#HLAW Day 4: Homes

[lizzybeth1986]

(Artist: Pixieferry)

Pixieferry presents us with another gorgeous Hana piece!! She mentioned that this artwork (made with vector on Adobe Illustrator) took inspiration from the prompt "Home". This is what she told me when she showed me the art:

"I have often thought about the coat of arms in Hana's mother's province, how it is one of her favourite things - flowers. When I initially started work on the art, I was inspired by batik designs (and even thought of placing the flower on her hair) but eventually it evolved into a lotus.

The more I worked on it, the more I found the lotus more fitting for Hana; I see the lotus a lot in Chinese art, and it usually symbolizes goodness, honesty, beauty and purity. So I think this symbol combines both her homes."

Note: PLEASE DO NOT REPOST THIS ART OR POST IT ON ANY OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA.

[hanaleeappreciationweek]

We are midway through our week, and now down to our last two days! So far we've received some really gorgeous pieces...we simply can't wait for all of you to see the masterlist even though we'll be getting more soon! Each piece has such a unique, insightful and incredible perspective into Hana as a character.

For Day 4, we have two prompts: Relationships and Homes.

We're leaving "relationships" open to interpretation - it could be romantic, it could be platonic, it could be filial. What matters is showing how Hana connects with people!

Homes is also open to interpretation. China and Cordonia are the two places Hana identifies as her homes, but honestly, as the saying often goes - home is where the heart is 🩷🩷🩷

Any and all content is welcome - as long as Hana is the focus of the piece and the depiction of her is positive. We accept any sort of content - fanfic, fanart, edits, moodboards, interactive media, headcanons, screenshots, playlists, meta, headcanons... even screenshots of your favourite scenes! We also accept older pieces (in our Throwback theme) and WIPs. In case you need to look up more themes, here is the main post!

You don't necessarily need to have your piece ready for a theme on the specific day itself - you can always send it later, as long as you tag the post with the day it was meant for (#HLAW Day 1, #HLAW Day 2).

We will also be keeping a buffer week in case you couldn't finish your piece during the week. Our final deadline is 30th June.

Be sure to do the following when you make your posts:

1. Use the tags #hanaleeappreciationweek and #HLAW, as well as the day and theme you are sending it for (#HLAW Day 1, #HLAW Day 2 etc).

2. Tag @hanaleeappreciationweek, and hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes

FAN CONTENT BLOGS have always helped us immensely with our events, and they hold a number of fun and exciting events themselves too! Here are a couple you could try out if you want:

@choicesficwriterscreations - Primarily fanfic. Check out their roster of events here!

@choicesmonthlychallenge and @choicesjunechallenge - Any and all content welcome! Check out their prompts for June.

@choicespride - Any and all content welcome! Here is their awesome prompt list for Pride Month.

@choicesflashfics - Primarily fics under a 2500 word limit. Here are this week's prompts.

@choicesprompts - Currently no events running, but they recently finished a round robin and may arrange for a new one soon.

@drake-walker-appreciation and @maxwell-beaumont-appreciation - These blogs invite content all year round on their respective characters.

Happy Hana Lee Appreciation Week, everyone!!!

[thecapturedafrique]

HLAW: Day 4—Relationships/Homes

So originally this post was going to be a breakdown of all of Hana’s relationships with the cast from TRR, but the level of expansion I felt my notes needed turned out to be a much larger project than I initially estimated. As such, I’ve decided to just share the one relationship I finished writing that’s central to Hana’s backstory yet isn’t heavily detailed upon in canon: her engagement to Peter.

Tagging @hanaleeappreciationweek and its lovely hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

A descendant of Countess Della (my D&D MC) and her husband Ernest Sinclair, Peter Sinclaire is the current Viscount of Edgewater. Hana first meets him at the Badminton Horse Trials, where she competes in the dressage discipline. He commends her skill and they bond over having attended the same riding academy as well as their experiences growing up as two brown noble kids in the white English court.

Their conversation turns to their parents, and Peter mentions his have begun hinting at him finding someone to marry but he is still trying to find someone who can be a true companion. When Hana admits to wanting the same, he extends an offer of courtship so that they may get to know one another. As they spend more time together, she finds herself enjoying their growing friendship, but Peter’s own feelings begin to develop beyond that.

When he confesses his love and proposes to her at the final event of the Season, Hana is shocked at the reminder their relationship’s purpose. Nevertheless, she accepts, and their wedding is planned for the following spring. Lorelai dives into the planning efforts alongside Peter’s mother and pressures Hana into spending all her free time with her fiancé. But with this new development, the ease with which she once spoke vanishes.

Peter himself develops a case of nerves, and their engagement is a chaste and awkward affair that lasts until a month prior to the wedding when he finally asks Hana if she truly wants to marry him. Though she tells him yes, her tears say no, and so ends their engagement. Hana is left with the realization that even though Peter was everything she was ever told to want, she still did not want to marry him without being in love.

She follows her furious parents back home to Shanghai and focuses on her rigorous lessons to avoid the despair. When Leo’s abdication is announced several months later, Lorelai recognizes the opportunity the new crown prince represents. Hana buries her worries about true love (since a prince wouldn’t be raised to have those aspirations like Peter) and prepares to participate in Prince Liam’s upcoming Selection Season.

[lizzybeth1986]

Headcanon: Hana's Origins

In canon, the details we do know of where Hana is from is very little on one side, and almost nothing on the other. We know that her father Xinghai is Chinese and settled in Shanghai, and that her mother Lorelai is from a minor house in Cordonia. We know of her grandmother on her paternal side and a great-grandmother on the maternal side.

So with Hana, often you get the opportunity to start from almost-scratch. Where in China is she from - Shanghai itself or could her paternal family have come from another part of China? What about her mother? What was her province like? Who were they? What do they do? We don't know anything about that side of Hana's family besides the coat of arms (flowers) and a local ritual that involves tossing three coins into a fountain.

In Petals and Thornes, I try to fill in these gaps. A lot of this is still a work in progress, because it involves a lot more research than I've managed to wade through so far. As I get more insight that will help me build Hana, I will add it here:

China

The Lì family consists currently of Hana's năinai (paternal grandmother) and Xīnghǎi's mother, who has three children:

Xīngchen has four children: eldest daughter Mèngtáo, twin son and daughter Lùtáo and Xiaotáo, and the youngest girl, Chūntáo. Chūntáo is viewed as the rebel of the family and often spends a lot of her time with her aunt and cousins in Beijing. Xīngchen in many ways is a strict parent too, but more a stickler for time and for the traditions of their home. It isn't Xīnghǎi who is more Bertrand-like, it's Xīngchen.

Xīnghǎi, who married Lady Lorelai of the barony Bethulia. They have only one daughter, Hana. She was named so for easier accessibility to European royal courts, but her extended paternal family are fond of calling her Méihuā.

Xīngxià is the youngest, and her mother and father had very differing perspectives of her. She was often viewed as a black sheep of the family even though she wasn't as huge a rebel as her niece Chūntáo became, and often he would blame Năinai for being too permissive a parent. She now stays in Beijing with her sons (haven't named them yet). She is amazing on the piano and teaches music both at a school and runs her own piano classes at home. She was the one who introduced Hana to music, which I wrote more about here.

Xīnghǎi and his family were from Shanyin County in Shanxi, and he grew up there with his siblings. Xīnghǎi moved to Shanghai long before he met Lorelai, and started his own garment business, similar to his father but with fresh ideas and a mind towards the latest technologies. Of the three siblings, only the eldest Xīngchen stayed in Shanxi, and Năinai stayed with him. Their father passed away when Hana was 13, and Năinai a few months after her 18th birthday.

Hana grew up in Shanghai and did occasionally get to go out, but her movements were heavily restricted by her parents' rules and curfews. So obsessed were her parents with the idea that Hana should be European nobility that they didn't pay heed to any of Năinai's protests, and Xīnghǎi's younger sister Xīngxià, remembering her own father, trying to keep involved in Hana's life through Xīngchen...worrying that her older brother was pushing her niece too far.

Hana has seen some of the more flashy parts of Shanghai life, the parts that would be of interest to tourists. She realises far later, that she actually hasn't seen much of her own city.

The Barony of Bethulia

In the P&Tverse, which also includes the Eleanor's Kitchen series, I have Hana's home to be the home of a Parsi community that came from Gujarat and settled into a part of a province that hadn't yet been revitalized. The larger duchy was also run by Zoroastrians from Iran, so they were only glad to embrace the few Indian Zoroastrian families that arrived in Cordonia. The Bethulians are proficient in Farsi, but are comfortable in the language their ancestors grew up with, which was Gujarati.

Lorelai was the eldest daughter of the then-Baron of Bethulia, and was destined to be his heir. She caused a real shock to the family when she not only married a man not chosen by her family, but also a man who wasn't Zoroastrian at all. As a result the family didn't talk to her for several years. She did eventually miss the noble life, so decided to groom her daughter to be the perfect wife for a nobleman.

In her place, Lorelai's younger brother Cyrus becomes the Baron of Bethulia upon their father's death. It is Cyrus who brings her back into the family fold. Unfortunately, when it comes to Hana he follows mostly Lorelai's perspective of her and doesn't actually take much independent concern of her; when Hana leaves Shanghai the way she does, Cyrus also refuses to have anything to do with her or contact her. A lot of this changes over time, by which time Hana is already the Duchess of Krysanthe. Cyrus has three children: eldest daughter Delnaz, his son Dinyar and his youngest daughter Dilbahar.

The current barons and baronesses of Bethulia are distantly related to the priest that cares for the main agiary. They share a great-grandmother. The priest's niece, Perizaad Dastur, did create a bit of a scandal when she married an Italian man named Francesco de Rosa. Her family, though upset, accepted the couple and she often visits them, alone and with Franci. Pari and Franci don't often visit Cyrus - they are welcome to see him but they won't be received warmly.

Perizaad is thus far the only relative (albeit distant) from Bethulia who has consistently kept in touch with Hana since the engagement tour. Francesco met Hana when the court came to Italy for the engagement tour, discovered she already knew they were related, and invited her to his house so Perizaad could meet her too. Francesco and Perizaad have two daughters, Bahar and Shirin. Bahar is a programmer later helps Hana when she needs to build a career in composing...in secret.

Once she becomes the Duchess of Krysanthe and relationships between her and the Bethulian noble house become less tense, Hana does try to visit Bethulia at least 2-3 times a year. Eventually Cyrus' daughter Delnaz takes over the duchy, and by then the relationship between Hana and the new baroness is pretty rock-solid.

Being a connoisseur of baked goods, she absolutely loves the lagan nu custard and mawa cakes that are so popular in this barony.

The frontman of the extremely famous Cordonian rock band, Vasilissa*, Bomi Mars (born Boman Feniwala) is from Bethulia. Hana does get the opportunity to meet him through King Liam, who is a huge fan of the band. They bond over their love for music, esp the piano.

--

* Vasilissa is modelled on the band Queen. In the universe of my stories Queen exists as a band as well, and Vasilissa started out as a tribute act to them before developing their own style and becoming a great band in their own right.

Some of the faceclaims I managed to compile:

Lì Xīngxià - Faye Wong

Lì Chūntáo - Chen Li

Lady Lorelai - Mehr Jesia

Baron Cyrus Dinshaw - Homi Adajania

Perizaad Dastur-de Rosa - Perzen Patel

Francesco de Rosa - Michel Morrone

Bahar Viola de Rosa - Diana Penty

Shirin Zeta de Rosa - Sanaya Irani

Baron Cyrus' children, in order:

Delnaaz Dinshaw - Nushrratt Bharuccha

Dinyar Dinshaw - Zervaan Bunshah

Dilbahar Dinshaw - Diya Parekh

[lizzybeth1986]

A Hot Chocolate Embrace

A Poem by Hana Lee-Thorne, for her wife Kiara.

She makes me love winters

Her arms are a blanket I could sink into

Her warmth is the slow sweet descent

of the silkiest hot chocolate

sliding down my throat.

A comfort that cascades

into every nerve-ending,

down to my fingertips and toes

They tingle with life at her touch

In her laughter I find home -

deep and rumbling

loud and raucous

unafraid and unashamed,

unminding of the heads that turn, speculating

She refuses to mask

that tiny kiss of cocoa bitterness

with the cloying weight

of too much sugar

She makes me want

to adore the mess more

The mess I can make if I dare

to forget every etiquette lesson

and just drink -

chocolate moustache be damned

If I - for once, just once - stop worrying

and let my mouth be stained

a deep

warm

chocolate

brown

if I - for once, just once - leave my cares

for what will everyone say!

behind

She rewards me for my growing nonchalance,

kissing the stains on my skin

She never fails

to reintroduce me

to a self I never believed existed

She is home.

She is the warm blanket I sink into

as I watch the glittering snowflakes outside

She is the fireplace whose crackling sounds

will puntuate every sigh of fulfillment

that I will find in her arms.

She is that mug of hot chocolate

that I will recreate every day

following the steps

like they are an act of worship

closing my eyes and breathing in

the sweet, luxuriant aroma

of chocolate calinte

like it is a prayer

The sparkle in her eyes

when that final errant drop

stains the corner of her mouth -

teasing me

making me want to kiss it -

I accept it greedily; it is

a blessing from the gods

--

Tagging @hanaleeappreciationweek and @sazanes for HLAW Day 4: Culinary Love

I've always headcanoned that Hana and Kiara find the winter very romantic 💕💕 ❄️❄️

[hanaleeappreciationweek]

HLAW 2023: Masterlist

(This gorgeous poster is the handiwork of our brilliant host @sazanes!!)

Day 1: Throwback

Art

Hana Lee by @pixi3ferry

The Dress by @sazanes

Edits

Vampire!Hana and Alien!Hana by @masked-alien-lesbian

Fanfic

Crossed Bonus by @queenmiarys

Probably A Bad Idea by @angelasscribbles

Cordonian Karaoke: Hana and Hana Take 2 from Cordonian Karaoke by @angelasscribbles

Petals and Thornes (series) by @lizzybeth1986

Chapter 6: Moments in Between from Marshmallow by @twinkleallnight

Meta

Hana Lee: A Study In Erasure (series) by @lizzybeth1986

Day 2: Skills vs Passions/Chocolate

Skills vs Passions

Art

Competitive Hana! by @sazanes

Headcanon

How Hana Got Her Many Skills by @thecapturedafrique

Meta

Skills vs Passions - What's the Difference? from Hana Lee: A Study in Erasure by @lizzybeth1986

Moodboard

Dance Moodboard for Hana by @lorirwritesfanfic

Chocolate

Art

Hana's Chocolate vs Liam's Vanilla by @cassiopeiacorvus

Fanfic

Eurochocolate by @masked-alien-lesbian

Day 3: Music/AU

Music

Art

Hana and her Keytar! 🎹🎸 by @sazanes

Headcanon

Hana Lee: Music Headcanons by @lizzybeth1986

Fanfic

A Ballad to No One by @lorirwritesfanfic

AU

Edit

Wood Nymph!Hana by @masked-alien-lesbian

Fanfic

HLAW Snippet from Dark Elf by @angelasscribbles

Day 4: Relationships/Homes

Relationships

Fanfic

I'll Be There For You from American Girl by @angelasscribbles

Worthy by @noesapphic

Headcanon

Relationships, Homes and HCs by @angelasscribbles

Hana's Engagement to Peter by @thecapturedafrique

Moodboard

Moodboards for "Out of the Chrysalis" by @lizzybeth1986

Homes

Art

Hana Lee with a Lotus by @pixi3ferry

Manhua Reader by @sazanes

A Tea Party by @mariemarieohcontrary

Headcanon

Hana's Origins by @lizzybeth1986

HC: Relationships and Homes (and an AU) by @masked-alien-lesbian

Day 5: Hana's Perfect Wedding

Art

Hana's Perfect Wedding!! by @sazanes

Headcanons

Headcanon: The Wedding of Duchesses Kiara Thorne and Hana Lee by @lizzybeth1986

Hana's Ideal Wedding by @masked-alien-lesbian

Hana(ra)'s Perfect Wedding by @thecapturedafrique

--

A huge thank you to ALL our participants - we're in awe of all the stuff you've put out and we honestly can't wait for everyone to see your pieces too!!

We know a lot of you struggled to get your pieces out, and would like you all to know that if you'd still like to send in something when you're done...we would be happy to include it in the masterlist!! Do tag us!! 💖💖💖

We would highly recommend all of you who see this masterlist check out every piece in this masterlist 🤗🤗🤗🤗

To find the HLAW 2022 masterlist, go here.

[lizzybeth1986]

@thecapturedafrique Oh God there are just SO many details in this that I absolutely love!!

1. The whole backstory of how Xīnghâi's family shifted from HK to Shanghai, and how he met Lorelai during a visit during Liam's birth...(and in the future his daughter becomes one of Liam's closest friends!!)

2. All her education as well as the influences on her life! It warms my heart that even in the bleakness that was her childhood, there were pockets of support. I also think it's esp poignant how Bao's death kickstarts her goth phase 😭

3. LORELAI HOW DARE YOU TAKE AWAY HER CAT!!!!

4. Love the sneaky reference to CRA xD and the connection of one of her teachers to Joëlle!

5. Her debutante gown is 👩🏽‍🍳💋

I loved this sheet so much and I'm so excited for what you have in store for KTAW on the strength of this!

HLAW: Day 4—Home/Childhood

Good evening and happy day 4 of Hana Lee Appreciation Week! This is one the easiest days for me to contribute to, as I’ve already spent an extensive amount of time creating head canons for Hana revolving around this very theme. Since PB’s mostly left her backstory a blank page aside from Shanghai being her home town and her having a late grandmother, this leaves us Hana fans to build her one ourselves. I hope y’all enjoy reading mine! 😁

Tagging @hanaleeappreciationweek and the truly spectacular hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The Lee’s originally immigrated from mainland China to Singapore in the mid 1800s; they started their own textile company just before the boom hit as a result of WWI

When the Great Depression struck, they moved their business to Shanghai and continued to thrive until the Second Sino-Japanese War began destroying mills and supply chains

The Lee’s left for Hong Kong and were able to recover until their company the Lee Kowloon Group had become the biggest privately owned manufacturer of textiles in China, with a yearly revenue of 25 billion yuan (~$3.5 billion)

Cheung Bao (张宝) [1] was a Cantonese fashion designer who married into the Lee Family; however, since her husband was the second son, their own Xinghai (星海) wasn’t expected to inherit a controlling share of the family company

As such, Xinghai moved to Shanghai to re-establish the textile market there (since the only real competition was the government) with a subsidiary focused on high quality fabrics aimed at the rich

This move was made several months after he’d married Lorelai Ryuka, who he’d met in Cordonia when he’d gone to accompany his mentor/friend Charles Shang [2] to the celebration of Prince Liam’s birth in order to network

The only daughter of Lady Syeira, Lorelai was heir to their regality Antirrhinum, but after her parents passed, she chose to relocate permanently to Shanghai with her husband and left its stewardship in the hands of her grandmother Floure

Though they both hope for a son, Lorelai gives birth a few years later to a daughter who they name Hana Lee Hua (李花), and she is raised in one of the Rose Garden Villas in the Xuhui District of Shanghai

During her Zhuazhou ceremony, Hana picks the cooking utensil which means she’ll make a good housewife, and also turns out to be a child prodigy (particularly on the piano)

Her parents’ aspirations are thus reignited and they pin all of their hopes onto her, as due to the One Child Policy she will be their only one

While visiting Lorelai intermittently to update her on their regality, Floure spends time with Hana to regale her stories with fairy tales and Cordonian folk stories [3]

Floure passes when Hana is 6, who is not able to attend the funeral since it’s in Cordonia; Xinghai instead takes her to the zoo where she sees pandas for the first time

Hana is educated from the ages of 5 to 10 primarily by her Taiwanese governess Tài Luó before she’s replaced by Lady Julianne de Montfort of Brittany [4]

Under Lady Julianne, she begins studying etiquette in preparation for her first society appearance at the start of England’s Social Season, and after there is a sharp downturn in time spent with her parents outside of social engagements

While abroad, Hana is also enrolled in the Wimbledon Village Stables, a riding academy where she studies dressage, and she successfully schemes to no longer have to play the piano in public at the age of 12

Though her parents end her lessons since they refuse to spend money on a skill that’s no longer of “use,” Hana’s instructor Lin Changsong [5] already told her that there was nothing else he could teach her

Bao is a central figure in her childhood as well as her primary caretaker at home when Lorelai and Xinghai are out of town; she inspires Hana’s love of fashion design and fosters her talent

Hana herself serves to inspire some of Bao’s own designs, and as canon states, they sew a black cheongsam together the summer before Bao dies, which is only a few weeks before Hana turns 15

Thus sparks her “goth phase” that goes hand in hand with being gifted a laptop of her own in order to attend the online Balissande Finishing School

The phase is also inspired by the black kitten Li Ming her grandmother left to her, but it’s less gothic and more angsty as she uses her laptop to wax bleak poetry on her Stumblr blog, stream sad romance movies, and indulge in hurt/comfort fanfiction

Hana goes remains undiscovered for nearly a year, but once Lorelai finds out about the blog, her laptop is confiscated; she dyes her hair pink in retaliation for her 16th birthday celebration, and though it’s only temporary, Li Ming is taken as punishment

At 18, she attends the first Shanghai International Debutante Ball (dress pictured below), heralding her official debut into society and the beginning of her parents attempts to have her be chosen by a suitor

Foot Notes:

Bao’s face claim is Vivienne Tam, a real Chinese fashion designer.

Charles Shang is a character from Crazy Rich Asians; after watching the movie following @mand-delemonde pointing out that Hana should be living the same sort of lifestyle, I decided to have CRA crossover into my version of the Choices world. I imagine Xinghai and Charles bonded over how as second sons, neither is the heir to their respective family companies. Charles was invited to celebrate Prince Liam’s birth since I head canon his niece Princess Cassandra is a friend of Queen Eleanor’s.

This is based on the coin tradition scene Hana shares with her fiancée in TRR3, which she states she learned from her great-grandmother. I’ve fleshed out Lorelai’s side of the family further than is shown, but the details weren’t included in this post since the only Cordonian family member Hana met during her childhood was Floure.

Tài Luó and Lady Julianne’s names are derived from the characters Miss Anne Taylor (from Emma) and Julianne (from Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper). Julianne’s surname is due to how I made her the daughter of the Duke of Brittany, a duchy which is extinct IRL. She’s actually a friend of Joëlle’s, who in my head canon is a noblewoman from a neighboring French duchy that’s also extinct IRL, but those details will be shared during Kiara’s appreciation week later this month.

Lin Changsong is a parodied version of the pianist and composer Yin Chengzong. I imagine that if Hana had not been forced to hide her skill in order to keep it from being exploited, Lin would have tried to convince her parents to enroll her in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (which Yin himself joined at the age of 12).

[hanaleeappreciationweek]

HLAW Masterlist 2022

Day 1: Music

Art

Hana Plays Piano for Tzipporah (MC) by @cassiopeiacorvus

Hana Plays the Piano by @ohmyblues

Hana at the Piano by @sazanes

Character Appreciation

SpreadJoy Quote by @storyofmychoices

Edits

Pop Star AU by @phoenix-sayeed

Goth!Hana and Indie/Grunge Music by @masked-alien-lesbian

Headcanons

Music Headcanons by @lizzybeth1986

Playlists

Hana Lee: Character Playlist by @lizzybeth1986

Day 2: What I Love To Do

Art

Hana's Hot Chocolate by @sazanes

Headcanons

"What I Love To Do" by @thecapturedafrique

Moodboard

Hana Lee: Passions Moodboard by @lorirwritesfanfic

What Hana Loves To Do by @masked-alien-lesbian

Poetry

Secret Notes in Library Nooks by @lizzybeth1986

Day 3: Romance/Pride Parade

Art

Hana and Kiara by @sazanes

Fanfic

When You're Not Looking by @phoenixrising308

Hindsight is 20/20 by @lizzybeth1986

Hana's Crushes Over The Years by @masked-alien-lesbian

Support by @thefirstcourtesan

Headcanons:

Sexuality Arc Headcanon by @thecapturedafrique

Khadijah and Hana Lee-Rys by @boujeechoices

Moodboard:

Hana and Kiara's wedding by @lizzybeth1986

Day 4: Tea Party

Art

Tea Party with Princess Snickerdoodle by @sazanes

Fanfic

Tea Drunk by @lizzybeth1986

The Time Apart: Needle and Thread by @phoenixrising308

Teas of the Past and the Present by @masked-alien-lesbian

Day 5: Home/Childhood

Art

Hana's Grandmother by @sazanes

Headcanon

Hana's Family History and Childhood by @thecapturedafrique

Day 6: Flowers/Throwback

Flowers

Art

The Goddess of Spring by @sazanes

Fanfic

A Blossoming Friendship by @lizzybeth1986

Headcanon

Hana Lee: Character Sheet by @thecapturedafrique

Throwback

Art

Hana's Moon-Themed Masquerade Outfit by @cassiopeiacorvus

Edit

Demon!Hana by @masked-alien-lesbian

Fanfic

Black Sheep by @thefirstcourtesan

With A Little Help From My Friends by @lizzybeth1986

In Bloom by @lorirwritesfanfic

Day 7: What If/Duchess Hana

Art

Goth!Hana and her cat Li Ming by @sazanes

Edit

Rebellious!Hana AU by @masked-alien-lesbian

The Rise of Her Grace Hana Lee, The Duchess of Chrysopolis by @thecapturedafrique

Headcanon

Hana Lee: Duchess of Krysanthe by @lizzybeth1986

--

Thank you so much, to everyone who participated in this week and made it so special. We're so proud of each and every piece of content that made it here, and we urge everyone who comes across this masterlist to take a look at every piece - we're positive you'll love them all as much as we did!

If there's any content we've missed, we're very sorry, and do let us know so we can add it to the masterlist.

Enjoy this year's list...and we hope to see you all next year!! 🥰🥰🥰

[thecapturedafrique]

HLAW: Day 5—Home/Childhood

Good evening and happy day 5 of Hana Lee Appreciation Week! This is one the easiest days for me to contribute to, as I’ve already spent an extensive amount of time creating head canons for Hana revolving around this very theme. Since PB’s mostly left her backstory a blank page aside from Shanghai being her home town and her having a late grandmother, this leaves us Hana fans to build her one ourselves. I hope y’all enjoy reading mine! 😁

Tagging @hanaleeappreciationweek and the truly spectacular hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The Lee’s originally immigrated from mainland China to Singapore in the mid 1800s; they started their own textile company just before the boom hit as a result of WWI

When the Great Depression struck, they moved their business to Shanghai and continued to thrive until the Second Sino-Japanese War began destroying mills and supply chains

The Lee’s left for Hong Kong and were able to recover until their company the Lee Kowloon Group had become the biggest privately owned manufacturer of textiles in China, with a yearly revenue of 25 billion yuan (~$3.5 billion)

Cheung Bao (张宝) [1] was a Cantonese fashion designer who married into the Lee Family; as their second son, Xinghai (星海) wasn’t expected to inherit a controlling share of the family company

As such, Xinghai moved to Shanghai to re-establish the textile market there (since the only real competition was the government) with a subsidiary focused on high quality fabrics aimed at the rich

This move was made several months after he’d married Lorelai Ryuka, who he’d met in Cordonia when he’d gone to accompany his mentor/friend Charles Shang [2] to the celebration of Prince Liam’s birth in order to network

The only daughter of Lady Syeira, Lorelai was heir to their regality Antirrhinum, but after her parents passed, she chooses to relocate permanently to Shanghai with her husband and leaves its stewardship in the hands of her grandmother Floure

Though they both hope for a son, Lorelai gives birth a few years later to a daughter who they name Hana Lee Hua (李花), and she is raised in one of the Rose Garden Villas in the Xuhui District of Shanghai

During her Zhuazhou ceremony, Hana picks the cooking utensil which means she’ll make a good housewife, and later turns out to be a child prodigy (particularly on the piano)

Her parents’ aspirations are thus reignited and they pin all of their hopes onto her, as due to the One Child Policy she will be their only one

While visiting Lorelai intermittently to update her on their regality, Floure spends time with Hana to regale her with fairy tales and Cordonian folk stories [3]

Floure passes when Hana is 6, who is not able to attend the funeral since it’s in Cordonia; Xinghai instead takes her to the zoo where she sees pandas for the first time

Hana is educated from the ages of 5 to 10 primarily by her Taiwanese governess Tài Luó, who after is replaced by Lady Julianne de Montfort of Brittany [4]

Under Lady Julianne, she begins studying etiquette in preparation for her first society appearance at the start of England’s Social Season, after which there is a sharp decrease in time spent with her parents outside of social engagements

While abroad, Hana is also enrolled in the Wimbledon Village Stables, a riding academy where she studies dressage, and she successfully schemes to no longer have to play the piano in public at the age of 12

Though her parents end her lessons since they refuse to spend money on a skill that’s no longer of “use,” Hana’s instructor Lin Changsong [5] already told her that there was nothing else he could teach her

Bao is a central figure in her childhood as well as her primary caretaker at home when Lorelai and Xinghai are out of town; she inspires Hana’s love of fashion design and fosters her talent

Hana herself serves to inspire some of Bao’s own designs, and as canon states, they sew a black cheongsam together the summer before Bao dies, which is only a few weeks before Hana turns 15

Thus sparks her “goth phase” that goes hand in hand with being gifted a laptop of her own in order to attend the online Balissande Finishing School

The phase is also inspired by the black kitten Li Ming her grandmother left to her, but it’s less gothic and more angsty, as she uses her laptop to wax bleak poetry on her Stumblr blog, stream sad romance movies, and indulge in hurt/comfort fanfiction

Hana goes undiscovered for nearly a year, but once Lorelai finds out about the blog, her laptop is confiscated; she dyes her hair pink in retaliation for her 16th birthday celebration, and though it’s only temporary, Li Ming is taken as punishment [6]

At 18, she attends the first Shanghai International Debutante Ball in the dress pictured below, heralding her official debut into society and the start of her parents attempts to have her be chosen by a suitor

Foot Notes:

Bao’s face claim is Vivienne Tam, a real Chinese fashion designer. Credit to @cassiopeiacorvus for the Cantonese HC!

Charles Shang is a character from Crazy Rich Asians; after watching the movie following @mand-delemonde pointing out that Hana should be living the same sort of lifestyle, I decided to have CRA crossover into my version of the Choices world. I imagine Xinghai and Charles bonded over neither being the heir to their respective family companies. Charles was invited to celebrate Prince Liam’s birth since I head canon his niece Princess Cassandra was a friend of Queen Eleanor’s.

This is based on the coin tradition scene Hana shares with her fiancée in TRR3, which she states she learned from her great-grandmother. I’ve fleshed out Lorelai’s side of the family further than is shown, but the details weren’t included in this post since the only Cordonian family member Hana met during her childhood was Floure.

Tài Luó and Lady Julianne’s names are derived from the characters Miss Anne Taylor (from Emma) and Julian (from Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper). Julianne’s surname is due to how I made her the daughter of the Duke of Brittany, a duchy which is extinct IRL. She’s actually a friend of Joëlle’s, who in my head canon is a noblewoman from a neighboring French duchy that’s also extinct IRL, but those details will be shared during Kiara’s appreciation week later this month.

Lin Changsong is a parodied version of the pianist and composer Yin Chengzong. I imagine that if Hana had not been forced to hide her skill in order to keep it from being exploited, Lin would have tried to convince her parents to enroll her in the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (which Yin himself joined at the age of 12).

I do plan to have Li Ming and Hana reunite in my post-TRR fic because I could never be that heartless. 🤧