Y N Chang

Traditionally, the roles of men and women in Chinese society have been clearly defined: Men were expected to be physically strong and verbally direct and take an active role in political and military affairs. Women were expected to be submissive, charming and tactful; their place was in the home, where they ran the household and took care of the children.

Traditionally, the roles of men and women in Chinese society have been clearly defined: Men were expected to be physically strong and verbally direct and take an active role in political and military affairs. Women were expected to be submissive, charming and tactful; their place was in the home, where they ran the household and took care of the children.

HISTORY OF TALKING Learn about communication through interactive displays, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Anaheim Museum. Free. (714) 778-3301. AFTERSHOCK The Northridge Hospital Medical Center hosts a retrospective of the Northridge quake today with fire and police officials. (800) 600-7111. AUTHOR, AUTHOR Y.N. Chang ("Small Footsteps, Giant Shadows") speaks about prominent women in Chinese history at 7 p.m. Friday at Borders Books and Music, Brea.

James Blaylock, a two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award, will lecture at the John Fowles Literary Festival at 8 p.m. Thursday at Chapman University, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange. Admission to the lecture, in Room 209 of the Argyros Forum, is $5. For information, call (714) 997-6586. * Poets Jana, Lee Mallory, Rita Mitzner, Tom Rush, Gary Tomlinson and Bart Yoder will read at 8 tonight at the Ugly Mug Caffe, 261 N. Glassell St., Orange.

The Great Wall of China, which stretches over 1,400 miles from the Yellow Sea to the Gobi Desert, was built more than 2,000 years ago and is the only manufactured structure visible from the surface of the moon. But China's great symbol of its people's spirit and determination to control their own destiny has been around only two-fifths of the country's long history. In his new book, Y.N.

"Sixty Minutes" commentator Andy Rooney and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin are among the headliners of the upcoming second annual Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series at the Newport Beach Central Library. The four-part Friday evening series begins at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 with David Levy, co-discoverer of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet and 20 other comets.

If you think that making Thanksgiving dinner is a major undertaking, consider the task at Knott's Berry Farm. "The Farm" expects to serve 10,000 turkey dinners Thursday, as well as a few hundred of its famous chicken dinners. That means instead of having to worry about one turkey in the oven like at most homes, Knott's has to fret over more than 500. After Mother's Day, Thanksgiving is the second most popular "eating" day of the year at Knott's.

Rueben Martinez's Latino bookstore in Santa Ana has moved to a new downtown location--and actor Edward James Olmos will be on hand for the grand opening Saturday. Olmos, who is on a national publicity tour for "Americanos: Latino Life in the United States," a book of portraits, essays and commentary that he helped create, will sign between 1 and 4 p.m. at the newly renamed Libreria Martinez Books and Art Gallery, now at 1110 N. Main St. Santa Ana Mayor Miguel A. Pulido Jr.

Robert Weygand Jr. hates buzzwords. But the chief executive officer of Hydrabath Inc. embraced one of the year's hottest business buzzwords--re-engineering--when he saw what it could do for his small Santa Ana manufacturing company.