#錯

[poetors]

《對錯》元明語錄

這個世界上多數時候都沒有絕對的對或錯， 只有自己想要的對才會成為執念。 創作主題：對錯 創作者：元明 創作時間：中華民國111年12月4日

[thirrith]

A guide to Dream of the Red Chamber for English speakers

I've been posting about a book called Dream of the Red Chamber for a while. I'm kinda obsessed with it but the tags here on tumblr are pretty much barren. I want to get more people to be interested in it, so here's something more informative with minimal screaming.

Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢) is a 18th century Chinese novel by Cao Xueqin. It isn't very well-known outside of the Sinophone aka the Chinese-speaking world, whereas where I come from it's considered a masterpiece and classic and is so well-known and holds so much cultural significance even the people who haven't necessarily read the book make references to it - like, basically everybody knows about the book. It certainly deserves to be known and loved by more people - that's why I'm making a post about it. This post is NOT going to be an attempt to cover everything, though, because there is just so, so much to the book; instead, I am creating a guide to make it easier for people to get started if they are interested.

What is Dream of the Red Chamber about? Why do people love it?

The best way to sum it up is calling it a family saga mixed with a bit of fantasy. It tells the story of the rise and fall of a big and powerful family, focusing on the story of the young girls, the maid servants, and the wives that all live together and run the household. The only male main character Jia Baoyu is a young heir of the family, who grew up among these women and girls. He loves and understands them, loves being surrounded by them, and deeply identifies with them. My dad, who is also a fan of the book, loves saying that Baoyu 'has the heart of a maiden'.

The book is funny and full of drama, and at the same time it's also poetic, tragic and profound, and the tragedy of the characters is written in such a kind way, as if the author wants you to love them and remember how wonderful and alive they are despite the fact that a gloomy fate will claim them all.

The book is also so queer in a way that no other Ming/Qing dynasty Chinese novels can compare. Obviously there are no modern queer labels because it was written in imperial China, but there are characters who are interested in both men and women, characters who are interested in no one, and affairs between boys and between girls; many main characters have the kind of relationships with their gender that make my Chinese transgender heart sing with empathy.

If you want to hear from English speakers who fell in love with the book and learn more about the context and literary/cultural value of the book, I recommend starting with 'Why is China’s greatest novel virtually unknown in the west?' by Michael Wood on The Guardian and 'Why you should read China’s vast, 18th century novel, Dream of the Red Chamber' by Josh Stenberg on The Conversation.

Dream of the Red Chamber is a long novel with many different versions and possibly hundreds of adaptations. How should I begin?

There are two translations that I know have received good reviews:

A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang. My partner is reading this version. It's a very faithful translation with footnotes to make up for the language and cultural barriers. (Note: the Yangs finished their translation in prison in China during the Cultural Revolution.)

The Story of the Stone translated by David Hawkes and John Minford. It's a translation that takes more artistic liberties than the Yangs version. For example it differs in the way it translates character names and its writing style. Hawkes wanted to recreate the experience of reading the novel in Chinese for English speaking readers, but it may also be harder for you to talk to those who read the book in Chinese about certain characters and details.

There is also a public domain translation by H. Bencraft Joly, which was first published in the 19th century, and you can find it on Project Gutenberg.

The 1987 36-episode TV adaptation Dream of the Red Chamber is well-loved and considered by many Chinese people to be the best adaptation of the book. Every later adaptation would be compared with the 1987 one and found lacking. I personally love this adaptation a lot, and I think out of all the adaptations I've seen (including TV series, films and Chinese opera) it has the best interpretations of the book and the characters. It also has the best songs, which were adapted from the poems in the book. You can stream the series with English subtitles on the Internet Archive.

If you want something shorter that covers the main romance plot line and includes a few iconic scenes from the book, I recommend the 1977 film adaptation The Dream of the Red Chamber casting legendary actress Brigitte Lin as Jia Baoyu (she also portrayed an iconic classic wuxia character as a trans woman in another film franchise, but I digress). You can find the film with English subtitles on Youtube.

This is not all, but it's a good start. If you ever decide to give it a go, it doesn't matter if you watch one of the adaptations first or read the book first. Don't stress, take your time, and enjoy the ride!

[ratwithhands]

I dropped them on Insta, so here's some doodles from a goofy KNY AU I have in the works.

Long story short, Kokushibo ended up switching sides after a few years of working with Muzan and reconnected with Yoriichi and the rest of his human friends and family. Michikatsu spends his life helping Yoriichi teach slayers and generally do his best to repent for his wrongdoings. The morning after cremating Yoriichi, he discovers that just as his brother had supernatural abilities for a human being, Michi has traits beyond what a demon should be capable of. Since the sun isn't killing him fast enough (or at all really), he's decided to dedicate the rest of eternity to raise a swordsman to Yoriichi's capabilities with the hope that they will put him out of his misery.

His latest student is Tanjiro, who he hopes will be last under his wing. His job is mainly to teach him the fundamentals for a few styles, and escort him long enough to finish his own goals first. Until then, he's mostly the weird uncle tagging along.

extra bonus details:

The haori Michi wears later in time is Yoriichi's, however due to the wear over 400 years, it's worn under a wide black haori so that it barely peeks out as a lining

Mikatsu's extended demon slayer mark is the result of hiding his extra eyes under his skin. The seam bleeds into the already present mark so he's opted to roll with it since red hides it better

The sword he carries is still his own, however he wraps the end with a white cotton strip to hide the eyes on the handle

He still has Yoriichi's flute, along with his tsuba, and several other small trinkets. He has a lot of these, so the extras he can't carry everywhere are kept in a sealed box buried where his own grave is supposed to be. He does check it regularly

Tanjiro's introduction to the demon slayer corps was through Michi, similarly his fundamentals and starter breathing styles were taught by him too

I'll see about posting more later. If school wasn't taking so much of my time, maybe I'd have a full sketch done. See you in the meantime!

[shirozen]

Clash of traditional and digital

[a-space-opera]

[murderedbyhomework]

Wip Wednesday but it's friday

Ngl I feel like the mlc fandom is kinda sleeping on the sheer fuckery that is daohua, so here's ig now I'm going on a daohua tangent in my difanghua wip

Yes Shan Gudao is still 10 years older than Li Xiangyi in this

[touhoutunes]

Title: 少女のイドラ (Girl's Idol)

Arrangement: 井沢玲

Vocals: 加藤乃依

Album: illusion is DEAD

Circle: 錯乱のオルフェ

Original: Maiden's Capriccio ~ Dream Battle

[touchmycoat]

I signed up for the SVSSS big bang, panicked for 2 hours, and then came up with a plot that’s so fucking wild to execute at 1am

[xiangqiankua]

吃飽睡好

[rocchan01]

Antichlorobenzene [Kagamine Rin]

Refound this old Vocaloids Gem, I really loved this song. I was (and am) strangely connected to this song, relistening to it made me want to draw it.

[cat-with-a-keyboard]

i cannot believe hirasawa straight up has a song called 錯乱の扉.

[poetors]

《善過惡錯》元明一行詩

反思己過者愈善， 執拗他錯者愈惡。 創作主題：善過惡錯 創作者：元明 創作時間：中華民國111年12月4日

[rgsrhethet]

[literalchuhsien]

如果我不去認同他人攻擊性的言語，那些語言就無法在我身上發揮作用。

[shirozen]

Smelling like a mistake

[a-space-opera]