Chaos
In the first pages of the book, the author mentions the words of the historian named Feng and mentions the way he described the cities after they were attacked by various rebel groups. In one of his writings, Feng mentions an instance where the people were trapped inside the city. In the end, almost every person who was trapped in the city died and the historian described the massacre in his writings. The image described here is important because it makes the reader understand that the people lived a tough life and that they had to fight hard in order to survive while the ruling people did not care at all about what happened to them.
Waiting wife
Sung-ling talks about his wife in his writings and mentions how she was a wonderful wife to him. In comparison to other women, she was always working and caring for her family and would always make sure their children were fed and properly taken care of. An important image when it comes to describing her is portraying her as waiting for her husband after he was away on a long trip. Sung-ling mentioned how his wife would wait for him with whatever delicates she would find while he was away and she would not eat them until her husband was there to share them with him. Through this, Sung-ling’s wife is portrayed as being loyal to him and as always putting her husband first.
Horsemen from hell
In 1671, the area had to endure another swarm of locusts that threatened their harvest. In an attempt to destroy the locusts, the city officials wrote a public prayer to the Gods. In the prayer, they describe the locusts as being sent by the devil to taunt them. Their physical appearance is also described in a way that makes the reader think about the end of the world. The description is fitting because it makes the reader understand just how much the people suffered at the hand of those insects that destroyed their crops year after year.
Disgraced
Another important image is that of the bandits who had their ears and noses cut off in the fictional story about Meng. The image is important because it shows just how criminals were treated during that time. Apart from being punished by being thrown into prison, the people in question were also marked visually as to warn everyone who would come into contact with them from that point on about their true character. In a way, it was a visual warning for everyone, telling them to stay away from that person.
