.” IYKYK)
(Makes me think of the Madeleine books, in which “a crack on the ceiling had the habit of sometimes looking like a rabbit.” IYKYK)
July 18, 2025 at 9:19 AM
A crack in the pavement tile outside my apartment building looks extraordinarily like the head and neck of a bear. Tell me I’m not the only one who sees it.
(Makes me think of the Madeleine books, in which “a crack on the ceiling had the habit of sometimes looking like a rabbit.” IYKYK)
(Makes me think of the Madeleine books, in which “a crack on the ceiling had the habit of sometimes looking like a rabbit.” IYKYK)
An excellent focaccia, redolent of olive oil. Twin A is experiencing the downside of mastering bread, which is that we all fall on it like ravening wolves and he has to bake again the next day.
July 16, 2025 at 1:55 AM
An excellent focaccia, redolent of olive oil. Twin A is experiencing the downside of mastering bread, which is that we all fall on it like ravening wolves and he has to bake again the next day.
Here is the other picture I was looking for, from the Tang epitaph of Ouyang Xun's granddaughter.
July 15, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Here is the other picture I was looking for, from the Tang epitaph of Ouyang Xun's granddaughter.
I took a picture last week thinking to ask him about it 😕 So much knowledge and so much generosity gone in a flash. I never met him IRL, and yet I will miss him.
July 15, 2025 at 11:32 PM
I took a picture last week thinking to ask him about it 😕 So much knowledge and so much generosity gone in a flash. I never met him IRL, and yet I will miss him.
I took a lot of taxis in China and many of them were very nice new inexpensive EVs which we should definitely consider importing (ha, some luck). If I were buying one I would be hard pressed to turn down the Qin model, which the First Emperor would have loved (I bet it has standard axles)…
July 13, 2025 at 10:09 AM
I took a lot of taxis in China and many of them were very nice new inexpensive EVs which we should definitely consider importing (ha, some luck). If I were buying one I would be hard pressed to turn down the Qin model, which the First Emperor would have loved (I bet it has standard axles)…
Twin A (the one who’s into bread) leveled up while I was away. He even bought the pan with some of his birthday money.
July 12, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Twin A (the one who’s into bread) leveled up while I was away. He even bought the pan with some of his birthday money.
Nostalgic rainy morning departure from Beijing turned alarming when the rain became heavy with lightning and thunder. But the cabbie’s skill was up to it and we made it to the airport ok.
July 10, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Nostalgic rainy morning departure from Beijing turned alarming when the rain became heavy with lightning and thunder. But the cabbie’s skill was up to it and we made it to the airport ok.