Project Descriptions
Lizzy Buechel | Book
Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (Google Drive)
The project I am doing is a little rendition of the book. Inside the book I have two trees and the first tree has green leaves because in the beginning of the book little to one people had the feveru (AIDS or HIV) and then the second tree had red leaves to signify death and blood and everyone that died. I am doing this because I want people to know the general sense of this book but not the whole book and to tell people how the people gets AIDS and HIV and how it can be spread and how it affected a lot of people in one specific village and it kind of tell the story of the family and what their life was with the so-called fever.
Rylee Dippel | Artwork (Google Drive)
Within my project I’d like to create a painting or drawing with a scheme of reds. The scheme of reds will represent the amount of blood sold and danger the villagers are in due to selling. Dream of Ding Village is facing a surge of HIV and AIDS outbreaks. In the drawing there will be a river that’s pure red showing the flow of infected blood never stopped. People needed the blood money to survive each day, but were easily getting sick. The book tries to contain the ill people within the school to try and save money and profits. In a matter of time they come across many difficulties of stealing, lying, deaths and affairs. These difficulties are being shown as matted down grass, spiles of tiles/bricks/rocks, and bags of rice by a tree in the painting. In the beginning the narrator or the son dies by a poisoned tomato that’s shown as the downhill mark.
Ariana Parnitzke and Taylor Dirks | Rice Dish
Since there is not a wide variety of food at this time period, one of the main dishes is rice. Rice is extremely popular throughout China since it is easy to make and cheap. They make this dish a lot in the school where they are feeding many people that have HIV or AIDS. We will be making a rice dish that includes garlic and butter in the recipe. With some extra things we will add some spicy mustard greens to incorporate the book, Dream Of Ding village a little farther. They will be chopped up and cooked to add some flavoring into the dish but will not add too much so the dish will not be too spicy and taste off.
Madison Griepentrog | Journal
Page 1, 2, 3, 4,5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (Google Drive)
This project is a journal of Grandpa’s. I used patterned paper to add color to the project. I tried to make the journal seem as homemade as possible by binding the pages with thread. This makes it appear that the journal was composed ofby whatever Grandpa could find. The journal describes events in his life that occurred before and after the epidemic. Pictures of events that are described in the poems are included. Drawings from “Grandpa” are tied directly to the journal entries. I added quotes from the novel that accurately describe the turmoil of the epidemic and the regret Grandpa feels. Images from Grandpa’s dreams surround the poems and journal entries. The journal entries are short summaries of the big events that occur during the novel. The poems highlight how Grandpa feels during these events and how they affect him mentally.
Aiden Horn and Jacob Ganga | Alternate Book Cover (Google Drive)
I will be making an alternate cover. On the cover, there will be a black coffin, poisoned tomato, schoolhouse, and a blood bag. Putting these items on the front cover will give the reader an idea of the important events that take place in the book. The coffin will be a representation of all the coffins that were being handed out by the government during the book for low prices of 200 yuan originally. The tomato will be a representation of how the narrator Ding Huiang died during the start of the book. The school will represent the school at which the sick villagers stayed during the epidemic and the kids were taught before the epidemic. The blood will represent the blood selling that took place during the book which was the original cause of the downfall of ding village. With these items on the cover of the book I think it would peak the interest of the reader making the reader think about what all happened to lead to these things.
Lizzy Kalmus | Character Drawings (Google Drive)
I plan on doing an interpretation of what I think the characters look like. I plan on doing some of the main characters. I will draw the narrator and Grandpa. I think this gives the book a little life because it puts a face to the people that you’re learning so much about throughout the book. I will be using pencil and paper to draw my pictures.
Kena Kissinger and Erika Strodhoff | Diagram (Google Drive)
The reason why Erika and I choose to make the kitchen and the courtyard is that we wanted to have a visual diagram about a scene in the book. In this scene, Zhao Xiuqguin stole rice because she was the one who cooked for everyone and she wasn’t getting any extra food or money. When Uncle and Lingling were in the kitchen storeroom and were having sex and someone locked them in there to catch them. In the courtyard, people were watching and Lingling’s husband came in and unlocked the door and was upset because he caught her cheating. This is important to the story because it depicts the emotions of the characters during this hard time along with the difficulties also going on with families.
Savannah Klapperich | Traditional Dish
My project proposal for Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke is to cook a traditional side dish using mustard greens. This is significant to the story because the narrator talks about his father, Ding Hui planting mustard greens in his garden during New Year. I thought that this would be an interesting project because it would help me and other students relate to the characters’ native culture. Physical experiences are easier to relate to, and I think it would be cool to try this dish. The recipe that I am following includes, mustard greens, garlic, ground ginger, dried red chilies, and olive oil. To keep the greens crisp, you need to blanch them. While they are boiling, I have to add the olive oil, ginger, garlic and chilies to a pan until they are fragrant. Once they are fragrant, I have to add the greens and toss them in the pan. Then the dish is ready to plate and serve! Me and my family are excited to try a new dish and be able to appreciate traditional Chinese culture.
Emma Lehrke | Tree Model (Google Drive)
I have decided to make my project on a small, possibly unnoticed element of this text. In the writing there is much allusion to leaves. My project will consist of a tree made of modeling clay. There will be leaves containing images, quotes, and drawings hanging from the tree. These leaves will represent scenes from the writing, quotes from characters as well as Grandpa’s dreams, images depicting what some scenes may have looked like, and even drawings of what I would assume the characters look like. On the backside of the leaves, there will be a description of what is entailed on the front. For example, if there is a picture of the village, there could be writing on the back saying, “This is the village as described in the second chapter of the book.” I will also try to include some important figurines sitting at the base of the tree, an example being a sack of rice or the tomato which poisoned the narrator.
Aidan McCann | Poster (Google Drive)
For my project on the Dream of Ding Village, I would like to do a poster that has a summary of the book as a whole with key events and people in the book. I would include imagery, maps, and diagrams that go to show the plot and entirety of the book.
Caleb McClurg, Thomas Michaels, Kean O’Neil |Mincecraft Village (Youtube)
We are making the school as well since it is a big portion of the story. We will use different mobs that you can spawn as the village people. We will use a potion that will resemble the HIV virus. We will be building dirt houses to resemble the poor homes and we will make two-story brick houses to show the rich blood lord homes. We will make a street out of concrete. We might make a coffin factory or something else from Grandpa’s dreams since they are also a big part of the story. We then will try to make it look as Chinese as possible. As of right now, that is what we plan on doing for our Dream of Ding Village project.
Jostin McMillan | Minecraft School (Google Drive)
For my project, I have decided to make a model of the school in which all of the villagers who have contracted AIDs will stay. I will make this model via Minecraft. The project will include details, like the room, the kitchen, and many other points which are included in the book. I will be doing this project alone.
Maya McMillan | New Scene Idea
A new scene that I think would go great in the Dream of Ding Village is at the end. I think that Xiaoming should have gone to Uncle and Lingling’s house and apologized to them. He should have told Lingling that he was sorry about beating her and making her feel worthless. He also should have apologized for causing a huge scene at the school when Lingling and Uncle were locked in the storeroom. I also think that Uncle should have apologized to Xiaoming for sleeping with Lingling and not thinking about how much of an impact it would make. As for Grandpa he should have not gone to jail for killing Ding Hu. Ding Hui took a lot of things from people. He also didn’t care about anyone but himself. Finally at the end of the story I think Grandpa should have left DIng Village for good and took the stray dogs with him on his journey.
Emma Sadiq, Antointte Kebschull, Kat Miller | Coffin Model (Google Drive)
Our project is based on the first scene of the book Dream of Ding Village. In this scene the narrator, Ding Huiang, is killed by eating a poisoned tomato on his way home from school. A person in the village planted it because Huiang’s father was a blood kingpin during the HIV and AIDS pandemic in China. Our project is a model of Ding Huiang’s belongings in his coffin. In the book, he states, “So it was only natural that he’d want to bury me with my books: a favourite storybook, a collection of folk tales, a few volumes of Chinese myths and legends, and a Chinese and an English dictionary” (Yan 11). These are the items we will reproduce to remain true to the book and include the symbols.
GraceAnn Oleck | Trifold (Google Drive)
Like Father, Like Son
For my project, I am thinking of getting a tri-fold and comparing the characters Ding Hui, Grandpa, and Ding Huiang. Specifically comparing the relationship between them and the characteristics of each. For example, Ding Hui is a bloodhead and had a good relationship with his father until he started selling blood. From that, Ding Huiang, Ding Hui’s son, is poisoned and dies because people in the village are angry with Ding Hui for selling blood and making a huge profit from it. As a result, people were contracting HIV/AIDS and dying. Grandpa plays an important role. He sets up a place, the village school, where people with HIV/AIDS can get away from their families so they don’t give the virus to them. He tries his best to keep everyone happy and healthy. Before this, Grandpa holds a grudge, and still does, against his son for not apologizing to the village for how many lives were claimed from selling blood. There is a scene where the village is at a concert, and Grandpa asks Ding Hui to apologize. Ding Hui refuses and Grandpa strangles Ding Hui. The relationship between the three is a full circle.
Madison Radloff | Trifold Presentation (Google Drive)
This project was chosen to describe the effects of AIDS on those who contract it. Throughout Dream of Ding Village, YAN Lianke includes details that show the symptoms and side effects—such as fever, dark sores, weight loss, etc—that the characters in the novel suffer from. This project includes a comparison of how the author represented those who suffer from aids and how people in real life suffer from aids as well. It also contains a brief history of the disease and how it correlates to the blood boom depicted in the
Sabrina Tanouye | Drawing (Google Drive)
For my project, I am sketching out the back of Grandpa’s head and putting one of his dreams around him. This is important because Grandpa’s dreams play a significant role in the story and he is an important character in the story. The most significant dream is the coffin factory.
Lucia Van Ess | Minecraft Village
I am making a minecraft village to symbolize the village described throughout the book. The main street is going to be the street with all of the big houses of people that sold their blood. The other houses are for poor people living throughout the village. The public school is going to be located a couple of blocks away. I will have large walkways. There will be many graveyards, including the grave where the narrator is buried behind the school. It will be located in the plain biome. Multiple different materials will be used to show the different wealth statuses with the most expensive materials being used for the three-story house owned by the main character. It will be a very well-created, three-dimensional representation of the place where they lived.
Hunter McCall | Drawing (Google Drive)
To represent Dream of Ding Village, I will be drawing important settings and scenes from the book. My first drawing will be of the village with the New Street houses that are three stories tall and made out of the new, white tile. My second drawing will be a flashback to the people getting in line to sell their blood.
William Sadiq | Poster (Google Drive)
My project will be a poster that includes drawings of symbols from the book as well as quotes. The quotes will be important parts of the plot that represent Dream of Ding Village. The symbols will be drawings such as a syringe or the yin and the yang symbol as discussed in the novel.