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quick update

HELLO I have no idea if this will even reach any relevant people but just wanted to get this out there for any people who might be wondering on ao3: I’m taking a bit of a break from Maroon, which is why I haven’t updated in 3+ weeks.  There are just some other projects that have been keeping me busy + just started my summer job so it’ll definitely be put on the backburner for a while...sorry about that! I’ll try my best to squeeze an update or two in July though :)

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Quick question: is it shallow to prioritize the actual visual art of a manga when deciding whether or not to read it?

I ask this because when I look for new manga, I find myself more often than not reading the plot summary on baka and if it even vaguely draws my interest I look at the art. And if the art style is really not to my taste (I usually check the latest couple of chapters to give the benefit of the doubt to the mangaka’s improvement over time) I usually don’t end up reading it. I know I’m probably missing out on a lot of really great manga but like,,,,, I’m sorry tell me all you want about Basara or some other equally well received manga but I really just can’t vibe with the art :( does anyone else experience this as well??

That being said, does anyone have manga/anime recommendations LMAOO!!! Would love it if they’re similar to Chang Ge Xing, Golden Kamuy, Raise Wa Tanin Ga Ii, Claymore, or some kind of sports anime (weirdly specific but they are my favorite kind of anime lol). Always on the lookout for strong female leads too 🥺

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He doesn’t really know what’s going on but he’s playing along….

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Some strong female leads that I absolutely adore:

Li Chang Ge from Chang Ge Xing (Chouka Kou) by Xia Da

Asirpa from Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda

Somei Yoshino from Raise Wa Tanin Ga Ii by Konishi Asuka

honestly?? probably going to churn out an appreciation post for each one of these leading ladies because oh my GOD each of them is so beautifully complex and badass in their own ways I love all of them so much :’)

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The way Maroon makes my heart flutter should be illegal 😭, too bad I can't leave many kudos on your work!! - tchi026

OMG HELLO!!!!! AHHH so so happy to hear that you feel that way about Maroon <33333

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i miss kirishima’s normal hair, not super fond of the gelled back look that’s been going on in the last couple of chapters tbh but still love the art + manga

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I’m back(?)!

HELLO!  It’s been a super hot minute since I’ve been active on this blog and I’ve decided that I’d like to expand it to some other fandoms that I write fic for (still working on CGX fic and I can’t believe it’s been on hiatus for nearly four years, big cry!!!!!). Here’s some of my latest work:

Maroon (reader insert with Ushijima, Haikyuu)

Sweet (Yoshino/Kirishima, Raise Wa Tanin Ga Ii)

I absolutely adore Raise Wa Tanin Ga Ii and hope the author is doing ok right now...I’m looking forward to writing more fic for the fandom in the future as well!  As for CGX, I know it’s been years since I touched my Peony Pavilion series on AO3, but I promise I’ll dedicate more time to continuing it this summer.  Also, have you heard that the CGX drama is actually finally coming out in 2021?  It’s got some big names in the main roles, which I’m hoping will bring more attention to Xia Da’s legal case!

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I’m making a website right now for a class and started fooling around with CGX stuff!!

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Can we just appreciate how they went from

To

To

Scan credits go to @choukakou-translations, Aizen-Sensei, and Easy Going Scans.

relationship goals is when otp evolves from “fight me” to “fight with me”

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Wow the new season of Queer Eye looks so good

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“Without ‘Dao’, basing your actions solely upon your own feelings makes it so that the consequences are fully yours to bear.”

I’m overall satisfied with this drawing, except for the mouth.  My dog barked suddenly and I was startled while I was tracing it in ink, hence the quasi-smirk.  Also, the colors came out slightly different from what it looks like in person.

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“Ashina Sun, you seem never to be in doubt of your ‘Dao’.  So, would you like to learn more about ‘Shu’ right now?”

Apparently, drawing CGX is a great way for me to cool down from writing college apps, even if I’m not very good at it!  If I do draw more in the future, I’ll upload them. They’ll all probably be in colored pencil like this one!! (Sorry for the sketchy quality)

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Peony Pavilion

I decided to start a series of fics about CGX, based on the poems from Xia Da’s beautifully illustrated and colored “Peony Pavilion”.  Please let me know what you think!

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The Turk Encampment

Changge arrives at Ashina Sun’s nomadic encampment and is shown to a tent.  One of the women sent to Ashina Sun by the Great Khan tries to escape and coincidentally runs into Changge’s tent, and the latter shields her from being recaptured.  Changge’s request to “keep” the woman is granted.

Changge lies unconscious in her ill, weakened state and dreams of a memory from her childhood life the palace, in which she offers herself as a bride to the Turks in order to please her father, an action that greatly displeases her uncle Li Shimin, who convinces Emperor Gaozu to turn down her proposition.

Heqin - 和親

Changge’s dream sequence depicting her offering herself in marriage to the Turks is a reference to the heqin policy, a form of marriage alliance practiced by the Chinese imperial court that married royal princesses to foreign powers, usually entities that posed a military threat—and in this case, the Turks.  Heqin was most often used to cement diplomatic relations and as an appeasement policy, but was not always successful.

The fact that princesses were married off should be taken with a grain of salt; who the emperor truly sent out in marriage depended on how strong he perceived the foreign polity to be.  Real, legitimate princesses—sometimes even the emperor’s own daughters, but usually girls from minor branches of the royal family—were given as brides to the strongest powers, whereas weaker entities would be given noblewomen or concubines in the imperial harem whose ranks were hastily raised to “princess” before being married off.

The first recorded instance of heqin is from the Han Dynasty, in which Emperor Gaozu (note: of Han, not Tang) married a “princess” into the Xiongnu royal family.  Subsequent dynasties would adjust the heqin policy in accordance to their situations.  Daughters of the emperors of the Sixteen Kingdoms were married into the ruling families of the other kingdoms, rather than outside the Han ethnic group, in order to form alliances between the states.  The Sui Dynasty’s heqin practices extended primarily to the Turkic Khaganate and Tuyuhun; the Tang Dynasty married princesses not only to the Turks and Tuhuyun, but also the Khitan, Tibetans, and Uyghur.

Perhaps the most famous example of heqin is of Wang Zhaojun’s marriage to a Xiongnu chanyu during the Han Dynasty.  Wang Zhaojun was one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China (the others being Yang Guifei, Diao Chan, and Xi Shi).  From a young age, she was renowned for her intellect and beauty, and was chosen to become a member of the imperial harem.  When she arrived, tradition dictated that each woman in the harem’s portrait would be sent to the emperor; however, Wang Zhaojun refused the bribe the court painter to beautify her image as many others did, and in revenge, the artist painted her likeness in an undesirable manner, and the emperor never visited her.  Later, when a Xiongnu chanyu asked to marry a Han princess, the emperor was unwilling to send one of his daughters, instead intending to choose a volunteer from his harem to be given in matrimony.  Wang Zhaojun was the only one who offered herself and the emperor agreed, basing his decision off of the portraits by the court painter.  It was only when she was summoned to court to be married off that the emperor saw her amazing beauty and regretted his decision.  In the end, since he could not renege on his promise, he sent Wang Zhaojun to the chanyu.  Subsequent relations between the Han and Xiongnu improved greatly as she rose to the chanyu’s favor.  In the Chinese proverb about the Four Beauties, Wang Zhaojun is described as “felling geese”.  This nickname comes from a legend surrounding her departure from the Central Plains to Xiongnu territory; supposedly when she began to sorrowfully sing about her sadness at leaving her home, a flock of geese flying overhead heard and were so stunned by her beauty that they fell to the ground, having forgotten to flap their wings.

Another well-known example of the heqin policy in action took place hundreds of years later in the Tang Dynasty.  After being faced with the threat of the dynasty’s neighbors in Tibet, Emperor Taizong named a daughter of a minor branch of the Li family Princess Wencheng and sent her to become a wife of the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo.  Princess Wencheng—sometimes called Gyasa, meaning “Chinese wife”—and Songtsen Gampo’s possibly non-existent Nepalese wife Bhrikuti are credited for introducing Buddhism to Tibet.  Together with their husband, they oversaw a blossoming of the Buddhist faith in the Tibetan kingdom and the building of the Jokhang, a structure widely revered as the most sacred temple in Lhasa and all of Tibet.  Furthermore, Princess Wencheng brought a great deal of important inventions, customs, and knowledge to her new country.  Besides her dowry of jewels, precious metals, silks, porcelain, and instruments, she provided the Tibetans with medical books, more agriculturally productive grains and seeds, and advanced farming tools.  Additionally, she helped develop the complexity of Tibetan society by introducing better weaving and metallurgy techniques and fostering the growth of Tibetan script and writing systems.

I’ve decided that I’m splitting these little analyses into smaller parts, because I have zero free time on my hands right now.  I’ll try my best to update quickly!!

Sidenote: I think I’ll stick to calling the nomadic dwellings tents, because I’ve heard that a lot of people get offended by “yurt” (which is a Russian word that was introduced to English) and “ger” is Mongolian.

Way back when, this anon was me.  I’m really thinking about writing a fic with this theory!!

Source | Raws

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Tomorrow

So I tried my hand at some CGX fanfiction and it turned super angsty.  It’s called Tomorrow on ao3!  Please let me know what you think of it!

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Reality vs. Fiction

I haven’t really had time to work on this little project lately, so here’s a little sidenote to chew on.  As you know, Chang Ge Xing is a work of historical fiction; Changge, Ashina Sun, Mujin, Qin, Gongsun Heng, and many other characters in the story are simply figments of Xia Da’s imagination.  There are, however, many real figures as well.  Many of them don’t appear until much later in the story (in comparison to what I’ve covered so far), but I thought it would be fitting to point out reality from fiction and provide a little biographical information about each of the real characters.  

Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng, and Li Yuan were all real people; I wrote about them in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.  Li Yuan was a Sui Dynasty general who rebelled, the first Tang emperor, and father of Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng.  Li Shimin was famous for his military conquests, and really did kill his brother and ascend to the throne, sparing many of his brothers’ advisors to work in his new court while he served as Emperor Taizong.  Changge’s mother almost certainly did not exist; the easiest way that I can explain this is that non-Han Chinese ethnic groups typically did not marry into the imperial family.  Li Shimin was, however, enamoured of his real beloved wife, Empress Zhangsun, and mourned her greatly after her passing.  Li Jiancheng’s real wife is of little historical importance today.

Luo Yi, Li Jing, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Yuchi Gong all served the Tang imperial court.  Luo Yi was a Sui Dynasty general who helped Li Yuan establish the Tang Dynasty.  As a reward for his loyalty, he was bestowed with the royal surname and thusly became Li Yi, Prince of Yan.  Luo Yi supported Li Jiancheng and grew fearful when Li Shimin usurped the throne; he raised a rebellion against Li Shimin (by then Emperor Taizong) and was crushed, and the new emperor stripped him of his title and the surname “Li.”  Li Jing was a famous Tang general who defeated the Turks.  His wife may have been Zhang Chuchen, a folk hero also known as “Hong Fu Nü” (“The Lady with the Red Sleeves”) who may or may not existed, but is regarded as having taken part in the rebellion against Sui.  Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were the most trusted court and military advisors of Emperor Taizong, and he greatly mourned them when they died.  Yuchi Gong was a Tang general who is worshipped as a door god in Chinese folk religion today.  Shiba was not a real person, as the legendary heroes of the 18 Warriors of Sui-Tang Period that she was a part of were fictitious, but most were based off of actual people who existed at the time.  Sun Simiao was a famous Chinese medicine doctor that lived during the Sui and Tang dynasties whose “Hippocratic Oath”, thorough care, and effective remedies immortalized him as the “King of Medicine.”

Xieli/Illig Qaghan (Ashina Duobi), Ashina Jieshe’er/Jiesheshuai, and Princess Yicheng lived in the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.  Illig Qaghan was the final qaghan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.  He was defeated when he tried to take horses from vassal tribes after a freak storm killed much of his livestock; the tribes united, and with help from Tang, successfully rebelled.  Tang took advantage of this weakened state to fully conquer the Eastern Turks, absorbing their land into its empire.  Illig Qaghan was spared by Emperor Taizong and offered military positions at the frontiers, but he declined them.  Ashina Jiesheshuai was Illig Qaghan’s nephew; after the fall of the khaganate, he was spared and created a Tang general, but was killed when he attempted to assassinate the emperor.  Princess Yicheng was a Sui princess who was given to the Turks as part of the heqin policy.  She married four times to her first husband’s male relatives in accordance to the Turkic custom of levirate marriage, sometimes betraying her husbands in favor of helping Sui.  She was killed by Li Jing.  Jin Se most likely didn’t exist, but it would not have been surprising for Princess Yicheng to take Han servants with her to the grasslands when she was married off.

Pusa, Yi’nan, and Mohui were all leaders of their tribes.  Pusa was the son of Tejian Irkin and Wu Luohun, but was exiled by his father for unknown reasons.  When Tejian died, the Uyghur voted for Pusa to become their new leader, and he returned to take up his post.  After becoming irkin, Pusa claimed the title of elteber as a gesture of defiance against the Turks.  He was later assassinated by his subordinate Tumidu.  Yi’nan was the Irkin of Xueyantuo, and was later favored by Emperor Taizong and created Zhenzhu Khan.  Both spearheaded the rebellion against the Turks.  Mohui was the leader of the Dahe Khitan clan in 627, which also participated in the revolt.

I have a lot to say about names and historical information.  Here we go...

1. Some sources say that Li Shimin had his brothers’ entire families killed off, whereas other mention that it was only the sons.  So maybe Chang Ge’s existence shouldn’t be completely dismissed as a totally improbable idea; even though she was made up by Xia Da, if only the sons of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were killed, there still might be the slightest possibility of a princess having fled the palace (basically Anastasia the movie, but then again, it came out before the Grand Duchess’s remains were found).

2. I know that I’m using translations that differ from the scanalations (ie. the whole gunpowder versus nitrate compound translation), and I’m trying my best to look into the accuracy of the names.  For example, Gongsun Heng is more often referred to as “Governor,” but I’m not so sure, as Shuozhou is a city (despite the translations calling it Shuo Province).  Maybe Xia Da is making up a new province, but I think she’s referring to the city in northeastern China.  Additionally, the scanalations name Pusa’s father as “Shijian” and I know that sometimes when two words are put together, the pronunciation changes (ie. Yuchi as a surname instead of being pronounced “Weichi”), but I’m fairly certain that his name should be “Tejian.”  Also, I think it’s Xieli Khan, as opposed to Jieli Khan.  I also don’t know why Xia Da uses the name “Ashina She’er” when his name was Ashina Jieshe’er or Jiesheshuai...maybe she just thought it was too long?

3. I’m having a lot of trouble with finding factual information on pre-dynastic Khitan; English websites are quite scarce and aren’t very helpful, and I read Chinese very slowly.  My best guess about Khitan’s role in the story, based on one measly, uncited line from Wikipedia, is that Sun is going to somehow convince his clan to participate in the ongoing revolt, and that his little cousin will take the reins of leadership.

Sorry for all the word vomit, but here’s one last note: I recently finished reading The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherford, and it was fantastic!  I know that CGX isn’t about the Mongols, but the Turks and the Turkic tribes played a big role in the development of steppe politics in the time of Genghis Khan and his descendants.  Something really neat that I learned is that bridges-you-cross’s speculation about khan-naming was right!  One example is that of Manduhai Khatun naming her future husband Batu Mongke “Dayan Khan”, which means “United Khan” or “Whole Khan”, reflective of their shared goal of reuniting all the Mongols under one rule.  According to Weatherford, Dayan Khan’s title had another equally important meaning to the Chinese—“Dayan” in Chinese is pronounced in such a manner that it would imply that Batu Mongke still claimed the throne of the Yuan Dynasty, which ended before his Ming Dynasty contemporaries overthrew the Mongol grasp on the Chinese imperial seat.  

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Leaving Chang’an (4/4)

Changge takes Gongsun Heng’s head and surrenders the city to the Turks dressed in white.  Ashina Sun promises not to kill any of the citizens and to give the governor and his wife proper burials if Changge comes with him to become his war strategist, having been impressed by her tactics and cunning.  She agrees reluctantly, but not before warning him that the city is packed with gunpowder charges should he renege on his promise.  The Turks take the city’s food storehouses, and Changge goes with them to Ashina Sun’s camp.

Funeral Rites - 葬禮

The Chinese culture places a deep emphasis on the intersections of death, filial piety, colors, mourning, and funeral rites.  Many customs surrounding burial are based in esoteric ideals found in Taoism, bagua, feng shui, cosmology, astrology, and Confucianism.

There is a significance to Changge going out and presenting Gongsun Heng’s head to Ashina Sun wearing a white headband and robes.  Colors have important meanings in Chinese culture; for example, red indicates happiness and luck, green harmony, and yellow royalty.  White represents light and purity, as in yin and yang, but it is most often associated with death and mourning.   My mother has superstitions about this—she does not let me buy white sports headbands and discourages me from going out in white hats, and never lets me wear white clothes when I visit my grandparents.  

Mourning periods in ancient China were often very long and tedious, sometimes taking up to three years.  The custom of returning home to mourn a family member frequently proved counterproductive for those serving as court officials, as their work would be stalled for an extended period of time.  The emperor was an exception to this rule, and was often allowed a shorter mourning period so as not to hinder the running of state affairs.  So important to the Chinese was observing the entire mourning period that officials could be impeached for failing to do so.  During these times, tradition typically dictated how relatives dressed, fashioned their hair, and ate.

Ancestor veneration and filial piety are also integral parts of Chinese culture.  In antiquity, the nobility and royalty’s burials especially involved a myriad of funerary art and elaborate rituals.  One famous example is that of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of unified China.  When he died, his mausoleum was filled with thousands of terracotta soldiers, chariots, horses, and weapons meant to protect him in the afterlife, and some of his concubines and servants were buried alive to serve and accompany him.  The rich were often buried with expensive trinkets, food and wine, drinking vessels, jewelry, miniature clay figures of servants and dancers, instruments, and sometimes even live animal sacrifices to keep the dead entertained and taken care of in the afterlife.

The dead weren’t always buried immediately—depending on who the deceased was, the body’s burial could be delayed for months, and auspicious days were often considered before it was laid to rest.  Once buried, family members would return to the burial site each year during the Qingming Festival according to the lunar calendar to send prayers to the dead and sweep the grave, a tradition that is still commonly observed today.  Relatives will often leave offerings of the deceased’s favorite foods at the grave and burn joss paper or papier mache items like clothing, spirit money or Hell Bank Notes (the official currency of the dead in the afterlife), cars, and other necessities to facilitate the dead’s journey in the afterlife.

The Four Great Inventions - 四大發明

There are “Four Great Inventions” of ancient China: paper, printing, gunpowder, and the compass.  Changge mentions gunpowder charges (which is what it says in the unofficial English translations done by scanalation groups), but gunpowder wasn’t discovered until the mid-800s, which is two centuries after the manhua’s setting!  I went back to the original Chinese raws and found out that what the author originally wrote can be translated to some kind of nitrate/nitrogen compound (think the precursor to TNT and dynamite).  So technically, she’s not talking about gunpowder, but it’s the same idea, so I thought that I’d cover it anyways.

Paper was invented by a Han Dynasty eunuch and court official named Cai Lun.  Before paper, the Chinese used animal bones, turtle shells, and bamboo to write on, but they were too bulky and heavy.  Silk was also prized as a pre-paper material for its lightness and smoothness, but was too expensive.  Around 100 B.C., Cai Lun created sheets of paper from mulberry tree bark, old pieces of cloth and rags, plant fibers, and fishnets.  Paper was quickly taken up as a wrapping material, writing medium, currency, and even toilet paper.

Printing found its roots in ancient China first as woodblock printing, then moveable type.  Woodblock printing is a general term for a technique involving a block of wood carved into a relief pattern that can be stamped or rubbed onto paper (as in a page of words) and textiles especially.  Moveable type was invented in the Song Dynasty and proved to be much more efficient than just woodblock printing when mass-producing books and text; it involves arranging individual Chinese character blocks together to form pages, as opposed to woodblock printing’s single carved relief block of many characters.

Gunpowder was accidentally discovered in the 9th century as a prospective elixir of immortality.  At first, it was treated as little more than a fascinating facilitator of entertainment in trinkets like fireworks, but by the 1300s, the Chinese had begun to use gunpowder as a weapon in grenades.  They also continued to find ways to raise the nitrate content in gunpowder in order to increase its explosive power.  When gunpowder was introduced to the West, it evolved into more advanced weaponry, like firearms and cannons.

Compasses in ancient China were not like our modern ideas of them.  For one, their lodestones pointed south instead of north, and they were originally used for divination and spiritual practices in the Han Dynasty.  The compass was not really used for navigation until many centuries later.  Secondly, the most common compass was wet—it involved a magnetic needle in a bowl of water, although the Chinese did use a suspended dry compass design whose needle pointed northward.

That’s all I’ve got for the first story arc!  Let me know what you think; I’d love to hear some feedback!

Scan credits go to Aizen-Sensei.

Source | Sources | Raws