#(well. sort of)

[howlerbat]

[maggiecheungs]

poems in episode one of the story of kunning palace

in episode 1 of kunning palace, xuening grabs a book of poems in order to trick her maids into thinking she keeps a ledger. my knowledge of classical chinese isn't particularly high level, but it's good enough to at least identify which poems are on the page that she opens to, and i'm certain they were deliberately chosen because of their relevance to the characters and themes of the show 👀 so i thought i'd do a post about them :)

this page contains three poems by the tang dynasty poet wang changling (698–756): 芙蓉樓送辛漸 (farewell to xin jian at lotus tower); 閨怨 (boudoir lament); and 春宮曲 (spring palace song). detailed analyses under the cut:

1 - 芙蓉樓送辛漸 (farewell to xin jian at lotus tower):

my translation

poem summary: the poet's friend came to wu on a night when cold rain was pouring into the river, and departs again at dawn. the poet accompanies him on his journey as far as the chu mountains [but cannot carry on journeying with him because he must stay at his official post in wu]. as he bids goodbye, he asks his friend to tell his family back in luoyang that his heart is still pure and resolute.

key themes: loneliness and solitude; duty; having a pure heart and noble character

analysis: this one is a fairly famous poem about parting before setting off on a long journey. it's particularly notable for its final line, 一片冰心在玉壺, which roughly translates to "my heart is as pure as a piece of ice within a vessel of jade"... which could easily have been written as a summary of zhang zhe's character.

however! while there's a definite emphasis on having a pure and guiltless heart, when you combine with the previous line, the couplet as a whole also gives a sense that the speaker wishes to be remembered by those they love as someone pure and righteous ("tell my family back in luoyang that my heart is still pure etc"). this seems to be a theme of xuening's second life: wanting to correct her past wrongs and treat the people she cares for better, and to prove to zhang zhe that she can be a good person in future

in particular, this poem makes me think of xuening's last moments in her first life. the poet's final request before he bids farewell to his friend? for his companion to tell his family that he is still noble at heart. xuening's final request before she dies? for xie wei to take her life in exchange for that of zhang zhe, as her way of repenting for being dishonourable and ruining his life... 🤔🤔🤔

2 - 閨怨 (boudoir lament):

poem summary: the young wife in her boudoir knows nothing of sorrow, but as she completes her toilette and ascends the emerald tower, she suddenly sees the hue of poplars and willows on the roadside and regrets letting her husband leave home to pursue official position and power.

key themes: love and marriage; abandonment; ambition (and the effect that ambition has on love)

analysis: it's essentially about how the husband's ambition causes him to abandon his wife to grief and loneliness, which seems like a clear parallel with xuening's willingness to abandon her faithful lovers for the sake of her ambition; there's also the implication that political status is ultimately less meaningful than a loving marriage.

i think it's worth noting that the character 怨 (yuan) in the title is fairly hard to translate, as it implies a mixture of grief and anger/resentment, or even hatred. it's fairly common in boudoir poems about women left behind by their husbands, and in that context it's often translated as 'lament' or 'grief', but i think the ambivalence of the term is fairly important, particularly if you apply it to kunning palace and the mix of grief and anger that xuening inspires in her old lovers in her first life.

3 - 春宮曲 (spring palace song):

poem summary: the wind is mild, the flowers are in full bloom, the moon is full and bright. the emperor has fallen in love with one of his sister's singing serving women, and is showering her with imperial favour and bestowing brocade robes upon her to keep out the spring chill.

key themes: happiness, success, security. (however, with contextual knowledge, there's also the implication of future doom, and that nobody can stay on top of the world forever)

analysis: i didn't quite catch the full significance of this one until i googled it and realised it's a poem about a real historical figure: wei zifu, a song-and-dance girl serving the princess pingyang, who wins the favour of pingyang’s brother, emperor wu of the han dynasty, eventually becoming his second empress (the second-longest serving empress in chinese history!).

wei zifu's story is essentially about a young woman of humble origins who survives numerous palace intrigues and eventually manages to ascend to the position of empress, trusted by the emperor to the extent that she was allowed to rule in his absence. however, after maintaining her position for over three decades, she eventually fell afoul of a conspiracy against her and her son, and committed suicide rather than allowing herself to be deposed.

i mean… the way this links to jiang xuening's first life is so obvious i don't even feel the need to explain it.

[hajihiko]

Do u have any favorite pieces of art that u have done?

The Yolked Him one

Beyond that, my polyamory comic probably, bc it was important to me. Jojo really brought out some art in me that I didn't know I had

Also these (D&D group, Narancia of Jojo, and Narancia&Fugo&Mista of Jojo)

[the-meat-machine]

sometimes there are jokes i have to cut from my fics for pacing reasons. it is the greatest tragedy of my life

CALIBORN: AS A FULL-GROWN ADULT MAN. I AM WELL VERSED WITH ALL THE FACTS. ABOUT THE "BIRDS". AND THE "BEASTS". DIRK: Think you mean "bees". CALIBORN: WHAT. NO. WHY THE HELL WOULD IT BE BEES. CALIBORN: BEES. HAVE GOT TO BE THE LEAST EROTIC CREATURES. IN ALL OF EXISTENCE. CALIBORN: EVEN A HUMAN COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE DEGENERATE ENOUGH. TO GET "HOT" AT THE THOUGHT OF A BEE. CALIBORN: RIGHT?? DIRK: Oh man, have I got the movie for you.

[voidwalker-collective]

My darling Prototype. My creation, and my art. -Memory

[letthebookbegin]

spring has sprung

[skyransketches]

Smaugust Day 12: Prehistoric

Working on catching up with smaugust!! here's a dinosaur-inspired dragon design ^^

[ryuki23]

damn super-1, how come toei lets you have ten different kick attacks

[chainuuser]

The Fall Line

inspired by this fic

[toacertaindeath]

I know getting fucked over by the narrative is like basically Guillermo’s thing now but I don’t think I could take it if he doesn’t end up getting turned into a vampire LET HIM HAVE THIS

[hershelwidget]

everytime an anon sends me “bites your hand” . well. what do YOU think happens huh

[worldruins]

Ancient version of Teeth ✌️ I’m very normal about it. The bonelike spikes, cheek gauges and eyes are examples of body mods that might have been found in iterator Teeth’s city

[reikunrei]

tbh i will forever be thinking abt the little happy wiggle Mike did in the pizzeria when El was like “i... missed you” that shit was SO CUTE

[heres-to-all-that-is-mine]

You're gay (gender neutral, general term)

[Stares wistfully out to the sea] Mayhaps I am…….

[furbhii]

i want to turn this into a teaching moment.

ask sender, who i will keep anonymous, and anyone else who might have this question: sit down with me for a second. listen. you're not in trouble. but you cannot do this.

i want to make a scenario here. imagine you've sent me this ask, off anon as you have and i tell you yes, go ahead, and you order stickers from my etsy store.

you have provided me with: your legal name, your home address, as well as all the information on your blog, which includes all the names you go by, your ethnic background, your queer identity, your health status, your specific disorders, your trauma triggers, and all your hobbies. i know you're a child because you sent me this ask.

now consider just how much i know about you now. how easy would it be for me to find you with this information, if i were someone who was actually some sort of predator? how easy would it be for me to find your parents on facebook and out you? for me to find out what school you go to?

now a different scenario: you don't send me an ask on my blog CLEARLY marked 18+. instead, you go to my etsy store and peruse my listings that are not tagged "mature" and are therefore available to anyone using the platform. you buy two stickers. the only information i have about you is your legal name and address, which i use to fulfill the order. you're a stranger to me, just like every other person who orders from my shop.

what is the difference between these two scenarios? which is safer for you?

so, yes, anon, you can buy stickers from my store. my store is publicly available, and i only have one listing tagged as "mature" for some adult language. you can buy stickers from other artists' stores, too. but please, never put yourself in danger like this by trusting that artists can't have bad intentions. you got lucky in that i'm not a predator, and have no plans to use any of your information; in fact, once i've ensured you've read this, i'm going to ask you to block me, and i'm going to block you back.

i'm going to assume in good faith you found my blog, and my stickers, through tumblr's tag search. and that's fine! i appreciate that you like my work. next time, favourite an artist's shop on etsy, or favourite individual listings, and then buy what you like. that's it.

do not give information out like this. do not make yourself easy to prey on. don't tell adults on the internet, especially ones running blogs that are marked for adults only, that you're a kid and everything that's wrong with you and what makes you vulnerable... and then offer to give out your address alongside a few dollars. and the only reason i'm writing this all out instead of just blocking you is because i want you to be safe. i want you to understand why this is dangerous. because when i was that young and i got in trouble for doing dangerous shit i was just told not to and not told why i shouldn't.

i am begging you to please be more careful. and reconsider how much information you're putting out on the internet for anyone to see.

[hermitbug]

finally got aseprite so i filtered this photo through the full hypnospace outlaw color palette + dithering