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bookofjin · 1 year

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Commanderies and States of Western Han, Part 1

This is really only for the really specially interested, but having done the work I thought I might as well put it out here.

From the geographic treatise in Ban Gu's Hanshu with the commentary by Yan Shigu.

The reader will note that unlike later similar works, the commanderies are not grouped by province.

Jingzhaoyin

Governor of Jingzhao京兆尹, formerly Qin's Neishi內史. 1st Year of Emperor Gao [206 BC], it belonged to Sai state塞國. 2nd Year [205 BC], it changed to become Weinan commandery渭南郡. 9th Year [198 BC], it was restored to Neishi內史. Emperor Wu's 6th Year of Jianyuan [135 BC], divided it off to be Youneishi右內史, 1st Year of Taichu [104 BC], it changed to become Governor of Jingzhao京兆尹. 2nd Year of Yuanshi [2 AD], 195 702 households, 682 468 people[a]. 12 counties:

[1]Chang'an長安, 5th Year of Emperor Gao [202 BC], set it up. 1st Year of Emperor Hui [194 BC], began the city walls, 6th Year [189 BC], it was completed. 80 300 households, 246 200 people. Wang Mang called it Chang'an常安[b].

[2]Xinfeng新豐. Li Mountain驪山 is to the south. Formerly the Li Rong's state驪戎國. Qin called it Liyi驪邑. 7th Year of Gaozu [200 BC], set it up[c].

[3]Chuansikong船司空, Mang called it Chuanli船利[d].

[4]Lantian藍田. The mountains produce pretty jade. Has the Tiger Marquis's Mountain Shrine虎候山祠. Duke Xiao of Qin [361 – 340 BC] set it up.

[5]Huayin華陰, formerly Yinjin陰晉. 5th Year of King Huiwen of Qin [333 BC], changed the name to Ningqin寧秦. 8th Year of Emperor Gao [199 BC], changed the name to Huayin華陰. Taihua Mountain is to the south, it has a shrine, the mountain of Yu province豫州. Jiling palace集靈宮, Emperor Wu erected it. Mang called it Huatan華壇.

[6]Zheng鄭, the district of King Xuan of Zhou's younger brother, Duke Huan of Zheng. Has an iron official[e].

[7]Hu湖, has Zhou's Sons of Heaven' shrines at two places. Formerly called Hu胡, in Emperor Wu's 1st Year of Jianyuan [140 BC], changed the name to Hu湖.

[8]Xiagui下邽[f].

[9]Nanling南陵. 7th Year of Emperor Wen [173 BC], set it up. Yi River沂水 sets out from Lantian valley藍田谷, to the north arrives at Baling霸陵 to enter the Ba River霸水. The Ba river霸水 likewise sets out from Lantian Valley藍田谷, going north it enters the Wei渭. The ancients called it Zi River茲水. Duke Mu of Qin [659 – 621 BC] changed the name to hence set forth the Merits of Ba, to look after sons and grandson[g].

[10]Fengming奉明, Emperor Xuan [79 – 49 BC] set it up.

[11]Baling霸陵, formerly Zhiyang芷陽. Emperor Wen [180 – 157 BC] changed the name. Mang named it Shuizhang水章.

[12]Duling杜陵, formerly the Earl of Du's state杜伯國, Emperor Xuan [79 – 49 BC] changed the name. Has Zhou's General of the Right, Du Zhu's Shrine周右將軍杜主祠 at at four places. Mang called it Rao'an饒安.

[a]Shigu says: Han's households and population must in the time of Yuanshi have been the most abundant and flourishing. For that reason the treatise lift them up and use them as the number. The ones after are all classified like this.

[b]Shigu says: Wang Mang usurped the throne, and changed the names of Han's commanderies and counties, generally altering them. The ones below are all classified like this.

[c]Ying Shao says: the Grand High August thought of returning home east. And so Gaozu built a city with courtyards, streets and wards in the image of Feng豐, and moved the people of Feng to fill it. For that reason it was titled Xinfeng新豐 [“New Feng”].

[d]Fu Qian says: “The name of a count”. Shigu says: “Originally the officials which was master of ships船, and thereupon used it as county.”

[e]Ying Shao says: “The fief of King Xuan's younger brother of the [same] mother You. His son and King Ping moved east, which was further called Xinzheng [“New Zheng”].”

Your Subject Zan says: “Zhou, since King Mu and downwards had the capital at Xizheng新鄭 [“Western Zheng”], and did not get to use it as fief of Duke Huan. In the beginning Duke Huan was Zhou's Minister over the Masses. The kingly house was about to be chaotic, and for that reason he planned with Scribe Bo to convey the treasure to give bribes for between Guo虢 and Hui會. When King You was defeated, after two years he then wiped out Kuai會, after four years he then wiped out Guo虢, and settled at the hill of Zhengfu鄭父. Hence he became Duke Huan of Zheng, there are no writings of a fief in Jingzhao京兆.”

Shigu says: “The Outer Transmittals of Spring and Autum states: “When King You was defeated, Duke Huan of Zheng died there. His son Duke Wu and King Ping turned back east”. For that reason Mister Zuo's Transmittals states: “When our Zhou moved east, it was Jin and Zheng they relied on.” Also when Duke Zhuang of Zheng states: “Our previous lord's new town was here”, it is perhaps the road to Xinzheng新鄭. King Mu below were without affairs of a capital at Xizheng西鄭. Zan's explanations was wrong. Kuai會 is pronounced gong工+wai外.”

[Baxter & Sagart state: Present hui會 was then pronounced (h- + -waj C), present kuai會was then pronounced(k- + -waj C). 工 was then pronounced (k- + -uwng A). 外 was then pronounced (ng- + -waj C). Your Humble Tumbler says: Therefore here 會 should be read as (k- + -waj C) which should give kuai.]

[f]Ying Shao says: “Duke Wu of Qin invaded the Gui邽 Rong, and set up to have Shanggui上邽[“Upper Gui”]. For that reason they added Xia下 [“Lower”].

Shigu says: “邽 is pronounced gui圭. They took the people of the Gui Rong, and the came to this county.”

[g]Shigu says: “Xi沂 is pronounced xian先+li歷. The Observed Readings says shi示[?].”

[Baxter & Sagart state: 沂 was pronounced (ng- + -j+j A). 先was pronounced (s- + -en C). 歷 was pronounced (l- + -ek D). Your Humble Tumbler says: Therefore here 沂 should be read as (s- + -ek D) which should give xi like in 析]

Zuopingyi

Zuopingyi左馮翊, formerly Qin's Neishi內史. 1st Year of Emperor Gao [206 BC], it belonged to Sai state塞國. 2nd Year [205 BC], changed the name to Heshang commandery河上郡. 9th Year [198 AD], abolished it, restoring it to be Neishi內史. Emperor Wu's 6th Year of Jianyuan [135 BC], divided it off to be Zuoneishi左內史, 1st Year of Taichu [104 BC], changed the name to Zuopingyi左馮翊[a. 235 101 households, 917 822 people. 24 counties:

[1]Gaoling高陵, Seat of the Assisting Chief Commandant of the Left. Mang called it Qianchun千春.

[2]Yueyang櫟陽, Duke Xian of Qin [384 – 362 BC] moved there from Yong雍. Ma called it Shiting師亭[a].

[3]Didao翟道, Mang called it Huan渙.

[4]Chiyang池陽, 4th Year of Emperor Hui [191 BC], set it up. Jienie Mountain巀嶭山 is to the north[b].

[5]Xiayang夏陽, formerly Shaoliang少梁. 11th Year of King Huiwen of Qin [327 BC] changed the name. The Tribute of Yu's Liang Mountain梁山 is to the north-west. Longmen Mountain龍門山 is to the north. Has an iron official. Mang named it Jiting冀亭.

[6]Ya衙, Mang named it Dachang達昌[c].

[7]Suyi粟邑, Mang named it Sucheng粟城.

[8]Gukou谷口, Jiuzong Mountain九嵕山 is to the west. Has the Duke of Heavenly Unity天齊公, Wuchuang Mountain五床山, the Transcendents僊 and the Five Emperors Shrines五帝祠 at four places. Mang called it Guhui谷喙[d].

[9]Lianzhuo蓮勺[e].

[10]Fu鄜, Mang called it Xiuling脩令[f].

[11]Pinyang頻陽, Duke Li of Qin[476 – 443 BC] set it up[g]. [In 456 BC according to the Shiji].

[12]Linjin臨晉, formerly Dali大荔. Qin seized it [in 461 BC according to the Shiji] and changed the name. Has the He River's Shrine河水祠, Ruixiang芮鄉, formerly the Rui state芮國. Mang called it Jianjin監晉[h].

[13]Zhongquan重泉, Mang called it Diaoquan調泉.

[14]Heyang郃陽[i].

[15]Duixu祋祤, 2nd Year of Emperor Jing [155 BC], set it up[j].

[16]Wucheng武城, Mang called it Huancheng桓城[k].

[17]Chenyang沈陽, Mang challed it Zhichang制昌.

[18]Huaide褱德, in the Tribute of Yu the northern branch Jing Mountain荊山 is to the south. Below has the Qiangliang Plain彊梁原. Luo River洛水 to the south-east enters the Wei渭, the irrigation of Yong province雍州. Mang called it Dehuan德驩[l].

[19]Cheng徵, Mang called it Fan'ai氾愛[m].

[20]Yunling雲陵, Emperor Zhao [87 – 74 BC] set it up.

[21]Wannian萬年, Emperor Gao [206 – 195 BC] set it up. Mang called it Yichi異赤[n].

[22]Changling長陵, Emperor Gao [206 – 195 BC] set it up. 50 057 households, 179 469 people. Mang called it Changping長平.

[23]Yangling陽陵, formerly Yiyang弋陽. Emperor Jing [157 – 141 BC] changed the name. Mang called it Weiyang渭陽.

[24]Yunyang雲陽. Has Xiutu休屠, the Golden Person金人 and the God of Straight Paths' Shrines徑路神祠. The Yue Shaman Gu Rang's Shrine越巫(夘+古?)𨟚祠 at three places[o].

[a]Ru Chun says: “ 櫟 is pronounced yüe藥.

[b]Ying Shao says: “It is on the sunny side of Chi River池水.”

Shigu says: “Jienie 巀嶭, precisely where present customs places [?] Cuo'e Mountain嵯峨山, pronounced Jienie巀齧. It is pronounced cai 才+ge葛, and also pronounced wu五+ge葛.

[齧 Baxter & Sagart: (ng- + -et D). 才 Baxter & Sagart: (dz- + -oj A). 葛 Baxter & Sagart: (k- + -at D). 五 Baxter & Sagart: (ng- + -u B). Baxter & Sagart have nothing under (dz- + -at D) or (ng- + -at D). But (dz- + -et D) gives jié and (ng- + -et D) gives nie as in 齧.

[c]Ru Chun says: “衙 is pronounced ya牙.”

Shigu says: “Just the place of which the Spring and Autumn states 'Qin and Jin fought at Pengya彭衙'.”

[d]Shigu says: “�� is pronounced zi子 + gōng 公. And also pronounced zi子 + kǒng 孔. 喙 is pronounced xu許 + hui穢.

[e]Ru Chun says: “Pronounced nianzhuo輦酌.”

[Baxter & Sagart: 蓮: (l- + -en A) 輦: (l- + -jen B). zhuo勺: (tsy- + -jak D). 酌: (tsy- + -jak D)

[f]Meng Kang says: “Pronounced fu敷.”

[g]Ying Shao says: “It is on the sunny-side of Pin River頻水.”

[h]Ying Shao says: “Overlooks [lin臨] the Jin River晉水, for that reason it was called Linjin臨晉.

Your Subject Zan says: “Jin River晉水 is in the midst of the He河. This county is to the west of the He西. Do not get to state that it overlooks the Jin River晉水. The old explanation says, Qin built a tall rampart so as to overlook Jin state晉國, for that reason it was Linjin臨晉.”

Shigu says: “Zan's explanation is correct. Those who explain sometimes consider it to be when Marquis Wen of Wei invaded Qin, he first set up Linjin, which is wrong. Marquis Wen heavily walled it and that was all, how was he first to set it up!”

[i]Ying Shao says: “It is on the sunny-side of He River郃水.”

Shigu says: “Pronounced he合. Just where the Great Odes' poem of Great Clarity speaks of as 'On the sunny-side of the Qia洽.'”

[j]Shigu says: “dui祋 is pronounced ding丁 + huo活, and also pronounced ding丁 + wai外. 祤is pronounced xu音詡.”

[k]Shigu says: “Just of where Mister Zuo's Transmittals states 'Qin invaded Jin, and was defeated at Wucheng武城'.”

[l]Shigu says: “ 褱 is like the huai懷 character.”

[m]Shigu says: “ 徵 is pronounced cheng懲, precisely the Chengcheng澄城 county of the present. When the Zuo Transmittals state 'defeated at northern Cheng 徵', it speaks of this land, that is all. Yet Du Yuankai is not detailed with its location.”

[n]Shigu says: “The Yellow Map of the Three Supports states that the Grand High August was buried on the plain north of Yueyang櫟陽, and they erected the Wannian Mound萬年陵 there.”

[o]Meng Kang says: “(夘+古?) is pronounced as the gu辜 in guzhe辜磔 [“punishment by dismembering”], the shrine of a person of the Yue越. 𨟚 is pronounced rang穰. 休is pronounced xu許 + qiu虯. 屠 is pronounced chu除.

Youfufeng

Youfufeng右扶風, formerly Qin's Neishi內史. 1st Year of Emperor Gao [206 BC], it belonged to Yong state雍國. 2nd Year [205 BC] changed it to be Zhongdi commandery中地郡. In the 9th Year [198 AD], abolished it, restoring it to be Neishi內史. Emperor Wu's 6th Year of Jianyuan [135 BC], divided it off to be Youneishi右內史, 1st Year of Taichu [104 BC] changed the name of the Master of the Feudal Ranks Chief Commandant主爵都尉 to be Youfufeng右扶風[a]. 216 377 households, 836 070 people. 21 counties:

[1]Weicheng渭城, formerly Xianyang咸陽. 1st Year of Emperor Gao [206 BC], changed the name to Xincheng新城. 7th Year [200 BC], abolished it, belonging to Chang'an長安. Emperor Wu's 3rd Year of Yuanding [114 BC], changed the name to Weicheng渭城. Has the Lanchi Palace蘭池宮. Wang called it Jingcheng京城.

[2]Huaili槐里, Zhou called it Quanqiu犬丘. King Yi [899 – 892 BC] made it the capital. Qin changed the name to Feiqiu廢丘. 3rd Year of Gaozu [204 BC], changed the name. Has Huangshan Palace黃山宮, 2nd Year of Xiaohui [193 BC], erected it. Mang called it Huaizhi槐治.

[3]Hu鄠, anciently a state. Has Hugu Precinct扈谷亭. Hu扈 is who Qi of Xia invaded. Feng River酆水 sets out to the south-east. Also has Jue river潏水. Both to the north pass through Shanglin Park上林苑 to enter the Wei渭. Has Beiyang Palace萯陽宮, erected by King Wen of Qin[b].

[4]Zhouzhi盩厔. Has Changyang Palace長楊宮. Has the Shexiong Building射熊館, King Zhao of Qin [306 – 251 BC] erected it, Lingzhi Canal靈軹渠, pierced by Emperor Wu [114 – 87 BC].

[5]Tai斄,where was the fief of Houji of Zhou[c].

[6]Yuyi郁夷, The Poetry: “The way from Zhou is Yuyi周道郁夷.” Has the Qian River's Shrine汧水祠. Mang called it Yuping郁平[d].

[7]Meiyang美陽, in the Tribute of Yu Qi Mountain is to the north-east. Zhongshui District中水鄉 where was the town of King Da of Zhou. Has Gaoquan palace高泉宮, Dowager Xuan of Qin erected it.

[8]Mei郿, Chengguo Canal成國渠 at the head accepts the Wei. North-eastward it arrives at Shanglin上林 to enter Menglong Canal蒙籠渠. Seat of the Assisting Chief Commandant of the Right[e].

[9]Yong雍, Duke Hui of Qin made it the capital. Has the Five Places for Worshipp五畤, Taihao太昊, the Yellow Emperor and below, shrines at 303 places. The Tuoquan Palace橐泉宮, Duke Xiao [361 – 338 BC] erected it, the Qinian Palace祈年宮, Duke Hui erected it, the Yuyang Palace棫陽宮, King Zhao [306 – 251 BC] erected it. Has an iron official[f].

[10]Qi漆, the river is west of the county. Has an iron official. Mang called it Qizhi漆治.

[11]Xunyi栒邑, has Bin District豳鄉, the Poetry's Bin state豳國, where was Noble Liu's capital[g].

[12]Yumi隃麋, has the Yellow Emperor's Sons Shrine黃帝子祠. Mang called it Futing扶亭[h].

[13]Chencang陳倉, has the High Duke上公, the Morning Star明星, the Yellow Emperor's Grandson[s], and Shun's wife Yu's Burial mound's Shrines舜妻育冢祠. Has Yuyang Palace羽陽宮, King Wu of Qin [310 – 307 BC] erected it.

[14]Duyang杜陽, Du River杜水 to the south enters the Wei渭. The Poetry says: “From Du杜.” Mang called it Tongdu通杜[i].

[15]Qian汧, Wu Mountain吳山 is to the west. Ancient writings considered it to be Qian Mountain汧山. The mountain of Yong province雍州. To the north has Pugu District蒲谷鄉 and Xianzhong Valley弦中谷, Yong province's Xianpu Marsh弦蒲藪. Qian River汧水 sets out to the north-west, and enters the Wei渭. Rui River芮水 sets out to the north-west, to the east entering the Jing涇, the Poetry's Ruiwu芮㑄. The streams of Yong province[j].

[16]Haozhi好畤, Gui Mountain垝山 is to the east. Has Liangshan palace梁山宮, the First August of Qin [246 – 210 BC] erected it. Mang called it Haoyi好邑[k].

[17]Guo虢, has the Yellow Emperor's Sons, and Wen and Wu of Zhou's Shrines. Guo Palace虢宮, Dowager Xuan of Qin erected it.

[18]Anling安陵, Emperor Hui [195 – 188 BC] set it up. Mang called it Jiaping嘉平[l].

[19]Maoling茂陵, Emperor Wu [141- 87 BC] set it up. 61 087 households, 277 277 people. Mang called it Xuancheng宣城[m].

[20]Pingling平陵, Emperor Zhao [87 – 74 BC] set it up. Mang called it Guangli廣利.

[21]Wugong武功, Taiyi Mountain太壹山 ancient writings consider to be Zhongnan終南. Chui Mountain垂山 ancient writings considered to be Dunwu敦物. Both are east of the county. Ye River斜水 sets out from north of Yaling Mountian衙領山, and arrives at Mei郿 to join the Wei渭. Bao River褒水 likewise sets out from Yaling衙領, and arrives at Nanzheng南鄭 to join the Mian沔. Has Chui Mountain垂山, Ye River斜水 and Bao River's Shrines褒水水祠 at three places. Mang called it Xinguang新光[n].

[a]Shigu says: “Master of the Feudal Ranks Chief Commandant, originally Qin's Master of the Feudal Ranks Central Commandant, in charge of the ranked marquises. Arriving at the 1st Year of Taichu [104 BC], altered the name to Supporting Wind of the Right[youfufeng右扶風], and seated him in the right [i.e. western] territory of Neishi. For that reason this treatise retroactively writes that in the 6th Year of Jianyuan [135 BC] they divided it to be the Neishi of the Right右內史, and also states that they altered the name of the Feudal Ranks Chief Commandant to be Youfufeng右扶風.

[b]Shigu says: “潏 is pronounced jue決. 萯 is pronounced bei倍.”

[c]Shigu says: “read similar to tai邰, and is pronounced tai 胎.”

[d]Shigu says: “The Lesser Ode's poem of Four Steeds says: “The four steeds stride steadily, the way from Zhou is meandering away [weichi倭遲].” In the Han Poetry it is written with the yu郁 and yi夷 characters. It talks of a subject on a mission who drives his horses and travels on this road.”

[e]Shigu says: “ 郿 is pronounced mei媚].

[f]Ying Shao says: “To pile up high on four sides is called yong雍[“Damming up”].”

Shigu says: “棫 is pronounced yu域.”

[g]Ying Shao says: “Mister Zuo's Transmittals says: “ Bi畢, Yuan原, Feng酆 and Xun郇 were the left-side successors of Wen [of Zhou]”. The Marquis of Xun and the Earl of Jia invaded Jin.”

Your Subject Zan says: “The Ancient Writings of Ji Commandery : 'Duke Wu of Jin wiped out Xun荀, and hence bestowed on the Grandee Yuanshi An, this was Xun Shu.' It also states 'Duke Wen walled Xun荀.' As such then Xun must have been within the borders of Jin, and do not get to be in the region of Fufeng扶風. Presently Hedong河東 has Xuncheng荀城, the ancient Xun state.”

Shigu says: “Zan's explanation is correct. This xun栒 is read similar to xun荀, but is itself a separate town, and that is all. It is not the one that invaded Jin.”

[h]Shigu says: “隃 is pronounced yu踰.”

[i]Shigu says: “The Great Odes' poem of Floss silk says “The people's first life, was from the land [tu土] of Qiju漆沮.” The Qi Poetry writes “from Du杜. It speaks of Noble Liu escaping the Di and coming to dwell in the territories of Du杜 and Qiju漆沮.”]

[j]Shigu says: “㑄 is read similar to ju鞠. The Great Odes' poem of Noble Liu says: “The halted travellers then became close, just there in Ruiju芮鞠.” The Han Poetry writes Ruiwu芮㑄. It talks of Noble Liu halting his army's travel, wishing to cause calm and quietness. He therefore went to the space of Ruiwu芮㑄.

[k]Shigu says: “Gui垝 is pronounced qiu丘 + hui毀.”

[Baxter & Sagart: 垝 is not listed. 丘: (kh- + -juw A). 毀: (x- +-jwe B). No (kh- + -jwe B) is listed.]

[l]Shigu says: “Kan Yan considers it to be originally Zhou's Cheng Town程邑.”

[m]Shigu says: “The Yellow Map states it originally was Huaili's槐里 Mao District茂鄉.”

[n]Shigu says: “斜 is pronounced yi弋 + she奢. 衙 is pronounced ya牙.”

[Baxter & Sagart: 斜 is not listed. 弋: (y- + -ik D). 奢: (sy- + -jae A). (y- + -jae A) is same as ye邪.]

Hongnong

Hongnong commandery弘農郡, Emperor Wu's 4th Year of Yuanding [113 AD], set it up. Mang called it Youdui右隊. 118 091 households, 475 954 people. Has an iron official in Mianchi黽池. 11 counties:

[1]Hongnong弘農, formerly Qin's Hangu pass函谷關. Beneath Ya Mountain Pass衙山領 is a valley from where Zhu River爥水 sets out, to the north it enters the He河.

[2]Lushi盧氏, Xiong'er Mountain熊耳山 is to the east. Yi River伊水 sets out, to the north-east joins the Luo雒, passing through 1 commandery, travelling 450 li. Also has Yu River育水, to the south it arrives at Shunyang順陽 to enter the Mian沔. Also has Er River洱水, to the south-east it arrives at Luyang魯陽, and likewise joins the Mian沔. Both pass through 2 commanderies, and travel 600 li. Mang called it Changfu昌富[a].

[3]Shan陝, formerly Guo state虢國. Has Jiao City焦城, formerly Jiao state焦國. To the north of Guo虢 is Dayang大陽. To the east of Guo虢 is Xingyang滎陽. To the west of Guo虢 is Yongzhou雍州. Mang called it Huangmei黃眉.

[4]Yiyang宜陽, at Minchi黽池 has an iron official.

[5]Mianchi黽池, 8th Year of Emperor Gao [199 BC], restored the people of Mianchi's黽池 middle district. Middle 2nd Year of Emperor Jing [148 BC], started the city, migrating ten thousand families to be the county. Gu River穀水 sets out from the Guyang Valley穀陽谷, to the north-east it arrives at Gucheng穀城 to enter the Luo雒. Mang called it Shanting陝亭[b].

[6]Danshui丹水, the river sets out from Shangluo's上雒 Zhongling Mountain冢領山, to the east it arrives at Xi析 to enter the Jun鈞. Miyang district密陽鄉 was formerly Shangmin商密[c].

[7]Xin'an新安, in the Tribute of Yu, the Jian River澗水 is to the east, to the south it enters the Luo雒.

[8]Shang商, the town of Qin's chancellor Wei Yang.

[9]Xi析, the Huang River黃水 sets out from Huang Valley黃谷, the Ju River鞠水 sets out from Xi Valley析谷, both arriving east at Li酈 to enter the Zhuan River湍水. Mang called it Junting君亭[d].

[10]Luhun陸渾, in the Spring and Autumn, moved the Luhun Rong to there. Has a pass[e].

[11]Shangluo上雒. In the Tribute of Yu, Luo River sets out from Zhongling Mountain冢領山, to the north-east it arrives at arriving at Gong鞏 to enter the He河, passing through 2 commanderies, travelling 1 070 li, the streams of Yu province豫州. Also has Jia River甲水 setting out from Qinling Mountain秦領山, to the south-east it arrives at Y鍚, to join the Mian沔, passing through 3 commanderies, travelling 570 li. Xiong'er熊耳 and Huoyu Mountains獲輿山 are to the north-east[f].

[a]Shigu says: “ 洱 is pronounced er耳.”

[b]Shigu says: “ 黽 is pronounced mo莫 + jian踐. And is also pronounced mo莫 + ren忍.”

[Baxter & Sagart: meng黽: (m- + -eang B), mo莫: (m- + -ak D), jian踐: (dz- + -jen B). (m- + -jen B) should give miǎn. ren忍: (ny- + -in B). (m- + -in B) should give mǐn.

[c]Shigu says; “Jun鈞 is likewise the name of a river, pronounced jun均.”

[d]Shigu says: “ 析 is pronounced xian先 + li歷. Ju River鞠水 is precisely what is presently spoken of as the Ju Deep pool菊潭. 酈 is pronounced chi持 + yi益. 湍 is pronounced zhuan專.

[Baxter & Sagart: 析: (s- + -ek D). xian先: (s- + -en A), li歷: (l- + -ek D). 酈: not listed, chi持: (dr- + -i A), yi益: ('- + -jiek D). (dr- + -jiek D) not listed.

[e]Shigu says: “渾 is pronounced hu胡 + kun昆.”

[Baxter & Sagart: hun渾: (h- + -won A) and (h- + -won B), hu胡: (h- + -u A), kun昆: (k- won A).

[f]Shigu says: “ 鍚 is pronounced yang陽.”

Hedong

Hedong commandery河東郡, Qin set it up [around 285 BC?]. Mang called it Zhaoyang兆陽. Has Gen Granary根倉 and Shi Granary溼倉. 236 896 households, 962 912 people. 24 counties:

[1]Anyi安邑, Wuxian Mountain巫咸山 is to the south. Salt pool鹽池 is to the south-west. Wei Jiang moved from Wei魏 to here. Arriving at King Hui, he moved to Daliang. Has iron official, salt official. Mang called it Hedong河東.

[2]Dayang大陽, Wu Mountain吳山 is to the west. On it is Wu City吳城. King Wu of Zhou ennobled the descendants of Taibo here. This was the Duke of Yu虞公, he was wiped out by Jin. Has the Son of Heaven's Temple天子廟. Mang called it Qintian勤田[a].

[3]Yishi猗氏.

[4]Xie解[b].

[5]Pufan蒲反 has Yao Mountain堯山 and Shou Mountain's Shrines首山祠. Leishou Mountain雷首山 is to the south. Formerly called Pu蒲, Qin changed the name. Mang called it Pucheng蒲城[c].

[6]Heibei河北, the Poetry's Wei state魏國. Duke Xian of Jin wiped it out, and used it to ennoble the Grandee Fubi. His great-grandson Jiang moved to Anyi安邑.

[7]Zuoyi左邑, Mang called it Zhaoting兆亭.

[8]Fenyin汾陰, Jia Mountain介山 is to the south.

[9]Wenxi聞喜, formerly Quwo曲沃. Duke Wu of Jin moved from Jinyang晉陽 to there. Emperor Wu in the 6th Year of Yuanding [111 BC] moved through, and changed the name[d].

[10]Huoze濩澤, in the Tribute of Yu Xicheng Mountain析城山 is to south-west[e].

[11]Duanshi端氏.

[12]Linfen臨汾.

[13]Yuan垣, in Tribute of Yu Wangwu Mountain王屋山 is to the north-east. Yan River沇水 sets out from there, to the south-east arriving at Wude武德 it enters the He河. Yi軼 sets out from Xinyang滎陽 in Beidi北地, and also to the east arrives at Langhuai琅槐 to join the sea, passing through 9 commanderies, travelling 1 840 li[f].

[14]Pishi皮氏. Geng district耿鄉 was formerly Geng state耿國. Duke Xian of Jin wiped it out, and used it to appoint the Grandee Zhao Su. Ten generations later Marquis Xian moved to Zhongmou中牟. Has an iron official. Mang called it Yanping延平.

[15]Changxiu長脩.

[16]Pingyang平陽, Han Wuzi's great-great-grandson Zhenzi resided there. Has an iron official. Mang called it Xiangping香平[g].

[17]Xiangling襄陵, has Banshi district and precinct班氏鄉亭. Mang called it Ganchang幹昌[h].

[18]Zhi彘, Huoda Mountain is to the east, the mountain of Ji province冀州. The place where King Li of Zhou fled. Mang called it Huangcheng黃城[i].

[19]Yang楊, Mang called it Younianting有年亭[j].

[20]Beiqu北屈, in the Tribute of Yu Hukou Mountain壺口山 is to the south-east. Mang called it Zhenbei朕北[k].

[21]Puzi蒲子[l].

[22]Jiang絳, Duke Wu of Jin moved from Quwo曲沃 to there. Has an iron official[m].

[23]Huzhe狐讘[n].

[24]Qi騏, a marquisate[o]

[a]Ying Shao says: “Is on the sunny-side of the Great He大河.”

[b]Shigu says: “Pronounced Xie蟹.”

[c]Ying Shao says: “The First August of Qin toured east and saw a long slope [ban阪], for that reason he added fan反.

Meng Kang says: “Originally Pu蒲. Duke Wen of Jin used it to bribe Qin. Later the people of Qin returned Pu. The people of Wei were happy and said “Pu蒲 has turned around [fan反]”. To speak of Qin naming it is a mistake.”

Your Subject Zan says: “The Generational House of Qin says “Used Yuan垣 as Pufan蒲反.” As such then it was originally not Pu蒲.

Shigu says: “Ying's explanation is correct.”

[d]Ying Shao says: “The present Quwo曲沃. Qin changed it to be Zuoyi. Emperor Wu here heard that the Southern Yue were routed, and changed it to be called Wenxi聞喜 [lit. “Heard the joyful”.]

[e]Ying Shao says: “Has Huo Marsh濩澤, is to the north-west.”

Shigu says: “濩 is pronounced wu烏 + guo虢.”]

[Baxter & Sagart: 濩: not listed, wū烏: ('- + -u A), guó 虢: (k- + -waek D).

Which should give ('- + -waek D) which is the pronunciation Baxter & Sagart lists for wò擭. Zdic.net lists huò as the main pronunciation of 擭.

[f]Shigu says: “ 琅 is pronounced lang郎. 槐 is pronounced hui回.

[g]Ying Shao says: “Yao's capital, it is on the sunny-side of the Ping He平河.”

[h]Ying Shao: “Xiang Mound襄陵 is to the north-west.”

Shigu says: “Duke Xiang of Jin's mound, followed it to use to name the county.”

[i]Ying Shao says: “Emperor Shun changed it to be called Yong'an安.”

[j]Ying Shao says: “Yang楊 was a marquisate.”

[k]Ying Shao says: “Has to the south the former Chengbei稱北.”

Your Subject Zan says: “The Ancient Writings of Ji Commandery : “When Zhai Zhang saved Zheng鄭, he stayed at the southern bend南屈.

Shigu says: “屈 is pronounced ju居 + wu勿. Precisely where the Duke of Jin's son Yiwu stayed.”

[Baxter & Sagart: qū屈: (kh- + -jut D), jū居: (k- + -jo A), wù勿: (m- + -jut D). No (k- + -jut D) listed.]

[l]Ying Shao says: “Formerly Pufan's蒲反 old town, Emperor Wu set it up.”

Shigu says: “Where Chong'er resided. Ying's explanation missed it.”

[m]Ying Shao: “Jiang River絳水 sets out to the south-west.”

[n]Shigu says: “讘 is pronounced zhī之 + shè涉.”]

[Baxter & Sagart: 讘 not listed, zhī之: (tsy- + -i A), 涉 not listed. Guangyun: 涉: 時攝切. Baxter & Sagart: shè攝: (sy + -jep D), (tsy- + -jep D): zhé]

[o]Shigu says: “pronounced qi其.”]

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mwooterssvad-gd · 3 months

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Inquiry 2

For this inquiry, I decided to choose packaging design and organic on the design matrix. My step dad wants to create and sell his own homegrown local products, especially salsa, so I decided to take that on for this next project. I started with trying to figure out the logo, and I knew that I wanted to create something that wasn't only central to the ingredients of salsa, or food in general, so that the brand could later incorporate other products and also so that the logo would stand out from other food products on the shelves. My step dad is a huge Florida Gators fan, which led me to the idea of using an alligator as a sort of mascot for the brand. At his suggestion, I decided to change my original design of a nondescript vine into a stalk of cilantro, since that is a primary ingredient in a lot of the products that he makes.

After creating the logo, I made some other logomarks for different applications. I then wanted to make a pattern with the salsa ingredients which could be used on the packaging. I really enjoyed drawing my pattern, and it is a different style than what I have drawn in Procreate before. I think my logos and packaging were way more successful than I thought they would be since it was my first time doing packaging. I really think the homemade feel comes across in the illustration and hand drawn type, but there are definitely some contrast issues that I need to correct.

Going forward, I would really like to create other merch objects as well as packaging for other food products and business cards.

Media 2

It is really cool to see a successful illustrator who has worked with so many big companies like Reebok and the Times, as well as publishing her own books. I'm also someone who wants to be an illustrator/designer and have multiple avenues of art making and money making.

I also definitely relate to your parents being nervous about choosing art work as a career. I remember when I was considering choosing Studio Art as a major for college, my mother tried to encourage me to pursue business if I wanted to create my own artistic business instead. While there's definitely value in this path as well, I felt that it was most worth my time and money to try to learn more about my own artistic practice. Her talking about comparing your own artwork to your peers definitely resonated with me, and I think it is something that many young artists struggle from, that is, learning to value and stand behind your own artwork.

I love the sentiment of "creating a story with a single stroke" and creating your own visual language through your artwork that other people can understand. I looked up Ping Zhu's artwork, and I really love her painterly and colorful style. I also really liked the way her portfolio is structured, and I will definitely take inspiration for my own portfolio. It's great to hear about the ways in which other illustrators have paved their own way in becoming a successful artist.

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yzafre · 2 years

Text

when I drop like a cannon-ball (from cloud nine) Ch 4

AO3

< First | < Previous

The trio dithered for a while, worrying over Twilight Town’s disappearance, but in the end, there was nothing they could do but continue through the pathways they’d unlocked.

At the end of the first path, they landed in the midst of a lush forest. Partway down the road Goofy paused, peering into a clearing. Donald and Sora came up behind him. Ahead of them, a large, fanged shadow loomed over a small figure in armor.

“A heartless?” Donald wondered.

Sora pumped his fist, “Let’s get the jump on him!”

He and Donald rushed forward, Goofy calling out behind them. As they barreled into the clearing the figure reeled back, eyes wide. The large shadow disappeared, shrinking into a blur that leapt into the soldier’s arms, bringing Sora up short. A very familiar voice began to rant at them.

“Is that Mushu?” Goofy wondered, padding up behind them. Sure enough, a red snout popped up over the figure’s shoulder, hissing defensively. Even as they got chewed out, Sora couldn’t help but grin.

“Hey, Mushu! We missed you!”

“Well, you better hope I miss you, or else you’re- you’re-” Mushu stammered to a stop, scowl transforming to a matching grin, “Sora! Donald! Goofy!”

In his previous journey, Sora had met many displaced figures, separated from their world. It was good to see one of them reunited with his home. As the small dragon grand-stranded, the figure with him stood, brushing themselves off.

“I’m Mulan,” they introduced themselves, “Uh, I – I mean...”

“Ping!” Mushu cut in.

Donald crossed his arms, scowling skeptically, “Mulan Ping?”

“Just... Ping,” Ping cleared his throat, voice dipping deeper, “I am Ping, son of Fa Zhu.”

“You know Mushu?” Sora wondered.

“Mushu’s one of my family’s guardians.”

“We didn’t know we were borrowing somebody as important as a family guardian,” Goofy said.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Mushu grinned, “And that puts you three up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here. Well guess what, kiddies, it’s payback time!””

Sora crossed his arms, humming thoughtfully, “Sounds fair.”

Mushu nodded, satisfied, “See, Ping here was just on his way to join the Imperial army. We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp.”

“Would you join us?” Mulan asked, far more polite, “It’ll be easier to fit in if I’m with guys, like you.”

“What do you mean ‘fit in?’” Sora asked.

“Well, uh, don’t - don’t worry about that,” Mushu said, chuckling nervously.

Goofy just nodded, “You’re pretending to be a boy, aren’t you?”

Sora whipped his head to the side to stare at Goofy in shock before turning to take Ping in again. He – she? - wasn’t denying it.

“Huh?! You’re a ... girl?”

Mulan glanced away, embarrassed but pleased, “You didn’t notice?”

“Uh-uh," Donald said.

“Not me,” Sora agreed.

Mulan smiled at Mushu, delighted, as she turned down the road, “I think it’s working.”

Mushu wasn’t as easily convinced, “I don’t know – those two would fall for anything.”

Sora scowled, racing after them, “I’m right here!”

So, Ping was actually Mulan, but needed help convincing others they were Ping.

They helped Mulan get settled in at the army camp. It was… well, it wasn’t great. They managed to get into a fight in the first ten minutes, and all the blame fell solely on their shoulders. The captain was unimpressed with them, and with Mulan in particular. Sora could see her shrinking and quickly cut in, managing to buy them a chance to prove themselves, for Mulan to prove herself.

Mulan was great, though! Even if they didn’t owe Mushu, Sora would have wanted to help her out. Each day they were sent on a new mission, and each day Mulan performed a little better, came back a little stronger. Though, that didn’t change the fact that the missions could be boring. Scouting ahead could be fun, seeing new places as they cleared the path of heartless. But guard duty involved just sitting there. He couldn’t even goad the others into playing some diving games to pass the time, no matter how much he flexed or flared his wings in playful challenge.

“No, Sora,” Goofy sighed, sending him a scolding look. Sora wrinkled is nose, screwing up his face as he stuck his tongue out. Huffing, Goofy pulled at his ears, eyes screwing up as he made a face in retaliation. They passed faces back and forth until someone cleared a throat behind them.

“We’re supposed to be watching the road,” Mulan said. They both nodded sheepishly, and she smirked, “Besides, you’re doing it wrong. You have to do it like this.”

The face she pulled was truly spectacular. Goofy slammed his hands to his mouth as Sora collapsed into a peal of laughter.

Boring missions aside, working with Mulan was good, and Sora could see the begrudging respect for her growing in the Captain’s eyes with every success. When they cleared an entire path to the army’s new city base, he finally admitted she had potential.

It didn’t seem like quite enough, but Mulan was willing to let it go. Mushu, it seemed, was not.

His plan could have worked, if it wasn’t a trap. When they finally emerged from the heartless-infested cave, the city was utterly destroyed. In their absence, the enemy had descended, laying low the army. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan barely exchanged a glance before racing after them.

On the snowy slopes of the mountain, they confronted the enemy leader and his legion of heartless. Sora dove in headfirst, fighting against a swarm that blotted out the sky. Just when it seemed the horde would overwhelm them, Mulan burst in out of nowhere, carefully aiming a rocket. When she lit it, it sailed past the enemy, flying off into the distance. The enemy stepped menacingly forward, but Mulan remained calm and confident. It was only when the mountain began to rumble that Sora understood why.

A tidal wave of snow cascaded down the slopes. Sora and his friends barely made it out of the way, but the heartless were swept away. When the snow settled, the remains of the army cautiously join them. Finally, the Captain was impressed with Mulan: her ingenuity, and her initiative.

Then Mushu exposed Mulan’s gender, and it was all over.

"I don’t understand,” Sora said later, as they all huddled around the fire, “Why did they kick you out, just because you were a girl?”

Mulan stoked the flames a bit before leaning back, giving a sigh before she answered, “It’s against the rules. The honor of battle – that's for sons. Daughters earn honor for their family in other ways. A woman in the army - someone like me, I'm not supposed to exist.”

“But that’s not right!” Sora protested, eyes stinging, “You’re really good at this! Look how quickly you’ve improved, and that idea with the firework! No one else would’ve thought of that. You deserve to be a part of this, too.”

Mulan stared at him for a moment, eyes wide in shock, before smiling softly, “Thank you, Sora. But I’m afraid neither of us get to make that choice.”

The next morning, they spotted the enemy leader emerging from the snow, heading for the city. When Sora turned to Mulan, he found the fire had returned to her eyes.

They made it to the palace just in time to warn the Captain. Mulan sent him inside with the Emperor, while she and Sora took on the enemy leader. Victory was sweet, and Mulan getting not just the Captain, but the Emperor’s approval was even sweeter.

“I guess we do get to make a choice,” Sora said, smiling up at her, “You changed it – you have a place here.”

“I guess I do,” She answered, grin slowly dawning on her face.

An answering star grew in his chest, warmth flooding through him as the familiar sensation of extra weight dropped in his pocket. He shoved his hands inside, thumbing the new charm happily as they said their good-byes.

He’d lost a lot, in the year he couldn’t remember – lost strength, lost his keychains, lost time, lost Riku, lost his chance to go home to Kairi. But it wasn’t over yet – new worlds, new friends, awaited him. And some day, he'd find his way home, too.

At the next world they landed in front of a tall, intimidating castle beneath a dark sky. The trio took in the architecture with wide eyes as they crossed the courtyard, working together to open the grand front doors and slip inside. Not three feet inside the castle shook, a heart-stopping roar echoing down the walls. A slow grin crossed Sora’s face.

“That’s the Beast!”

Sora burst forward, ready to check on his friend, when a moving puddle of darkness caught his eye, sliding across the great hall and into an open door.

“Look!” He pointed.

“C’mon!” Donald cried.

They barreled forward, bursting into the room only to freeze in surpise: it was empty.

“Where did it go?” Donald wondered. Sora and Goofy followed afterwards, peering around the room as Donald wandered across the room to peer curiously at a glowing red rose. Just as he reached it, darkness pooled up from the floor, heartless emerging from the shadowed corners of the room. They summoned their weapons and got to work.

The heartless seemed never-ending. Where one went down, two more sprang up in its place. Frustrated, he reached inside, pulling out his new wings. He lurched forward in anticipation as the second Keyblade fell into his hand with the sensation of sweet and sour knives, only to stumble to the floor, off-balance.

Hissing, he rolled to the side, fluttering the wings to push himself up, taking several attempts to do so. He deflected the next attack, spreading the wings once more before tucking them away when he nearly fell over. Not only were they wrong, they were a different wrong than he’d gotten used to. He’d have to do this the old-fashioned way.

After the fiftieth time he struck a heartless down only to turn to find another in its place, he growled, flinging his blades upwards, “Oh, come on. Enough already.”

“Somebody help us!” Donald yelled.

There was a rumble from outside the room, all the heartless freezing in place, before the door flung open with a bang. Beast stomped in, casually flinging the heartless aside as he made his way to the center of the room.

Sora grinned, throwing a hand up in greeting, “Just in time!”

Beast slowly lifted his hand in turn, then swung it down, flinging all three to the ground. Gaze never wavering, he strode forward to pick up the glass case containing the rose, cradling it carefully as the turned and lumbered from the room. The trio climbed to their feet in his wake, watching dumbly as he disappeared.

“Gee, do you think he maybe forgot who we are?” Goofy wondered.

Sora frowned, “With this many heartless around, something must be up.”

As they emerged back into the main hall, Donald spotted a lady on the stairs above – a lady who couldn’t be anyone but Belle.

They made their way up, finding Belle in the farthest room. She greeted them enthusiastically, relief and hope shining in her eyes as she explained what was going on. The Beast had been acting strange, barely speaking to her lately, even going as far as to lock all his servants away in the dungeon. They were the only ones who might now what was going on. Sora quickly agreed to help.

At Belle’s instruction, they headed to the West Hall, where they found the entrance to the undercroft barred by a living wardrobe. After some careful negotiation – and the surprising reveal that the Beast was a prince under a spell – she let them through.

Inside the undercroft, they approached the intimidating stone doors.

“This must be it!” Donald called, knocking against it. The door rippled in his wake, before becoming enveloped in smoke, the stone carvings coming alive with gleaming eyes and sharp teeth. Great arms flung Sora away, breath punching from his lungs as he slammed into the floor. A great grinding sound emerged as the statues in the room peeled themselves from the wall, brandishing suddenly sharp weapons as they floated forward menacingly.

Sora barely rolled out of the way of the first attack, flinging himself to his feet in time to block the second. He was quickly surrounded, separated from Donald and Goofy as they were harried by the spells flung by the heartless-possessed door. Gritting his teeth, he danced between attacks, striking back whenever he could.

An attack from behind blind-sided him, sending stars dancing in his vision. A second statue took advantage of his distraction, its blade slamming into his chest. He tried to recover, bring his Keyblade up to block, but his responses were sluggish. The next blow sent him flying back, head cracking against the wall. A cold trickle trailed down his neck as he gasped for breath.

As the statues advanced on him, he dug in his pockets, heart dropping as they came up empty. They were out of potions. Gritting his teeth, he pressed back into the corner. They were out of potions, his magic was drained, and Donald and Goofy were being held up on the other side of the room by a swarm of lesser heartless.

He reached down inside himself, pulling for extra strength, but the scattered sparks of power skittered away from him, still exhausted after their earlier emergence. Desperate, he reached deeper, brushing on something bright and familiar, but as he grasped onto that light it seized, a surge of bleeding-tearing-pain that threw him off and away, spinning into the shadows. Gasping from pain, he lingered too long in the dark reaches as they cradled him, his consciousness fading out. There in the shadows, its eyes opened.

Sora came to standing over the fading smoke of a dissipating heartless, Donald and Goofy watching him with wide eyes from the corner of the room. His Keyblade was missing from his hand. Instead, the tips of his fingers were aching, a tingling fizzle of energy fading away. His mouth felt fuzzy, something cloying and bitter coating his teeth and tongue, and he swallowed to try and clear the taste.

“Sora?” Donald called.

“Are you okay?” Goofy picked up, carefully edging closer.

“I - yeah,” Sora replied, slow and heavy as he blinked away the lingering dizziness, “What - what happened?”

“You – well,” Goofy paused, curling a fist under his chin thoughtfully.

“You got covered in Darkness,” Donald finished, poking Sora suspiciously with his staff.

“I what?!” Sora clutched at his chest, panic coursing through him, “But how?”

“Well, what’s the last thing you remember?” Goofy asked.

Sora paused, thinking back, “I was backed in the corner – I really thought that heartless might take me out. So, I reached for power inside me, using the ability the fairies gave me. But I couldn’t bring up the power usually use, so I reached for something else. I found it, too. It felt like the wings I had before, on our last adventure, only – when I touched them, I only felt pain, and then darkness.”

As Sora explained, Donald crossed his arms, foot tapping and slowly getting faster until he growled, “Well, whatever you did, don’t do it again! Okay?”

“Right!”

The duck huffed, nodding imperiously and turning back to the door, “Now let’s rescue those servants.”

“There’s nobody here.”

Sora peered around the dark, dusty room, looking for anyone that might be hiding. All he found was a collection of dusty crates and miscellaneous housewares.

“Does that mean there’s nobody to rescue?” Donald wondered.

“Did someone say ‘rescue’?”

It turned out the servants were cursed – like the prince, and like the wardrobe – the result of an enchantress's punishment for cruel behavior. There was a way to break the curse, but with the Beast’s strange behavior...

The clock and the candlestick exchanged weighty glances before ushering them up and out, insisting on checking on the Beast as soon as possible.

As they cracked open the door to the Beast’s room, a rumbling voice spilled out, “What? To love, and be loved in return? Who could ever love a beast?”

Of course it’s him, a voice groused in Sora’s mind, even as he pushed harder at the sound of the Beast’s infuriated growl.

Inside, the black-cloaked figure turned to take them in, “See? She has accomplices.”

A shimmering barrier went up behind the Beast as the black-cloaked figure disappeared. Sora approached carefully, voice purposefully light, “Hey, Prince!”

The Beast looked back up, unholy light in his eyes. With a mighty roar, he attacked.

With the clock – Cogsworth's - help, they managed to bring the Beast back to his senses. Explaining what had happened was a bit more touchy. Beast quickly became visibly distraught.

“Who was that guy you were talking to?” Sora cut in, “The one in black?”

“Xaldin! That's his name,” Beast rumbled, “He came from the Darkness. He used my anger to control me. He took all my sorrow, my sadness my pain - and turned it all into rage. There was nothing I could do - I could no longer see the truth.”

“Well, I'll be,” Goofy said, “That must be why you threw all your friends down there into that dungeon. You wanted to make sure that you didn’t hurt ‘em, right?”

“Was that it? Was it to protect them?" Beast wondered.

“Sure. We know you’re good inside."

Cogsworth tried to bring up Belle to encourage him, but that really only just made things worse as Beast descended into a spiral of self-recrimination.

“Why don't you just go talk to her?" Sora suggested.

“But -”

“No excuses, we'll go with you."

Belle wasn’t in her room. The wardrobe, who had relocated there, informed them she went after the man in black. The Beast yelled in frustration as Sora’s heart raced – the Organization was dangerous, they need to find her, fast.

They tracked her to the ballroom, where she was just making her escape to the balcony as a giant heartless rose into the air, consuming the chandelier. Beast and Sora exchanged glances, and the fight was on.

“We did it!” Sora cheered as the heartless faded away.

“So you think,” a voice rumbled behind them.

“Xaldin!” Beast growled, lunging forward even as the Organization member faded into a dark portal.

“What does he want here?”

“He must be with Organization XII,” Sora said, “Ever heard of the nobodies? When a strong-hearted person turns into a heartless, a nobody’s created, too. See, the Organization, they’ve got control of all the nobodies.”

Goofy nodded, “That’s right. And they were gonna make you a heartless. That way, they could get that nobody of yours and have control over it.”

Sora nodded in agreement, opening his mouth to continue when Belle interrupted from behind, “You’re all right!”

“Belle!” Beast called. The two rushed towards each other, coming to an awkward stop with a foot between them. Beast stumbled through a series of awkward apologies, which Belle accepted with a pained smile.

“But I wish that you could have changed a little bit,” she sighed, “I wish you could start trusting me!”

Beast cringed away. Beside Sora, the candlestick – Lumiere – shook his head, “Oh, I’m afraid time is running short.”

“What do you mean?” Sora asked.

Cogsworth answered, “Remember the rose? You see, if the Master learns to love, and earn love in return, before the last petal falls...”

“The spell will be broken!” Lumiere finished.

“Really? You think he’s going to make it?” Sora wondered, watching Belle and the Beast edge around each other. How strange, he thought. If the rose was the key to the curse, he could see why it was so important to Beast.

Sparks flashed in his hand, his Keyblade appearing as he felt his heart catch on a distant prick of light. Raising his Key high, he summoned the beam of light, feeling the click as a new path opened. It was time for them to go.

Next >

#kh #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts II #sora #fanfiction #wingfic #wrap your wings AU #Yza writes a thing

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coolman229 · 2 years

Note

Hi,

I have a question regarding Legend Of Korra. I don't understand why people like Varrick.

I mean, dude nearly assassinated the president, helped Kuvira, and some other stuff. Do people like him because he was the comic relief? It makes no sense that being comic relief excuses him of the criminal stuff

What are your thoughts? (Hope you are doing well, and this question does not annoy you?)

It doesn't annoy me. I haven't really talked about LoK much in a while so I'm actually glad to get something about it now.

I really think that the reason people like Varrick is just because of his personality. He was a crazy and fun character while everyone else was getting increasingly obnoxious and unlikable. If you look at things objectively Varrick is a very poorly written character (big shock I know) who at times ping pongs between being a funny goofy guy and being a cunning villain. But when he's silly he's extremely goofy. He and Zhu Li had a weird and funny dynamic where he was a goofy eccentric businessman and she was a quiet but hyper competent assistant. Back when Book 2 first aired many hoped they'd have a Tony Stark/Pepper Potts type of dynamic which would have been entertaining. But in reality Varrick was an inconsistent character and Zhu Li was barely a character outside of her one gag.

Really I think the reason people like Varrick is that he provides even a shred of entertainment when the rest of the cast is at best bland and at worst scummy cretins like Korra and Mako. He may not make sense but he's got a strong energy and comedic moments that makes him at least fun to watch if you're not thinking about the story too much.

#anti LoK #LoK Criticism

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hanfugallery · 3 years

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笠帽limao, a general term for a type of Chinese hanfu hat, characterized by a wide brim. The primary form had already appeared during the Shang and Zhou dynasties( 1600 B.C.-256B.C.), and its invention was naturally related to shading from the sun and rain, with a large brim that could both block the rain and shade the sun. In ancient China, limao笠帽 were made of many materials, including bamboo baskets, pouches, ramie, yarn etc. The shape of limao笠帽 is with usually large brim, round, square or pointed tops. The later it was developed, the more it resembled today's hats. In the Ming Dynasty this hat was called a damao大帽, yet it's been around before Ming, inherited from the Song Dynasty and earlier dynasties.

The picture below shows two limao unearthed from the tomb of the Yuan Dynasty minister Wang Shixian汪世显.

Then let's take a look at what the limao笠帽 looked like worn by Ming Dynasty soldiers.

What about the damao大帽 worn by non-military officials and civilians in Ming dynasty?

So how did the term of damao in Ming dynasty come about? The origin of damao is recorded in an ancient book of the Ming Dynasty, san cai tu hui《三才图会》(1607). This book is an encyclopedic book written by 王圻Wang Qi and his song 王思义Wang Siyi, who were literature scholars and book collectors during the Ming Dynasty. Here is the quote 《三才图会》:“大帽，尝见稗官云:国初高皇幸学，见诸生班烈日中，因赐遮荫帽，此其制也，今起家科贡者用之。” Generally when Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, saw the students taking the imperial examinations sweating in the scorching sun, he gave them damao to protect them from the sun.

The image below is a painting from the Tang dynasty, showing that the basic shape of the damao differs little from that of the Tang dynasty.

The 平番得胜图ping fan de sheng tu is currently housed in the National Museum of China and is considered to be an accurate portrayal of the Ming dynasty's army and is of high reference value.

The above is the consistent history of limao笠帽 in Chinese hanfu. limao was a very common hat in all Chinese dynasties, worn by all classes. The basic shape with a high top made of black gauze and a knotted cord appeared early on. Of course, hats with brims is a common thing for every culture and are found in all parts of the world, just as Eastern and Western civilizations coincidentally documented the prehistoric Flood.

For those interested in more specialized and complete information, here is a ten-minute video detailing the history of limao.

To summarize, limao was first seen in the Han Dynasty terracotta figurines, called li笠, and documented in writings in the ancient book 急就篇(48b.c.-33b.c.), but the brim was not as big as it is now, in the Northern Dynasty(386-581), limao was inspired by the Xianbei people whose ancestors were nomads in ancient Siberia, so the brim was widened, and the top of the hat was added (recorded in the Northern Dynasty mural) and is almost the same as now, after the consistent development recorded but not limited to the Tang Dynasty terracotta figurines and Song Dynasty paintings, especially that Fanyangli influenced the limao style of the Yuan dynasty, and then the Yuan emperor Kublai Khan added curtains behind the limao, and beads and feathers according to the Mongolian custom, and then Ming emperors removed the curtains in the early Ming dynasty, forming a variety of styles.

Facts about damao in Ming dynasty

1. damao was influenced by limao of all the previous dynasties, and arose spontaneously. ✔️

2. damao usually have round top, but there were also other forms of top, such as the quadrilateral.✔️

2. In the early Ming dynasty, influenced by the Mongolian style of the Yuan dynasty (Mongolia added the beads according to its own nomadic style), damao used the gems or beads as a string. ✔️

3. In the middle of the fifteenth century, Emperor Yingzong abolished the bead-string, stipulating that the damao could only be worn with plain string. ✔️

4. The adornment of damao was mainly on the top, with jewels, feathers, and red tassels.✔️

5. From ancient paintings, the decorative method of inserting feathers on one or both sides of the hat, is found in the Ming Dynasty and previous dynasties.✔️

6. damao usually matches with wangjin网巾, a kind of mesh scarf tied back the bangs neatly. ✔️

Now high-priced hanfu stores are making the damao exactly according to the Ming Dynasty style, and are considered historically accurate. However, some middle or low priced hanfu store are lazy and don't make it accurately, so the details are confused with another country' traditional hats with brim, or even worse. A few days ago a famous chinese artist accidentally used the picture of damao of that lazy store as reference to draw her super popular characters and post it on twitter, it could be controversial and offensive to some people from another culture who are not familiar with hanfu and lead to misunderstanding. And then she experienced cyberbullying which is really bad. (btw she also provides the correct ancient Ming portrait as a reference though

I have cautiously observed, and must state that the damao she drew does not show a very clear feature that significantly different from the Ming dynasty damao of a traditional hat from another culture, and I think one reference picture of damao from taobao store does have a slight problem and is ambiguous. Incidentally, the non-damao hat that worn by the other character has also attracted criticism is no problem and actually called yishanguan翼善冠, one of the traditional types of hats for Chinese hanfu, which I will describe later.

Well, you get the idea.

In a more general sense, was the ancient Chinese costume culture, while retaining its original form, influenced by xiyu culture (a general reference to non-Chinese countries on the Silk Road, the ancient cultures of Western and Central Asia and the ancient states, xiyu西域 literally meaning western region) and nomadic cultures such as xianbei culture? Yes, especially in the Tang Dynasty. For example, yuanlingpao圆领袍/rongfu戎服. Did ancient China radiate its costume culture to its neighbors(not all of them), leaving behind similar or even convergent forms, while at the same time they developing their own local characteristics? Yes. If a culture had close contact with China in ancient times, but is geographically separated from China by a long distance or even by the sea, the later its identity will become stronger, and what used to look like Chinese clothing will become less obvious, such as the kimono.

Here are examples of the basically accurate damao in style of ming dynasty by hanfu store. It does not contain all the types.

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kingwuko · 3 years

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Wuko in the comics

Welcome to my first post discussing Wuko in the LoK comic books!

This first post will be discussing Turf Wars- which unfortunately does not feature Wu. But there are lots of excellent Mako moments, and there are some major plot points that carry over into the next comic trilogy.

Turf Wars is the first LoK comic trilogy released after the finale. Though it was released two and half years after the finale aired, it picks up right where we left off. While the creators confirmed after the finale aired that Korrasami was canon, the last moments of the animated series were a little ambiguous (on purpose, since this was a time when queer representation was just not considered "acceptable" in children's media-it was truly the only way they could get away with it). The comics definitively remove all ambiguity. Turf Wars features multiple frames of Korra and Asami kissing, holding hands, and coming out to their friends and family.

The overarching plot of Turf Wars is a conflict over the land upon which the new spirit portal sets. There is also conflict between rival Triad gangs, the Triple Threats and the Creeping Crystals, over turf in Republic City following the chaos of Kuvira's invasion. These two sets of turf wars overlap when a business tycoon hires the Triple Threats to secure the spirit portal for him by driving others off. The new Leader of the Triple Threats, Tokuga, is attacked by a spirit defending the portal, causing him to gain a dragon-like appearance and a new agenda-seizing control of all Republic City. In the midst of all this there is a refugee crisis, a presidential election, and Korra and Asami trying to navigate their new relationship once they return to the real world with all their responsibilities.

Notable plot points and character developments:

Korra and Asami canon is confirmed (repeatedly)-They come out to family and their friends

Business owner Wonyong Keum, who owns the land upon which the new portal sits, demands everyone vacate so he can turn it into a tourist attraction for profit-prompting Korra to enter the Avatar state to temporarily drive him away.

An unhappy spirit requests Korra closes the portal to prevent exploitation of the spirit world.

Bolin joins Mako as his rookie detective partner.

Zhu Li is running efforts to care for refugees who lost their homes during Kuvira’s attack and teams up with Asami to begin rebuilding homes for everyone displaced.

Tokuga is introduced as the leader of the Triple Threats, fighting for control of the streets with Jargala, the leader of the Creeping Crystals.

Kya reveals she is queer and gives us a history lesson on the context of LGBTQ+ history in the world.

Tokuga is attacked by the afore-mentioned spirit and his right arm and half his face become dragon-esque.

Raiko is a colossal idiot. He is way too focused on getting reelected and making his decisions based on what his campaign advisor suggests, rather than just, you know, governing his city. He calls the military to occupy the portal, prompting the Airbenders to peacefully protest.

Zhu Li runs against Raiko for the presidency. She rallies more protesters to protect the spirit portal while her husband films her for his newest project- a “docu-mover” which he presumably uses to influence the election.

Asami and Keum are kidnapped by Tokuga and forced to make a poison gas device bring the city under Tokuga’s control.

The Krew manages to save the day of course, thanks to Asami’s wit, Korra’s unstoppable stubbornness, and back-up from Bolin and Mako. Except Mako, bless him, says he’ll “take care of Tokuga”, and then promptly loses him.

Tokuga mysteriously disappears into the spirit world.

Zhu Li wins the presidency.

Korra and Asami share a lovely, romantic moment where they exchange their first “I love you”s at the conclusion of the comic.

Mako scenes

There is no Wu in the Turf Wars comics (Unless you count one line of dialogue where it is mentioned that the Earth Kingdom is sending supplies to help the refugee situation) - however, there is plenty of Mako! Mako’s primary role in this series is as a detective trying to find and stop the Triads from waging their turf war in the city.

Our first scenes with Mako shows him back to being a detective- and his brother is his partner. He doesn’t seem super thrilled to be working with Bolin, but I think it’s just because he knows how his brother is- not that he doesn’t want to spend time with him. They are trying to track down the new leader of the triple threats and control gang activity. Mako’s arm is still in a sling, he’s got his usual brooding grumpy facial expression, and his hair is spiky again! He and Bolin arrest two-toed Ping and try to interrogate him. Two-toed Ping is weirdly proud of Mako and Bolin for rising up from being “nobodies” to a couple of “bigtime cops”.

They catch up with Korra and Asami, and the four of them are alerted by Jinora that the Triple threats are attacking the Airbenders that were meditating at the portal. Asami gets hurt in the battle and she and Korra share a kiss in front of everyone:

Look at Opal’s sweet face. She looks like she’s barely containing her excitement and is maybe squealing a bit, and she’s looking directly at Bolin which I think is a sweet moment to show their relationship. Bolin calls dibs on the first double date.

Mako probably needs time to process the information....

Mako and Bolin do some detective work to try and find Tokuga. There is an interesting scene where they are questioning Scoochy (We saw him in the first season, he’s the kid that told Korra and Mako the Bolin went to do some work for the triple threats before getting captured by equalists) Bolin tells Mako they should do “good cop, bad cop”, with Bolin being the good cop. Mako gets annoyed, and Bolin asks if he’s grumpy because his exes are dating. Mako insists he’s cool with it- though he’s got a distressed look on his face. They catch up to Scoochy and Bolin actually loses his temper and is rather menacing. Mako pulls Bolin back and genuinely connects with Scoochy- relating to his past, pushing him to do the right thing and help others. I really liked this moment because it shows how much character growth he’s had when you compare the way he treated Kai in season 3. (They are ultimately unsuccessful and Scoochy’s tip leads them to a room rigged with explosives- but I don’t think Scoochy knew that, I think he was fed false info).

There’s another touching scene, after Asami is kidnapped, where Mako notices how upset Korra seems as everyone is trying to form a plan to stop Tokuga. He steps aside to check in and see how she’s feeling. He comforts her’ empathizes with her, and reassures her that they are going to find Asami. At this point he seems to have fully processed that they are together and seems to fully accept it and is very supportive. Not easy considering the awkward position he’s in as both their exes. In this scene, Mako also informs Korra that he can’t firebend with his injured arm.

Mako and Bolin helps Korra to find Asami by requesting help from Jargala- in spite of the fact that Chief Beifong told them not to… They show up for Korra and Asami even if it means risking their jobs. They team up and fight the bad guys together, just like the old days.

We see many examples of how bad the damage is from Mako’s injury in the Colossus. He can’t bend with his left arm, it’s in a sling almost the whole comic, and he really doesn’t seem to be at the top of his game. He told Bolin he would take care of catching Tokuga, but apparently couldn’t and lost him. Mako’s injury is pretty bad and it’s probably really frustrating.

At the end, Bolin decides to quit the force (surprise. The guy loves to hop from calling to calling!). He makes a big dramatic speech to Mako, talking about how it’s time they go their separate ways. Mako is like “Um I’m going to see you at home in like two hours”, so it sounds like they are living together.

What all this might mean for Wuko

So now I’m going to try to tie things back into how all this affects the potential of Wuko- whether that’s for headcanons or fics or whatever- and just try to give you an idea of what this comic means for Wuko shippers.

Wu is governing in the Earth Kingdom right now. It is mentioned by Zhu Li that the Earth Kingdom sent supplies, so one can assume Wu has taken his place on the throne and the Earth Kingdom is in a stable enough position to be sending supplies to aid another nation. Nothing is mentioned about efforts to transform the Earth Kingdom into a democratic nation (we’ll get to that in the Ruins of the Empire comics).

Mako’s primary relationships that are explored are with his brother and with Korra. His relationship with Bolin is just as it always is. He loves his brother even if he is a little exhausted by his upbeat, enthusiastic attitude. We build up on his final interaction with Korra from the animated series and continue to firmly establish them as friends and amicable exes. Interestingly, we don’t get any meaningful Mako and Asami interactions. When he is comforting Korra, he relates to her by remembering how worried he was when Korra was kidnapped by Amon. He doesn't try to say “Yeah I’m really worried about Asami too”, which, to me is bizarre because he and Asami are friends too, right? I don’t know if we should read too much into it though- most likely it was just a writing choice that we aren’t meant to psycho-analyze- but it could also mean he is being careful with his words so that Korra doesn’t wonder if he still has feelings for Asami. The love triangle is completely resolved and Mako is out of the picture romantically with either of them and has no lingering romantic feelings. In other words, he is 100% ready available for a relationship with someone else.

The scene where Kya gives us a history lesson establishes how LGBTQ+ people are viewed in the world of LoK. In short, Korra and Asami are fully supported by their friends and family, and even their enemies acknowledge their relationship without any homophobic tones. The closest we get to homophobia is Korra's father, who, after expressing his happiness at their relationship, warns Korra to be cautious going forward because not everyone will be as understanding. Kya gives us a quick lesson on how same-gender relationships are viewed across the nations: The water tribe, being a patriarchal culture, expects discretion. The Earth Kingdom is not particularly accepting-Kya says that Avatar Kyoshi was bisexual but couldn't affect "real change" and that the earth kingdom is the slowest to accept change and is also militarily repressive (full disclosure I have not read the Kyoshi comics, maybe there is additional insight in those?). And in the fire nation, Sozin made same-gender relationships illegal when he took power (I hope Zuko undid all that when he became Firelord). The air nation is the only one that seems truly accepting-Kya paints a picture of total acceptance and says that Aang was supportive when she herself came out. Korra is worried that maybe her father was right, but Asami points out that a lot has changed over the years and everyone seems accepting, especially in Republic City.

I think what we can take away from this as far as Wuko goes- is that in Republic City, same-gender relationships are not much of an issue, while in the Earth Kingdom it could be viewed negatively. One could make a case that Wu might have cause to be closeted, while Mako might not. (Feel free to reject this history canon and substitute your own. I’d just as soon say that no one in the avatar-verse cares if you aren’t cis or het).

In conclusion. Mako is just a guy trying very hard to be a good, supportive friend to his exes who are now dating each other. He loves them (platonically) he loves his brother, he’s kind and has matured a lot, but he still always has a grumpy look on his face so it’s time for him to move on and get together with Wu.

Well, that’s Turf Wars. I did cram the plot of three comic books into one post, so I certainly did not hit all the details. If you feel I missed something crucial, feel free to reblog with your own takes. Next I’ll discuss Ruins of the Empire, in which we get lots of Wu and potential Wuko moments, a sizable helping of angst and even some Wu & Korra friendship! RotE is a really fun comic trilogy and I’ll be breaking it down into multiple posts. Thanks for reading everyone!

Wuko In RotE part 1

Wuko in RotE part 2

#Wuko #Mako #Turf Wars #Lok #King Wu #Prince Wu

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cybernaght · 3 years

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Guardian rewatch: episode 13

Which I am dubbing “what is consistency”.

I love episode thirteen to tiny tiny bits, but in a way it sort of a microcosm of everything that’s amazing and everything that’s terrible about Guardian: the main characters being wonderful, the amazing chemistry of the leads weighed against the inconsistent nonsense of writing and unintentionally comical production choices borne out of absence of money. Gentle reminder that I tear into it out of love, and for common amusement. If I genuinely disliked this show I would not have spent hours of my life on this little project.

The episode starts with Da Qing still in his cat rage: something we have not seen before and, I am fairly sure, will not see since, not from him, not from any other Yashou. While he is in this state, he’s got a one track mind on attacking Zhao Yunlan; he sprints towards his chief and past Lin Jing and Zhu Hong, giving them an opportunity to restrain him. Da Qing is then pacified with Lao Li’s fish, the snack singlehandedly averting the crisis.

There are moments in Guardian which are incredibly sad in hindsight, this - Lao Li’s evident affection for Da Qing - is one of them. I can’t help but remind myself here that by the end those series, Da Qing will have lost everyone he is closest to.

When Da Qing is obviously out of danger, Zhao Yunlan sprints into action to check in on Wang Xiangyang (still pre-evil, but give it time) and make amends for the damaged fruit stall. There is something incredibly charming about SID being good neighbours to their local businesses; it’s a small thing, but it does give them a community feeling.

“If the boss went out of control… can’t even imagine”, muses Lin Jing, shuddering at the thought. He looks more grossed and out than scared, which… makes for an amusing speculation on what exactly Lin Jing thinks his perpetually horny boss would be like if he “went out of control”.

As Da Qing slowly comes to, with no exact memory of the prior events, Zhao Yunlan gets notified that there was a ping for the missing Hallows near the Huang family estate which is holding the wedding. Zhu Hong gets a feeling that the Wedding will be a Disaster; as is often the case, her hunch is 100% correct.

Distressed Zheng Yi is mostly here looking for Tan Xiao, but merely using her voice in panic is enough to cause magical mass hypnosis and send several dozen people into murderous rage. Remember this bit of world building, because it will come up again.

There is no particular reason for Zhu Jiu to unleash Zheng Yi on the wedding of the two people he inadvertently brought closer together (if we are to believe that the whole Tian’en debacle early in the season was somehow set up by our hopeless villain), so he clearly does it for his own amusement and to piss off his opponents. Seriously, I am really enjoying Zhu Jiu on rewatch, his chaotic evil energy is delightful. The rampage is fun too, by the way. They clearly did not have enough time and/or a big enough stunt team to create a mass fight, but it still looks pretty good.

Shen Wei appears in the middle of the carnage, takes a brief look around, and opts for freezing time on humans. He goes to grab Zheng Yi, only to have her manoeuvred away by Zhu Jiu, who then proceeds to have a taunting match with Shen Wei. Taunting Hei Pao Shi is his favourite pastime from what we have seen.

Cong Bo is present at the scene. Presumably he has not been affected because… of headphones in his ears? Maybe? It’s never really explained. Still, being unaffected gives him a chance to film the strange powers, and the confrontation. He isn’t looking nearly as inconspicuous as the show would like us to believe, but the non-humans are busy, and the humans are losing their minds, so it’s not like anyone is paying him any attention anyway.

Zhu Jiu teleports away in a blink. Shen Wei assesses the situation for a second longer before switching on his Hei Pao Shi mode and dispersing the hypnotic field with one forceful flick of his power. It also takes him a while to switch back into his Professor persona - long enough to give bewildered Minister Gao this glare.

Well this is hot.

He softens back into his gentle Professor mode when Zhao Yunlan and his team finally arrive. Yunlan’s reaction to seeing Shen Wei in the middle of yet another mysterious crime scene is basically… “for fuck’s sake”. He probably half-expected Shen Wei to be here, so he is not surprised exactly, but he is ever so slightly exasperated. In fact, he is exasperated enough to ignore the actual scene of mayhem in favour of questioning Shen Wei.

He does stop when he notices Minister Gao, and goes on making sure his boss is alright. Zhao Yunlan could not have landed where he is today without a significant amount of schmoozing in his life, and, while he might not enjoy it, he is good at it. After thanking Zhao Yunlan for arriving in time (which he definitely did not, but let’s allow that one slide), the Minister queries him on the subject of Shen Wei.

Zhao Yunlan’s first instinct: deny any knowledge of the man, and protect SID. This takes over for about three seconds, and then is overridden by the urge to protect Shen Wei instead: Yunlan shields him physically and uses his own rank to vouch for his integrity.

Unfortunately, Zhao Yunlan gets pushed aside. Getting access to Shen Wei, Minister Gao thanks there professor cordially for his help, in a way which looks a little bit like he knows what Shen Wei really is, only that can’t be right. Shen Wei reacts in helpless befuddlement. He even throws Zhao Yunlan a little pleading side-glance before wordlessly extracting his hands from the minister’s grasp.

Zhao Yunlan combines Operation Protect Shen Wei and Operation Schmooze into one, claiming that Shen Wei is part of his department’s downline, offering the cheekiest of grins and landing a hard slap on his professor’s shoulder for a good measure.

Shen Wei does not say a single world through this long exchange, but his micro expressions are absolute gold. By the end of it he is left visibly questioning most of his life choices, and also his taste in men.

Afterwards, we discover that there is a single casualty in the wedding: Mr. Li, the bride’s father, and a pretty terrible human being who chased away a kid for having super powers, helped to lie to his distraught father for a decade, and maybe also contributed to ordering a hit on them both. Guardian wants us to be sad for him, but… nah. Not feeling the sadness.

As the team is dealing with the aftermath of Disaster Wedding, Zhao Yunlan is indulging in good old-fashioned brooding, undoubtedly thinking how to approach the conundrum which is his Black Cloaked Professor. Da Qing comes in with a report, but the chief only acknowledges his subordinate’s existence by waving a dismissive hand at him.

He does lift his head when an apologetic Shen Wei appears.

“Have I brought you trouble?”

Yunlan laughs, “If you were trouble, it would be better if more of you came to bother me in my whole life”. Not the most elegant translation in terms of the language flow perhaps, but the sentiment is clear: this is acceptance, regardless of what Shen Wei might be, not just of his help, which is more than needed, but of him. It is a shame Shen Wei does not see it as such; I don’t think he’ll understand this acceptance until the very end.

Zhao Yunlan then gets on his feet and into Shen Wei’s personal space, promising very firmly to figure him out. He accentuates his words by slowly placing a lollipop into his own mouth while maintaining eye contact: it’s a deliberate gesture, and one he used before.

When that does not provoke any reaction apart from a little frown on Shen Wei’s face, Yunlan angles his whole body so he can forcibly insert himself into the other man’s field of vision.

Shen Wei starts with his usual evasion, which is polite confused denial, but Yunlan does not even let him finish, pushing further. He has let the little excuses and little lies, and little cute befuddled evasions slide, but that was in the past.

Shen Wei is caught.

He still tries.

“I just exercise regularly.”

He blinks nine times as he said this. Yes, I counted. That’s nine times in the span of just four syllables. He has never been a particularly good liar, but this is getting egregious. Zhao Yunlan laughs, sighs, notes helplessly that Shen Wei cannot even even come up with reasonable excuses any more, which is absolutely correct. They both know it is.

Really, this is where the whole situation reaches the boiling point for them, the truth is about to start spilling out. Zhao Yunlan no longer sees this as a coy little game they play; Shen Wei is very close to losing the battle, but…

The phone rings, very conveniently, and there is a crisis to deal with. And, if one stops for a second to look at this phonecall as the first in a series of interruptions that rob those two men of their time together, Guardian once more becomes infinitely sadder. Their story will continue just like this: a series of escalating interruptions, until they run out of time completely.

After hanging up, Zhao Yunlan takes one glance at Shen Wei, who looks like is about to cry, and just nods absentmindedly, one again giving up on the conversation.

And, regardless of how angry and upset he is, Yunlan still takes Shen Wei with him to wherever the disturbance is. Despite the thinness of ice they are walking on, he seems to be incapable of not seeing Shen Wei as his friend and partner.

The two arrive into the town square to find Lin Jing and Da Qing crouching over a freaked out Cong Bo. He is quickly given a sedative, and we are shown a flashback to Cong Bo trying to film Zhu Jiu conversing with Ya Qing in a crow form. This goes as well for the whistleblower as you’d imagine.

Lin Jing and Da Qing promise to look after Cong Bo. As the blogger is being led away, he is giving Shen Wei a little look that could be equally interpreted as wary, startled or even warning.

Zhao Yunlan notes that they have a second-hand confirmation that Zhu Jiu is working for someone - which Shen Wei does not respond to, remaining still, silent and unbelievably tense. Yunlan tries again, this time complaining loudly and deliberately about being understaffed in hope that Shen Wei will volunteer to tag along with him on the case. Subtle, Zhao Yunlan is not.

Shen Wei, meanwhile, has composed himself into his usual flavour of serene politeness, enough at least to make his excuses before retreating with a courteous nod. Yunlan does not look up when Shen Wei leaves, but then proceeds to stare at the other man’s back as he is walking away.

And I am left here sighing in frustration at these men proceeding to ruin their relationship by refusing to meet half-way in terms of their communication. That’s on both of them. This will generally be the experience going forward, won’t it?

The story moves us to the villains’ camp somewhere probably close to Zhu Jiu’s warehouse, and we finally see Ya Qing in her human form.

There is no reason why she wouldn’t look just like a normal human in normal human clothes, the way the SID Yashou do, so maybe it’s just a fashion statement. On the sliding scale between Shen Wei’s suits and Yin Chun’s dress (which will also appear for first time this episode), her costume is closer to the latter, but I kind of like it. It’s goth-y. It has leather. It has feathers. It’s hot without being vulgar.

During their pretty heated conversation Ya Qing throws a crate at Zhu Jiu which he avoids as follows.

Bless this boy. He tries to be cool and intimidating, he really does.

Oh, remember I asked you to remember that Zheng Yi is meant to be mute because when she speaks she hypnotises people? Well.. she just speaks in this scene, and then uses her powers as if those are two separate things. What is consistency.

Moving swiftly on, past Tan Xiao’s nightmare, we find ourselves with Chu Shuzhi, who has given himself the mission to retrieve Xiao Guo from the snake tribe. He barges past the guards and rescues the young man, then continues being extremely angry at him for being in danger in the first place. When Guo Changcheng manages to get a word in, he explains that he did not actually need saving, because he managed to get on Zhu Hong’s uncle’s good side just by being a sweet idealistic muffin.

Turns out that Xiao Guo did not just listen to his captor, and engage in honest conversation with him, but, when prompted, he also delivered an inspirational speech about SID as found family. Xiao Guo continues being the most precious human alive; absolutely no one could blame Chu Shuzhi for falling for him.

Then we meet Yin Chun. So, first time around I just assumed this was the Bush Woman, no longer a bush - just based on the fact that she just shows up, and Shen Wei knows her, like they are friends. On rewatch, I no longer think this is the case, although I wish it were. I find my theory that they stopped animating the same character when the CGI budget ran dry and put her in costume mildly amusing.

I don’t have anything witty to say about the costume, but I am glad that her hair stying is there to distract us from it. Not because it’s good, but because it’s well.. this. Also, I think I had a similar dress when I was seven. It was my most prized possession at the time.

Anyway, Yin Chun is here to alert Shen Wei of the crow tribe leaders who is now working for the baddies, something Shen Wei had already discovered. She points out that if Shen Wei continues being involved he will end up in danger. Shen Wei just stoically replies that he cannot back off, and stalks away. Shen Wei had a really bad couple of days; and the way he deals with that is by throwing himself into his duty with vehemence.

Shen Wei shows up at the lab he left Tan Xiao in. Our professor is not wearing his mask and robes which seems like a very bad idea even if he’s not about to run into Zhao Yunlan. Seriously, how has this man gone for years hiding his identity?

As in happens, he does run into Zhao Yunlan. By which I mean, Zhao Yunlan has planted himself here deliberately, playing violin for what could have been a while, just so he can make a dramatic entrance when Shen Wei inevitably shows us. Zhao Yunlan is a drama llama that way.

And why no one ever mentions that Zhao Yunlan plays violin? Where is all the Yunlan Playing Violin fanfic?

Shen Wei’s reaction to seeing Yunlan consists of a startled blink. You could practically see a thought bubble above his head with words “oh fuck” appearing in it.

Zhao Yunlan asks for an explanation, in a way which is measured and wordy. He probably spent some time preparing the speech on how exactly showing up here looking for Tan Xiao when only only Hei Pao Shi knows where Tan Xiao is kept, is very damning indeed.

Shen Wei continues blinking, now with some anguish added to his dread.

Yunlan presses still, allowing some of the anger back in. His accusations are pretty much on point: had Shen Wei told him Tan Xiao was a normal human, and the girl was a Dixingren, they could have come up with a plan to lure her out, the wedding would not have been a disaster. He does not mention, although he could have, that Da Qing would not have landed himself in danger. Absence of information has never made anyone safer.

Zhao Yunlan then softens.

“Shen Wei-ah, I thought we were friends.”

… Sure, let’s call them that.

At this, Shen Wei’s walls crumble and truth finally starts spilling out of him.

“I did not want to drag you all - drag you - into a deeper whirlpool.”

Just like that Yunlan is no longer mad, like he never wanted to be angry in the first place. He chuckles with joy and relief as Shen Wei opens his mouth to finally confess to being Hei Pao Shi…

And the confession is interrupted by Zheng Yi snd Zhu Jiu arriving, with Zhao Yunlan swiftly getting brainwashed - or so audience and Shen Wei are led to believe.

“I originally intended to watch it a little longer”, Zhu Jiu comments gleefully. So… WHY DID YOU NOT?

Seeing Yunlan taken hostage, Shen Wei slips on his mask, a figurative one, the one of polite flippancy, as he negotiated his release. When that does not work, he goes for a different tactic: transforms into Hei Pao Shi and offers to take Zhao Yunlan’s place. Zhu Jiu looks stunned.

“What is the relationship between you and Zhao Yunlan?”

Whooo boy. Well that is a loaded question.

Without waiting for a reply, Zhu Jiu proceeds with his favourite pastime of Taunting Shen Wei, and teleports away just as the Envoy swings a sword at him.

Or, rather, he swings his sword at something in front of himself, because they are miles away, and if they were not he’d have a better chance at hitting Zhao Yunlan than any of the Dixingren. I have no idea what this was meant to achieve, but. Look. You already had one sword essay, I’m pretty sure you don’t want another one.

Shen Wei teleports outside, and Yin Chun shows up to let him know that she’ll be pursuing Ya Qing, then she disappears with a flourish which, not for the first time this series, make me wonder whether I am watching live action Sailor Moon.

Flower tribe powaaah... make up!

Shen Wei is left trying to scry his surroundings, before an abrupt power depletion violently shakes him out of his Hei Pao Shi form. I am not too sure why he’s already so low of energy, considering that he has just transformed, and we have seen him do much more while wearing his mask. Let’s say maybe this was actually a very trying day, and he had done some teleporting around earlier.

He is left out of power, weak and very very worried. Zhao Yunlan is an ass for doing this to him.

A couple of scenes later he reaches Zhu Jiu hideout, only to run into a confused Chu Shuzhi, and Shen Wei is too distraught to make up excuses or reveal himself and pull rank. They both realise around the same time where exactly Zhao Yunlan might be.

Zhu Jiu and Zheng Yi bring Zhao Yunlan to SID in order to retrieve Tan Xiao, and cause a whole bunch of trouble for Zhao Yunlan’s people, starting with shooting Zhu Hong.

But it’s okay, she’ll get better.

This is actually not my thought, but I have been re-watching this on the Viki app, where people can write comments to specific moments in the episode, and someone pointed out that Zheng Yi is curiously unperturbed by forcing this stranger to just shoot his friends to death. Somehow, creepy mind control powers and killing her foster father aside, the idea of this kid shrugging off casual homicide makes her infinitely scarier. I’m never against Shen Wei being merciful and letting people walk away to live their lives, but maybe he will make a mistake with this one: I can absolutely see her growing up to be a serial killer.

At the SID offices, Zheng Yi finally gets reunited with Tan Xiao, and Shen Wei arrives to find Zhu Hong lying on the ground, passed out, but not dead. He frowns unhappily, probably because it has now dawned on him that Zhao Yunlan is actually just pretending to be controlled.

Shen Wei stands to meet blank-faced Yunlan, evaluates the situation for a moment. He then accuses Zhao Yunlanof killing Zhu Hong, which is a neat little way of letting him know that Shen Wei’s realised this is a ruse without actually saying the words.

Shen Wei then closes the distance.

“Wake up”

“I have regarded you as my best friend”, Shen Wei says, which is a wonderful little comeback to their conversation before all hell broke loose. I honestly love everything about this. There is even a pause left in the dialogue where it will be revealed to us that he tells Yunlan to pull out the gun.

Zhao Yunlan does just that, and it only takes a briefest of suggestions from Zhu Jiu to pull the trigger, and for Shen Wei to fall ever so prettily… Only to rise back up seconds later.

This is the moment Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan become battle husbands. It’s fittingly beautiful.

Zhao Yunlan shoots Zhu Jiu, which is the next “what is consistency” on the agenda. Zhu Jiu has been shot before, back in the cave, and was pretty much fine. This wound however will eventually drain his dark energy enough to pretty much kill him. Guardian, why do you insist on doing this.

Zhu Jiu panics, grabbing Zheng Yi as a shield. Zhao Yunlan, however, shows no inclination to keep shooting. He lowers the gun and jovially explains that he was never hypnotised to begin with, showing a device that allowed him to evade mind control, created by their technician: Lin Jing, I assume. Yunlan even goes as far as to offer a little joke at Lin Jing’s expense, directing it as Shen Wei, who huffs a wry chuckle in response.

Those two are finally on the same level: two powerful men standing side by side, the very definition of the power couple. Zhao Yunlan then comments on Shen Wei noticing that he was faking when Zhu Hong did not. Perhaps, a little subtle nudge to tell us that this is another reason why Zhu Hong is not the one for Zhao Yunlan, while Shen Wei is?

In the final moments of this episode Shen Wei asks Zhao Yunlan if he has been pretending from the start, and the other man turns to him with a cheeky grin.

“Otherwise how would you reveal your true identity?”

The last shot this episode is literally Shen Wei staring at Zhao Yunlan’s lips. Because of course.

To be fair, Shen Wei was on the cusp of revealing himself anyway, already offering an explanation for his actions that could only have come from Hei Pao Shi. I understand Zhao Yunlan’s ruse as intelligence-gathering, and as such it was a clever one, but to say that you made the person who cares about you worry sick in order to reveal themselves is extraordinarily unkind. Shen Wei will be unhappy about this - and he will have all the right to be so. This one is definitely on Zhao Yunlan.

Next up, episode 14: We are family now.

——

Notes.

Apologies for taking so long with this one. I know there is like five of you, but those of you who read my recaps faithfully as soon as I post them - I see you, and I appreciate you.

I have many excuses for taking ages. One is watching other series - I am slowly writing a “review of sorts” of The Long Night. The other is pandemic gradually easing off, which means return of things like work and a social life. It is not in itself a bad thing, and getting new projects tentatively pencilled in was by far the best thing about last week, but I also want to hide in the Guardian world a little less now that maybe life is returning to normal.

I will still try to find time to do this thing, regardless of whatever is happening outside.

I’m hoping to post the next update in about a weeks time. And, if you have been with me so far, I cannot stress enough how grateful I am to have you read my ramblings.

#guardian #shen wei #zhao yunlan #rewatch #recap #now with gifs #the crankiness never stops #the gifs are purely utelitarian

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redxblueihateloveyou · 3 years

Note

1/2 "Explore the fuck was that" Xiaoge is not Xiaoge and talking is not the problem here. It's literally everything thats the problem. Also like you I've also read all the books, but failed to put into words why Xiao Yu Liang's and Huang Jun Jie's Qilings didn't give me any divergence from the original character despite the changes, while others did and pretty drastically. I thought it was a bit irrational on my part, but you just sorted it all out so effortlessly I'm a bit jealous

Lol I said the exact same thing, the talking and the phone was not a problem as some say, he has a phone in the book too at some point and talks more than you'd actually think, it's just that literally nothing about him is Zhang Qiling. Literally not one vibe or even tiny feeling. I don't know how that happened honestly.

AAAAAAAAA I saw the smile comments too lmao. I was like who's gonna tell them. Not only he smiles, he's full on laughing in the 2nd book already, when Wu Xie is using his spit as a lotion lmao. And Wu Xie was so happy about, he was like "I saw him smile before, but it was always so bitter and cold, this was the first time he smiled genuinely, he just needs to spend more time with him, we'll get him there" T_T Before that his smiling was legit a bit scary tho, sometimes brash, like when he told him about the stairs and he went "oh really?" haha

I thought about it and I honestly have no idea about the reference point for some people. I think maybe they go from that first adaptation? Maybe they think it's how he is in the book? Idk. It just weirds me out that I feel like some created some their own picture in their head and then judge everything from there throwing "thats ooc" left and right. Like this "Xiao Ge doesn't smile thing". Maybe it's because of the "Poker-face" thing, but do they know that "Men You Ping" doesn't actually mean that, it was just the closest thing you could come up with with english alternative to keep the nickname short (like I doubt it would read well if he kept calling him a bottle xD). Like according to Wu Xie since the very first book, his hubby can't even lie, so he's definitely not a poker face at all. He also gets pissed pretty easily and he likes to fool around sometimes too (like troll Wu Xie and Fatty obviously).

He's also not emo and not the "mysterious hero from some romance", not a stone and not a zooty. I don't know where this all came from tbh.

I can really debate 24/7 about this, but they're 100% Qilings, just slightly changed and softened accordingly to what they'd be like at this point of their relationship, if he did write it in (and I'm like pretty sure I'm right about this). It's the way they behave, how they act in certain situations, how they're with Wu Xie, how they're with other people, the right amount of sass and being done with everything, just the overall picture, the "you're an idiot, but you're my whole world". But also you know, that strange feeling that Wu Xie describes, like "when he's there, everything is suddenly alright" lol (just the magical safety vibe esp in SOP). I literally don't know how ppl who read the whole thing watched them and thought "thats not right". It's the fucking overall feeling of.. yes, i'm watching Zhang Qiling.

Just change the book's impending doom of tragical "you're my whole world, but I can't stay and there's no way for this to work" to "we actually have a future and I want to stay in our home with you" and that's basically Yuliang's and Junjie's versions (one on the way, one fully there by the end). But even if for some reason you can't accept this, I still don't get how some could hate it, cause overall they still have basically everything they need. Unlike others who are way off in my opinion, bc of the weird templates they are.

And about "Explore the fuck was that" (lol I'm gonna use this title from now on) seriously, no offense to this creation and everyone who liked it (no judging here for real, everyone likes what they like), I'm not gonna heavily diss anyone or anything, I don't really care for the thing, just telling the truth. No one who's participated in this thing have a fucking idea about the characters they're playing or writing about.

I mean, as a fan many things that were adapted from books, I already do not care for minor divergence or even bigger once, if it makes sense and you see the care and understanding of the characters, but sadly here it felt like no one cared. Like for example honestly if someone asked me what would you choose "watching wu xie and xiao ge but not 100% sticking to the plot" or "loosely watching the plot, but it's not wu xie and xiao ge", I'm gonna pick the first option.

And some will say that's it's only the writers/directors mistakes for not explaining or guiding actors etc, but to be honest it's not completely true, bc as we know many actors if they really care before taking on the role actually try to do a research about the character and read the material to understand what they're playing. Especially if it's such iconic characters of a franchise Сhina's been going crazy over for like a decade.

Like how the hell happened that Zhu Yilong for example while playing embodied all the Wu Xie's traits througout the whole book series from behaving exactly like young Wu Xie did in certain needed parts to going to the cold, strategic and rational old self in others, I mean, they could've just go with the "Restart" one, where not much happens and he could've played just that. But literally each time he did something, I was like "yeah, that's my boo". And that wasn't the part of this exact book, it was part of Wu Xie. Like the way he behaved, acted in some previous situations that you know its him. That's happening only when the actor knows who he's portraying.

Or Yuliang knowing and loving and feeling the character he plays, because he wanted to know and cared.

It's just strange to me, bc if they're not making it for the fans, then for whom do they even make it? For themselves? It's really stupid no matter how you look at it. Like your success depends on it, so what's the point in sinking your own ship I will never get.

I also do not get how could they just fail literally everything. Like casting was a miss already, but good acting and chemistry and putting character's soul in it could've make it great still, but they have literally none of anything, it's just fascinating to me. I just don't think I ever seen something like that, it's kinda funny.

But this is like once again just my opinion. Like everyone is free to think what they think, but maybe just stop yelling "OOC" without knowing the original character, cause maybe it's not really OOC. Like book Xiao Ge is not exactly what many ppl claim him to be really.

#answered #anonymous #zhang qiling #daomu biji #dmbj #lost tomb #wu xie #explore what the fuck was that lmfaaaao #pingxie #ultimate note #heavenly palace #explore with the note #lost tomb reboot

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the-archlich · 3 years

Note

Why did Wu and Shu seem to have a significant decrease in the quality of their Generals and officials in the latter days of the Three Kingdoms Era?

They didn't.

The folktales tend to be about the figures of the Sanping and Jian'an eras. Cao Cao, Guan Yu, and the like. There are a handful from the Three Kingdoms who get stories (Deng Ai and Jiang Wei, for example) but not nearly as many as in the previous era. That leads to a very confused perception that the commanders of later years were inferior to those of the earlier times.

There's also the fact that warfare during the Three Kingdoms had lower stakes. During the Sanping and Jian'an years, a single battle could determine the fate of a warlord's entire army. There were many desperate do-or-die battles, which provided more opportunities to display individual heroics.

The battles of the Three Kingdoms were not so desperate. A loss here or there (or even frequent losses) did not put the state in peril. And armies were larger, better organized, and campaigns were better planned. That leaves room for fewer individual actions.

The commanders of the Three Kingdoms were by no means inferior to their predecessors. Off the top of my head, here are some people who are comparable to those Sanping-Jian'an figures when you strip away the folktales.

This list begins with those who became famous during the Three Kingdoms proper; after 220. Some were active before then, but this is when they became significant. It excludes, to some extent, figures who only became famous after Jin's conquest of Wu in 280.

Xiahou Shang, Xiahou Xuan, Jia Kui, Fu Jia, Chen Tai, Gao Rou, Guo Huai, Wang Ji, Wang Ling< Guanqiu Jian, Deng Ai, Zhong Hui, Dong Yun, Chen Zhi, Li Yan, Huo Yi, Xiang Lang, Qian Zhou, Li Hui, Ma Zhong, Wang Ping, Zhang Ni, Jiang Wan, Fei YiGu Tan, Pan Zhang, Ding Feng, Zhu Ran, Shi Ji, Lu Ju, Zhu Yi, Zhu Ju, Lu Kang, He Qi, Quan Zong, Lu Dai, Pan Jun, Zhuge Ke, Teng Yin, Sima Yi, Sima Shi, Sima Zhao, Sima Yan, Zheng Chong, He Zeng, Shi Bao, Yang Hu, Du Yu, Chen Qian, Pei Xiu, Wei Guan, Zhang Hua, Sima Fu, Sima Wang, Sima Jun, Sima Zhou, Xun Yi, Xun Xu, Jia Chong, Wang Hun, Wang Jun, tang Bin, Shan Tao, Wang Rong

There are no doubt many who I am forgetting to mention because this is just shooting from the hip.

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psqqa · 3 years

Text

Nirvana in Fire Character Reference Sheet Roughly in the Order Those Characters Are Introduced

For @howdydowdy, as promised, and for anyone else who, like me, is terrible at names and needs some kind of “Who?? Ohhh right. That guy.” reminder.

Basically, my Nirvana in Fire Journey started with me watching half the first episode, being wildly confused, realizing I was in over my head re: names and thus deciding to go back to the beginning and watch it again But Taking Notes This Time. I watched the whole show with a notebook and pen at my side. I figured I may as well spare you all the labour by typing it up.

As more information was revealed, I often added it to a character’s initial note, but by and large I’m leaving those extra notes out so you can experience the joy and confusion and anguish of New Information yourself. The exception to this is generally a person’s name, title, and position. E.g. Duke Qing’s name, Bai Ye, isn’t mentioned until a number of episodes after he’s first mentioned, if I recall correctly, but knowing that the person named “Bai Ye” is the same person called “Duke Qing” is exactly why I took these notes for myself in the first place.

Basically this isn’t intended to be a character guide that lays out exactly who a person is, their relationships to the other characters, and their place in the story, but rather something you can look at whenever someone mentions a name that jogs your memory just enough for you to be able to place to person. Which is why the notes tend to be either the context in which the person was introduced or the relationship through which they’re introduced.

Some names and notes are inherently spoilers, but hopefully by virtue of the fact that this is broadly in the order a character is first mentioned/introduced, you can avoid spoilers simply by not scrolling down too far. For those persons where their name or an alter ego comes in significantly after their initial introduction and is a spoiler, they are listed a second time starting with the “new information” and with the note in italics indicating their original entry (there aren’t a lot of these, don’t worry).

I will readily admit that some of my handwritten notes are just a name and then a blank space because apparently I just never actually added a note for them. I haven’t bothered adding those people here. Yes it’s because I’ve forgotten entirely who they are, but I’m pretty sure that means you’ll be okay if you immediately forget who they are too. (That being said, I get the sense there are actually relevant people missing from this list. As the show carried on and introductions became less frequent, remembering them became less difficult.)

The List

Lin Xie –> Commander of the Chiyan Army

Lin Shu –> “Xiao-Shu” –> Lin Xie’s son –> Mei Changsu --> Chief of the Jiangzuo Alliance --> Su Zhe

Lin Chen –> Young Master of Langya Hall –> NOTE: The “Lin” of Lin Chen and the “Lin” of Lin Xie & Lin Shu are both written and pronounced differently. These people are not related.

Northern Yan’s 6th Prince –> Now Northern Yan’s Crown Prince

Minister Xu –> Da Liang’s envoy to Northern Yan

Prince Yu –> Xiao Jinghuan –> 5th Prince of Da Liang

Xiao Xuan –> Emperor of Da Liang

Empress Yan --> Prince Yu’s adoptive mother

Consort Yue --> Crown Prince’s mother

Grand Empress (Dowager) --> Emperor’s grandmother

Xiao Jingxuan --> Crown Prince of Da Liang --> metonym is “Eastern Palace”

Zhuo Dingfeng --> Master of Tianquan Manor

Zhuo Qingyao --> Eldest son of Zhuo Dingfeng --> guy on the horse and later the guy helping the old couple on the boat and later also the guy who calls Xie Yu “father-in-law” (I am telling you this specifically because I am not bad at faces but this guy added so much confusion to my life that was cleared up the moment I realized these people were the same person. And also because my mother is terrible at faces and for like 15 episodes every time he showed up in another random place I would say “that’s horse and boat guy” and she would say “wait what? really???” So I’m assuming at least one other person will share in this struggle)

Xie Yu --> Marquis of Ning

Qin Banruo --> Prince Yu’s strategist

Duke Qing --> Prime Minister --> Bai Ye

Ji Ying --> member of Double Sword Sect

Li Gang --> member of Jiangzuo Alliance

Fei Liu --> Mei Changsu’s bodyguard

Yan Yujin --> Son of Empress Yan’s brother

Xiao Jingrui --> Eldest son of Xie Yu

Mu Nihuang --> Commander of the army in Yunnan --> Princess of Yunnan’s House of Mu

Xie Bi --> Second son of Xie Yu & Xiao Jingrui’s younger brother

Mu Qing --> Mu Nihuang’s younger brother

Xia Dong --> An officer of the Xuanjing Bureau

Nie Feng --> Xia Dong’s late husband --> Vanguard General of the Chiyan Army under Lin Xie

Meng Zhi --> Commander of the Imperial Guards

Xuan Bu --> From Da Yu --> stronger than Meng Zhi

Gao Zhan --> Emperor’s chief eunuch

Fei Changshi --> Prince Yu’s guy out looking for Mei Changsu

Prince Jing --> Xiao Jingyan --> 7th Prince of Da Liang

Concubine Jing --> Mother of Prince Jing

“Xiao-Xin” --> Attendant to Concubine Jing

Grand Princess Liyang --> Xie Yu’s wife & Emperor’s sister

Eunuch Zheng --> Eunuch who is mean to Tingsheng

Prince Qi --> late Crown Prince of Da Liang --> Xiao Jingyu

Tingsheng --> servant boy caught reading

“Lao-Wei” --> Mu Qing’s subordinate of some kind

Wei Zheng --> member of Chiyan Army at Battle of Meiling (and survived)

Sima Lei --> member of Royal Guard --> Consort Yue’s preferred suitor for Mu Nihuang

Liao Tingjie --> Son of the Marquis of Zhongsu --> Empress Yan’s preferred suitor Mu Nihuang

Baili Qi --> Mu Nihuang suitor from Northern Yan --> A favourite of the 4th Prince of Northern Yan

Lady/Madam Zhuo --> Zhuo Dingfeng’s wife

Xie Qi --> Zhuo Qingyao’s wife & Xie Yu’s daughter & Jingrui’s sister

Consort Hui --> bullied by the Empress

Young Lady Zhen (I think is what my handwriting says) --> servant being sneaky at late dowager empress’s palace

“Wu-momo” --> older servant with the Bad Wine

Consort Chen --> now dead --> son was a rebel

3rd Prince of Da Liang --> Xiao Jingting --> Prince Ning --> disabled

6th Prince of Da Liang --> no ambition

9th Prince of Da Liang --> too young to fight for throne

Former Crown Princess --> late Prince Qi’s late wife

“Qi-momo” --> Grand Princess Liyang’s senior attendant

Gong Yu --> window lady who works with Mr. Shisan --> a musician

Mr. Shisan --> member of Jiangzuo Alliance --> connection to Lin family

Minister Lou --> Lou Zhijing --> Minister of Trade/Finance/Revenue/other words that mean “money” --> Knows about the corpse well --> Crown Prince’s faction

Zhang Jing --> Owner of corpse well house (Lan Mansion) at the time the corpses ended up in the well

Shi Jun --> Servant at corpse well house at relevant time --> has record book

Magistrate Gao --> Gao Sheng --> The Capital Magistrate

Princess Xuanji --> ruler of a previous dynasty --> founded the “Hong Court”

Minister Qi --> Qi Min--> Minister of Justice --> Prince Yu’s faction

Minister He --> He Jingzhong --> Minister of Personnel --> Prince Yu’s faction

Minister of Public Works --> Prince Yu’s faction

Minister Chen --> Chen Yuanzhi --> Minister of Rites --> Crown Prince’s faction

Minister of Defence --> Li Lin --> Crown Prince’s faction

Bai Xun --> Duke Qing’s brother

Lie Zhanying --> Staff Officer under Prince Jing

Qi Meng --> One of Prince Jing’s men --> fights Fei Liu and commits Great Offence

“General Bian” --> One of Prince Jing’s men

Shen Zhui --> Acting Minister of Finance

Princess Qing He --> Shen Zhui’s mother

Cai Quan --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> Did well-received report on the Bing case

Han Zhiyi --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Zhang Jianzhen --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Wei Yuan --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Yuan Shiying --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Qin Yue --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Tong Lu --> Vegetable cart guy --> brother of one of the corpse well girls

Qiu Zhe --> Son of Count (Duke?) Wen Yuan

He Wenxin --> Son of Minister He --> dislikes Qiu Zhe

Grand Prince Ji --> Emperor’s youngest brother --> Owns hot springs

Yang Liuxin --> A dancer

Hong Xinzhao --> Has “understanding girls”

Xinliu & Xinyang --> Brothel sisters --> their younger brother was murdered by Qiu Zhe

Princess Consort --> Lanjin --> Prince Yu’s wife

Zhou Xuanqing --> renowned scholar

Li Chong --> former Imperial Tutor --> former teacher to Lin Shu

“Brother Zhao” --> Canal transport guy --> Jiangzuo Alliance

Lin Xiangru --> famous literary envoy

Marquis Yan --> Yan Que --> Yan Yujin’s father & Empress Yan’s brother

Lin Yueyao --> Prince Qi’s mother --> Consort Chen

Zhen Ping --> Jiangzuo Alliance --> sword challenger

Xia Qiu --> An officer of the Xuanjing Bureau

Xia Chun --> The most senior of the officers of the Xuanjing Bureau

Prince Jingli --> Consort Hui’s son

Yuwen Xuan --> Prince Ling --> A prince of Southern Chu

Yuwen Nian --> “Niannian” --> A princess of Southern Chu --> student of Yue Xiuze

Yuwen Lin --> King of Southern Chu --> Yuwen Nian’s father

Ouyang Chi - Head of CApital Patrols

Xia Jiang --> Head of the Xuanjing Bureau

Li Chongxin --> Schoolteacher assassinated by Zhuo Dingfeng

Jun Niang --> former member of “Hong Court” under Princess Xuanji

“Miss Liu” --> Granddaughter of former Chief Secretariat Liu Cheng

Wei Qi --> The general at Jiaxing Pass --> was Xie Yu’s lieutenant for years

Su Tianshu --> Chief of Yaowang Valley --> 7th on the Langya Rich List

Su Xuan --> Su Tianshu’s adopted son --> Wei Zheng

Yun Piaomiao --> Su Xuan’s wife

Concubine Xiang --> Prince Yu’s birth mother

Zhu Yue --> Head of the Review Court --> Prince Yu’s brother-in-law

Cheng Zhiji --> Elder Master of Feng Hall --> 75 years old

Princess Linglong --> A princess of the Hua Kingdom --> Princess Xuanji’s sister --> Concubine Xiang

Grand Princess Jinyang --> Lin Shu’s mother & Lin Xie’s wife --> Emperor’s sister

Yao Zhu --> Official Fan’s servant who knows The Secret

Official Fan --> Harbouring Xia Jiang

#nirvana in fire #it's an imperfect tool basically #but hopefully it's useful anyway #if there are any spelling errors #blame it on my handwriting #you don't want to know how much time i spent looking at these notes asking myself if something was a 'u' or an 'n'

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dorkshadows · 3 years

Text

Day 9: Funniest Moment

I know in my festival speedrun, I picked some canon moments for what I felt were the funniest parts in jttw. But I wanted to make a separate post for an honorable mention: 1996 TVB Journey to the West’s take on Zhu Bajie’s backstory: he was banished to Earth and forced to reincarnate repeatedly in order to suffer one thousand heartbreaks. But one of those specific heartbreaks was truly galaxy-brained.

This moment is legit comedy gold, truly one of the funniest things to ever happen in media ever, and the first time I saw it, I died from laughing. I am still not over the fact that they did this and I never will be.

For some context on why this is so FUNNY, I have to explain. After the cowherd and weaver girl and the legend of the white snake, the most iconic lovers in Chinese folklore are Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. They’re known as the butterfly lovers, and the closest western comparison to them would probably be Romeo and Juliet. There are a ton of retellings of the butterfly lovers and everyone in the Chinese community knows about them one way or another. If you’re a member of this community and you don’t know them, what are you even doing, go watch a version RIGHT NOW

A quick rundown of the story:

During the Jin dynasty, Zhu Yingtai is the only daughter of a wealthy family. She convinces her family to let her attend school so she disguises herself as a man and goes to class with her maid (disguised as a male servant). The scholars basically live “on campus.” There, she meets classmate Liang Shanbo (and his servant). They become best friends and swear brotherhood, but she’s fallen in love with him.

After Zhu Yingtai’s family summons her home, Liang Shanbo (sometimes now finally realizing she’s a woman, sometimes afterwards) visits. Either way, they’re unable to marry because Zhu Yingtai’s parents betrothed her to someone else. Heartbroken, Liang Shanbo goes home, falls ill, and dies. On the way to her wedding, Zhu Yingtai passes his grave. She abandons the procession to cling to it. A storm brews and thunder opens the grave up. Liang Shanbo’s ghost appears. And the lovers transform into butterflies, together forever.

Now, for how all MY interests circle back to jttw: I was obsessed with the butterfly lovers as a kid. I still am, I just don’t talk about it now LOL. I went as Liang Shanbo for halloween once. I turned my Mulan and Ping paper dolls into Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. I made my own adaptation with a camcorder and color pencils. Why was I so obsessed? IDK. My segway into this was a 2004 animated movie The Butterfly Lovers (蝴蝶夢──梁山伯與祝英台) that I saw on an airplane. But it doesn’t stop there.

So I went from being obsessed with this 2004 cartoon to the most ICONIC Butterfly Lovers adaptation of ALL TIME: The Love Eterne (1963). It’s Shaw Brothers’ first musical (yes the same Shaw Bros. that made the HK jttw wuxia musicals) and the one that kickstarted the whole genre. I really recommend it to anyone interested in the butterfly lovers! It’s a genuinely fantastic film; just don’t go in expecting a conventional hollywood movie. It’s very close to Chinese opera conventions, and I must stress: Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai are both played by women, and that’s probably why The Love Eterne remains the best and most iconic version. (apparently there was this phenomenon during the Shaw Bro. musical hype where critics were wondering why Liang Shanbo had so many fangirls despite being played by a woman... HMMM I don’t know guys, you tell me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

(And yes, I even went to see a concert thing for Liang Shanbo’s actress once. Audience consisted of like 80% octogenerians, and then me LOL. No, she did not meet me backstage ><)

On stage, Liang Shanbo is usually a female sheng role too. And just to tell you how ICONIC The Love Eterne was, according to Ang Lee, people went to see it 500x, his own parents braved a typhoon to see it, like, that movie ROCKED the Chinese-speaking community (Taiwan, mainland China, HK, Singapore, etc.)

“It was a big hit in China, but particularly in Taiwan,” Mr. Lee said. “This is because of the Mandarin culture in the movie. We had escaped from the mainland in the civil war, and we missed that culture. For those of us too young to remember the mainland, we did not really know the old culture. So when we would see it in this movie, we would think, `Oh, that is China.’

^OK, so now that I’ve finished waxing poetic about how great the film is. Here’s a the trailer, a taste of the music, and this classic theme: Brother Liang 梁祝 is what Zhu Yingtai calls Liang Shanbo, and the theme itself is integral to the butterfly lovers.

If you’ve read up to here, this is where TVB JTTW comes in. Before reincarnating into another life, Marshal Tianpeng was told that he would be a “poor scholar” who would fall in love with a “wealthy heiress.” I wasn’t expecting.. the next scene to be a shot-by-shot reenactment of the ending of Liang Shangbo and Zhu Yingtai adsfasdfasdf like guys, if you know the story, that would have slaughtered you on sight.

Tianpeng reincarnated as LIANG SHANBO!!!! Who then reincarnated as Zhu Bajie. THE GALAXY BRAIN.

They even played “Brother Liang” during that scene. And maybe as a shoutout to TVB, JTTW the Demons Strike Back (2017) also played Brother Liang whenever Bajie was in his prettyboy human form.

For comparison, here’s the ending of the Love Eterne (1963) which I’m positive the TVB crew had in mind when they shot that scene with Bajie (not the clearest quality, but the best I could find on youtube!):

youtube

TLDR; TVB JTTW made one of Bajie’s past lives the equivalent of Romeo, and humor peaked in that moment. Also, The Love Eterne (1963) is a film near and dear to my heart that I recommend to anyone interested in underrated Asian cinema and Chinese-language musicals. There are a lot of Shaw Bro. and similar musicals on youtube, but not this film in particular.

WHICH IS WHERE I COME IN! The full film is available here with double Chinese and English subs. (EDIT: Link broken! The full film is on Youtube but very blurry and only with CN subs)

#journey to the west #long post #jttwfestival2020 #yes this is a excuse to talk about another special interest that I recently revisited LOL #the love eterne #my grandmother used to call us at like 8pm #'hey! tell [dorkshadows] they're showing the shaw bro. musical on TV!'#that's how deep in it I was

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