baiwu-jinji

[baiwu-jinji]

"Since the late 2000s, some scholars have criticised danmei for its erasure of women, objectification of the male body and replication of unequal power dynamics in heterosexual relationships. [...] For some, the aversion to female characters in danmei—and to female identity in general—is closely linked to the questioning of femininity, the refusal of traditional gender roles and the desire to seize men’s power."

-‘OPENING THE DOOR TO A NEW WORLD’: Danmei and the Gender Revolution in China, by Ling Yang and Yanrui Xu

[baiwu-jinji]

"The intensified state regulations and the emergence of dangai industry 'as a form of speculative economy' have greatly altered the ecosystem of the danmei community. Since the ongoing censorship campaign 'relies on a large-scale, omnipresent reporting system', anyone who is unhappy with a writer or work for whatever reason could take vengeance through secret reporting. As the mutual trust and support between danmei writers and readers is ruined, writers would rather swim with the tide than take the risk to innovate and potentially offend their readers. Many veteran readers have started to complain that danmei has degenerated into a ‘silly, innocent and sweet’ genre, not much different from trite heterosexual romance. To counter this trend of banalisation, Sosadfun, a privately-owned, not-for-profit, invitation-only danmei website, was set up in 2017. In this secluded community, writers could be freed from the anxiety of censorship or readers’ retributive reporting while experimenting with new ideas and styles."

-‘OPENING THE DOOR TO A NEW WORLD’: Danmei and the Gender Revolution in China, by Ling Yang and Yanrui Xu

[baiwu-jinji]

Started reading some academic papers on danmei and I will post about them regularly. Here're some excerpts from one that traces the genealogy of danmei:

"Early danmei writers usually wrote out of interest and posted their works on online forums for free. Their writings were marked by a daredevil spirit and were filled with raw energy. Popular on Lucifer and Jinjiang were subgenres that contained elements of ‘grotesque eroticism,’ such as incestual love stories between male relatives and ‘abuse novels’ (虐文) that featured rape, BDSM and imprisonment.

Early danmei fans followed the principle of ‘quandi zimeng’ (圈地自萌), a fan terminology meaning ‘claiming your own land, enjoying yourself on your own "territory’." The underground popularity of danmei nevertheless caught the attention of the mainstream and official Chinese media. As early as 2004, a media report claimed that homosexuality was a psychological perversion and reading too much danmei could change one’s sexual orientation. During the 2007 annual anti-pornography campaign, hundreds of danmei forums and e-libraries based in Xilu and Lequeyuan were wiped out, resulting in the loss of a large quantity of creative works and meta essays. A number of danmei-related Baidu Post Bars were also forced to close. Through a variety of resistance tactics, however, danmei fandom quickly bounced back and entered a stage of rapid expansion."

-‘OPENING THE DOOR TO A NEW WORLD’: Danmei and the Gender Revolution in China, by Ling Yang and Yanrui Xu

[baiwu-jinji]

Having thoughts about Jun Wu's relationship with Xie Lian... One could say Jun Wu never really cared for Xie Lian himself and rather the idea of him, but I like to imagine Jun Wu did truly care about Xie Lian in his own twisted way, a sad desire for understanding and someone to share their pain with, someone who could empathize with him. Ironically, I'd say this could be a parallel to Hua Cheng, as both kinda use Xie Lian as kind of an "anchor", but unlike Hua Cheng, who doesn't need any other reason to live, ground his morals on or even move forward, being content with seeing Xie Lian happy on his own, Jun Wu's core issue is, deep down, internal to himself. Even if Xie Lian became a calamity and understood him, it wouldn't be enough, because no amount of allies could ever soothe his self loathing over breaking his own morals. Jun Wu needed to "forgive" himself, his Wuyong self, and to know it wasn't stupid to believe in people, not to have another corrupted "him" by his side.

What Jun Wu wanted was someone to confirm he had no other choice, that he was right in not believing in people, but what he needed was for someone to prove that his old ideals were right.

So in the end, Xie Lian did indeed save Jun Wu... Not by giving what he wanted, but instead by giving him what he needed.

[baiwu-jinji]

“Often father and daughter look down on mother together. They exchange meaningful glances when she misses a point. They agree that she is not bright as they are, cannot reason as they do. This collusion does not save the daughter from the mother’s fate”

[baiwu-jinji]

Hello, hope you're doing well! I just had a TGCF-related thought. Do you think Hua Cheng might have asked Xie Lian to call him 三郎 because it almost sounds like 新郎 which means groom? And also because this is the 3rd version of himself that Xie Lian has met? I'm screaming and I want someone to scream with me ahahaha

Hi! :) I think MXTX named Hua Cheng 三郎 (which means "third son") most likely because TGCF is her third novel (just like Lan Wangji from her second novel is the second son, and that's what Wei Wuxian calls him). Also because 三郎 is a casual and intimate name that only family members or people close to the person would use, and it sounds a lot more endearing than HC's formal name, so that's why HC wants XL to call him that.

[baiwu-jinji]

Hi there! Do you have anything on Lan Wangji's eyes? I remember they're described as cold, and the color of painted glass.... Which is?? What color??

Hi! :) So the description of LWJ's eyes is "眼睛的颜色非常浅淡，仿若琉璃，让他目光显得过于冷漠", which means "the hue of his eyes is very light, like coloured glaze, which makes his gaze seem too cold and indifferent". LWJ's eyes are compared to 琉璃 (coloured glaze) several times in the book, now 琉璃 could have different colours but it's known for its translucent beauty, so I think the main emphasis here is the translucent quality of LWJ's eyes - their colour is so light as to be almost transparent. This is a definition of 琉璃 from Baidu:

Colored glaze is a rare ornament made of artificial crystal (containing 24% lead dioxide) of various colors (the colors are produced by various metal elements) and fired at a high temperature of more than 1000 degrees. Its colors are fluid and many, and its quality is crystal clear and dazzling. The original material for making colored glaze in ancient China was obtained from the by-products produced during the casting of bronze ware, which was refined and processed and then made into colored glaze. The colors of colored glaze are varied, and people in ancient times also called it "five-colored stone".

To give you a visual representation of 琉璃:

[baiwu-jinji]

Thoughts on Yuwu and Update

Long time no see dear friends! :) I just finished a big work project and, more importantly, I finished reading Yuwu :P I’m acutely aware that there’re TGCF asks in my inbox I still haven’t answered, I need to re-familiarise myself with the books and I promise to answer them in the coming weeks. For now I want to share some quick thoughts on Yuwu.

1. I’ve seen people pointing out Yuwu’s problems with structures and plot holes, then again these are never Meatbun’s strong suits. Meatbun has always been best at flooding her readers with intense emotions and making us sympathise with even the worst of her characters. I think the best-written character in Yuwu is Jiang Yexue. While Mo Xi and Gu Mang are so strong-willed and incorruptible as to be almost inhuman, Jing Yexue shows how terrible it is to be truly alone in the world and the despair of emotional isolation, and how the best of intentions will turn to bottomless hatred and bile if they’re never repaid with recognition and kindness. The tragedy of Jiang Yexue is that everything and everyone he cares about has only brought him more misery and isolation. If he hadn’t cared about his mother so much, he wouldn’t have to put up with her insults and denigrations that trampled over his good will and planted the seed of bitterness that skewed his perception of the world. He wouldn’t have to be pained by his mother’s abandonment, yet still kept her murderous plots against Yue Chenqing a secret – if he had been more unfeeling and exposed her crime and his role in stopping it, he would’ve won the favour of his family and improved his personal standing. If he hadn’t cared about Yue Chenqing so much, he wouldn’t have to silently suffer the deprivation of his own resources for the sake of benefiting Chenqing, and to save Chenqing at the expanse of his own agony due to poisoning by demonic energy. If he hadn’t loved Murong Chuyi so much, he wouldn’t have looked to him as the only source of solace and salvation and bared his feelings in a moment of vulnerability, and then be completely abandoned and left terribly, terribly alone when Chuyi rejected his feelings.

However I have reasons to believe that Jiang Yexue is the author’s personal fav, because she uses the most beautiful imageries to describe him – not even Mo Xi and Gu Mang get this treatment: his eyes are like gardenia flowers in clear pools, his smile is soft like dew and breeze over flowers, his skin is like fresh snow and immaculate jade. Even his name paints the most poetic imagery: 江夜雪, which means “snow falling on river in the night” –  there is purity in darkness, gentleness in the bitter cold.

2. About Mo Xi and Gu Mang. There’s something so tragic about choosing the weight of the entire world over the love of your own heart, and choosing to be true to yourself but failing the one you love the most. Mo Xi and Gu Mang are made for each other if only for their boundless energy, determination, endurance, and capacity for pain. Anyone more faint-hearted than Mo Xi wouldn’t have been able to hold on to Gu Mang. Still, I don’t think Meatbun provided a satisfactory answer as to why Mo Xi is so unwavering in his attachment to Gu Mang, despite all appearances of Gu Mang neglecting, abandoning, betraying, and mortally wounding him. Li Qingqian is given as a counterexample of persistence in love not ending well, so what gives Mo Xi the strength to persist beyond what normal people can bear? Meatbun seems to give an answer in this paragraph: “in this world, to love or not to love is something that can always be changed, but only the heart forever remains as itself. Mo Xi has never been one to make commitments lightly, the day he determined to confess his love to Gu Mang, what he gave Gu Mang wasn’t his love. It was his heart.” So what is the difference between heart and love? What does it mean that love changes but the heart doesn’t?... Despite the obligatory happy ending, Ximang has always had a tragic undertone; Mo Ran and Chu Wanning can only hope to be as star-crossed as Ximang. Mo Xi’s name, 熄 (xi), means to extinguish a light or fire, and this word 熄 is repeated used in allegorical expressions of how Mo Xi’s hope for Gu Mang to recover or return his feelings is extinguished. Mo Xi’s own name is a testament to the hopeless love between Ximang.

3. I think the stories of almost every major character in Yuwu points to one line Mo Xi said to the emperor – 人贵有情, which means “emotions/feelings/attachments are that most precious human thing”. It doesn’t mean that feelings will always lead characters to make the right decisions or make them better people, but that feelings are the most unignorable and persistent drive behind the characters’ actions – even when you’ve lost everything and discarded your humanity, your feelings for those you love will still be there, shaping your destiny, tormenting your heart, making you care. The Three Gentlemen of Chonghua are defined by the Buddhist virtue of self-control, but eventually we see the love or hate that drives them, and their virtuous self-restraint is just a façade.

4. It is very apropos to Chinese history (and modernity) that the nation is ultimately destroyed not by an evil outsider, but by infighting and the ruler’s mistrust towards his own people and his ill-will to dominate.

5. When Meatbun wrote that Gu Mang was confused by the emperor’s carrot and stick strategy, Meatbun actually used the phrase “carrot and stick” in Chinese, which is amusing given that it’s an English expression used in ancient Chinese context. Talking about writing fantasy ancient China in the age of globalisation.

[baiwu-jinji]

The Buddha's temple bells toll the message… that all existence is impermanent. The sal tree's blossoms turn white to grieve him: a reminder that all who flourish must fall.

HEIKE MONOGATARI (2021) prod. by Science SARU

[baiwu-jinji]

Are you alright? I haven’t heard from you in a while

Hi! :) I'm doing well, you're very kind for asking ^^ ^^ I've just been unbelievably busy and pretty stressed about work for the past few months so it's gonna take a while for me to return to Tumblr. Sorry to all the people who sent me asks but still haven't got an answer!>< I promise I'll answer them all when I'm less busy...

[baiwu-jinji]

I'm translating the entire TGCF audio drama!!

🌸 Hello everyone! ~ ♡

I'm pretty new to the community but completely fell into the TGCF hole. This is gonna be a pretty big ongoing project for me: 1) To share the wonderful work and story that is TGCF 2) To improve my Chinese along the way, so my TLs will have Chinese subs, as well as English 3) Contribute a lil something to the community ����

I've previously asked on Reddit to see if this would even be something people wanted, as it's been a while since the first EP uploaded, but I still can't find any comprehensive catalogue that has all the episodes available. And now that the production team has finished S2, I will have plenty of time to work on the EPs before S3 comes :>

Links !

So far I've only done season 1 EP 1 and Mini Theatre 1. You don't need POP for now and I'll see how that goes. But please buy the drama if you enjoy it (´。• ◡ •。`) ♡

S1E1 Mini Theatre 1

I've worked quite hard on this so plsplspls DO NOT steal my work !!!! It's a solo ship for now so I'd appreciate any feedback that I can get ✨ When in doubt, I referenced the translation from the official TGCF novels from Seven Seas.

If S2 is in more popular demand than S1 I wouldn't mind starting there and working backwards either!

How to view !

Download the video for the best viewing experience 🎧

Mega app/Mega website on a desktop

Download VLC player (desktop or Android)

Infuse app (iOS)

TGCF Audio Drama

☆S1 ☆S2

Purchasing TGCF AD (@withhualian on X)

Support MissEvan 猫耳FM

The audio drama team worked really hard on this, they deserve all the support they can get, so we can also have S3! Please buy the AD on MissEvan if you can. I've linked below some resources that are helpful and easy to get started ☆

Guide to MissEvan (@dimsumplingg and co. on X)

Video Guide to MissEvan (Wei Su Jen on YT)

Completing daily tasks on MaoEr app (WBOY)

art from TGCF AD's official Weibo

[baiwu-jinji]

Hi , I am Nesma From Gaza ,I apologize for what I am going to ask. I am with a heavy heart and  exhausted. I want you to help me spread our story and the link to our campaign. I have tried a lot, but I am not  getting support, and unfortunately the situation has become difficult after my father and brother were injured, and my father’s health condition has become devastated. I want you to help me spread our story.

Please, my father needs treatment. He is slowly dying before our eyes

Lolo is the only survivor

https://gofund.me/5ab6d135

You are my only hope of survival

My campaign has been previously verified

@\sayruq @\nabulsi @\el-shab-hussein

@\appsa @\ibtisams

I do not know whether I will survive or die in this war, but know that your help for me will contribute to saving my family from death.

Wishing all the best for you and your family, hope this terrible war ends soon.

[baiwu-jinji]

@daydreamer-phd so sorry I haven't answered your asks yet, I've been impossibly busy lately >< Will get back to you ASAP! :')

[baiwu-jinji]

開始刷《墨雨雲間》了，最近看了些宮鬥劇宅鬥劇，本質都是一群人在父權的壓制下奪取有限的資源，這不是開拓式的思維，也即大家合作互利獲取更多的資源，而是匱乏式的思維，就是認定了資源只有這麼多所以只能一幫人爭得你死我活。匱乏式思維即典型的中式官場思維，不會創造財富，只會分贓財富。

[baiwu-jinji]

最近在看動漫《誅仙》，動畫做得不錯，故事反正是講得七零八落，男主的感情線也講得七零八落，不過還是能看出些邏輯來。男主是個孤寂落寞缺愛的靈魂，因此也吸引其他孤寂落寞缺愛的靈魂。所以男主雖然從小喜歡師姐，但師姐是個被寵大的人，會吸引她的是能給她充盈的愛的人，而不是男主這樣本質上渴求得到他人愛的施捨的人。而和男主產生情愫的碧瑤和陸雪琪，雖然表面看起來性格大相逕庭，但也都是孤獨而愛得卑微的人，她們內心城牆高築，不慣於坦然接受他人的愛，也因此會在獲得溫暖後不知所措、為回報他人過度付出。正因她們缺愛，所以很容易被男主這樣習慣性服務他人、把他人需求放在首位的暖男吸引，而她們孤寂的靈魂也和男主同樣孤寂的靈魂產生共振。

[baiwu-jinji]

TGCF AD S2 OST | Unenlightened 不悟

[baiwu-jinji]

"Not only should we carve 'prisoner' on the foreheads of the vanquished, more so should we carve it on the hearts of the people all over the realm. 'Ode to Qin' can help us achieve this goal."

-Qin Shi Huang in The Emperor's Shadow (秦颂)