#Imperial Uncle

[dangermousie]

I have started Imperial Uncle by Da Feng Guo Guo and what a gorgeous, evocative mood piece that is one of the most quietly yet viscerally despairing novels I’ve read.

I love it. It’s the closest I’ve seen a danmei come to a Mary Renault novel, if it even makes any sense.

[smittenskitten]

oh!

ahahahaahaa ok

I am in stitches

[bellaroles]

So afraid I will get duped along the way but I'm only a few pages in I can see that this guy's life sucks already. I can't help but side with him lol.

[fortune-maiden]

Prince Huai: My mother always looked ready to kill me when I would escape to the market. Never understood that

Also Prince Huai, on seeing his nephews running around in the market without their attendants, in all their finery, and looking very kidnappable: I'm going to kill them.

[randomidiocyncrazies]

not to be fucking insufferable about Imperial Uncle, but it's such a fascinating read (despite its flaws) because it's all about Roles and breaking away from them.

the protag and LI leave the imperial court separately and reunite a few years later, and it's only by leaving that they can actually get to know each other as people and have their happy ending.

it's also really interesting that, despite MC's love life being a substantial aspect of the book, the book isn't really a romance—it's about the constraints of being born into the imperial court, even when your status gives you power over many people. it's about how the privilege that comes with your status can affect someone else and cause harm, even if you never meant for it to happen. it's about being lonely at the top, and how the best intentions can be misinterpreted by the people around you. it's about theoretically having the power to write your own story, but instead you're beholden to other people's perception of you. it's about having to leave the decadent life you're born into but never really wanted, and making your own way.

A large part of Imperial Uncle depends on code switching; the characters are referred to, and use, shifting titles/names/courtesy names as an indication of power—courtesy names are less intimate than names, but because the Emperor uses his uncle's courtesy name, nobody else has the privilege to use it... and thus it becomes a more intimate form of address. And in turn, Chengjun can call other people by their courtesy names whenever he wanted, but they "dare not" call him by the name he longs to hear on their lips; the man he ends up together with only manages to call him by his courtesy name once, after they have both left the imperial court behind them, and when he says the name it was with great difficulty, despite (or because of) loving Chngjun for a long time. Chengjun could also bestow nicknames on others, but the closeness is just a facade.

The divide between individuals in the imperial court is constantly referenced every single time the characters refer to each other, and refer to themselves in the presence of each other. The Emperor is, by definition, alone even in a palace filled with people, with the unique 1st person pronoun that marks his status. Prince Huai, Chengjun, switches between "I" (我) and "this prince" (本王), before dropping the latter—and with it, the political maneuvering and mind games that chains him by virtue of being born. There is the careful, polite distance of referring to oneself as "this commoner", and the resentful despair in claiming a form of address that one should've always been entitled to. There is the title of "Imperial Uncle", and what that means for the people bound to and by it.

[yakarmi]

SPOILERS FOR THE IMPERIAL UNCLE!!!

*Me rooting for Prince Huai to end up with Yun Yu the entire novel*

Yun Yu at the end, after Prince Huai confesses to him: Actually, we’re related. So no. We can never be together.

Me: ……………..

Betrayal.

I’m getting over it. I like Liu Tongyi. Just…. 😭

[angryteapott]

READ IMPERIAL UNCLE, FREE TRANSLATION MAPPED ABOVE!! I encountered this novel through a post in the league of nobleman tag describing it as an in universe webnovel where the emperor is gay for his uncle, but I promise there’s a lot more going on. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who liked a league of nobleman ((Zhang Ping cameos and it’s hilarious and perfectly in character)) or to anyone who likes a tragicomedies or unreliable narrators. Give it a shot!!! If you’re not convinced, my full review is under the cut.

First of all, calling our main character the emperor’s uncle is a bit unfair. Prince Huai is a royal cousin once removed, called “imperial uncle” as a vague slight from the empress dowager. His father once held immense military power and as such the world treats the MC as a credible threat to the throne despite the fact that his own political influence is just an illusion. Or is it? While love is discussed at length, this story isn’t really a one-true-love romance, and the many love interests mostly serve to illustrate how our MC’s internal world interacts with his treacherous reality.

The novel is deeply buried in Prince Huai’s version of events and uses that to meditate on perspective, love, and how motivations and circumstances can warp both. Our unreliable narrator tends to see things in extremes and himself as helpless- either his position makes everyone despise him entirely or everyone’s secretly in love, and he has little to no control over any of it. The truth, of course, is more complicated. The novel’s twists and turns aren’t always events or revelations from other characters- sometimes they’re simply our narrator letting slip a detail that casts his entire narrative in a different light. It’s the sort of story that makes you want to tilt and squint at it to see how the light hits it from different angles.

It’s also gloriously funny. Our MC’s haphazard and petty narration makes even the most tragic events seem a bit pedestrian and humorous, and he’s almost always cracking a self deprecating joke or responding to extreme situations in ways that fully take the wind out of them (LOL LAXATIVES FSKJLSJDMAFGH). This makes the truly sad bits really punch you in the gut, especially when our dauntless hero doesn’t quite manage to shake them off.

There are flaws, of course, and the first one is easily resolved: the extras add almost nothing to the story and take away from what makes it compelling. The themes they raise are interesting but different and under-explored. Skip them. The second issue I had was that a large and fairly important obstacle to our main character is resolved off screen between the two halves of the novel and in a way that could have happened earlier. Resolving it changes nothing other than making it seem it a bit pointless to include in the first place (knowing that it could easily be resolved, why did our MC angst about it?). That said, that’s more of a quibble than a real issue. Also, while I actually found that the sexism added historical verisimilitude and was punctuated by enough “women are human” moments that it wasn’t unbearable, our MC is sexist and occasionally racist. Treat with caution.

TLDR: I highly recommend!

[moononmyfloor]

Ancient Detective ost made a surprise reappearance my YT feed (gosh I miss that precious little drama) and I suddenly remembered how struck I was by Du Yafei's beauty back then. He was among the first C-actors (and there has not been many after that) whom I was enraptured with upon the very first glance like damn. Truly a crime he doesn't seem to get lots of roles.

AND

Since I'm reading Zhang Gong An these days, I'm reminiscing about Imperial Uncle a lot as well and when I saw Du Yafei today a bulb went off: heyyyyy he would make the perfect Jing Weiyi!!! 😍

A huge part of Uncle's appeal is that the man is a contradiction, a beautiful contradiction. And I just think Du Yafei excludes the same aura that I imagined Uncle would as well!

He just feels equal parts kind and steadfast yet possibly-scheming (against you) and unpredictable, youthful yet simultaneously "I've lived too long, I've had enough of this" kinda weariness like Ye Baiyi, dreamy yet mature have seen too much stuff for my age look in his eyes, a flirtatious demeanour that also makes you think that he has some deep-seated unspoken yearning/longing.

Ah, I miss uncle😔

Also plz this scene is SO story-of-Uncle's-confessions LMAO

[sforzesco]

I got. thoughts. about valens and voices in imperial roman history. but I also got a lot of thoughts about uhhhhhh choosing your brother for co ruling the Fratricide Foundation Story Empire. many thoughts about themistius' oration too

Brotherly Love, Themistius (trans. Peter Heather & David Moncur)

⭐ places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app / insta

[starlight-bread-blog]

The Good & the Bad: On Aang (Not) Killing the Fire Lord

I recived this asks forever ago, trurly sorry anon, but I'll keep my apologises for the end. I'd love to answer that!

If you're asking me, this is way better than """killing him""". Case closed.

Getting this cleared up: The show didn't say that Aang is morally superior for this. It was solely about staying true to himself. Not a moral high ground.

So when I hear people say it's problematic because it implies that sparing imperialistic dictators has some intrinsic goodness to it, (Ahem-Lily Orchard), I just can't agree. It was never about universal ethics, it was about Aang's culture and values.

Why Is This a Good Thing?

Aang loves his culture, and takes a lot of pride in it and its values. (See: in The Southern Raiders his first go-to to convince Katara to spare Yon Rah is his culture, rather than what such act would do Katara herself). He would have been ashamed if he had broken them. But right now they clash with his Avatar duties, with god-knows how many lives at stake. He needs to let go of his pride & shame, and become humble.

Just like Zuko humbling himself to the GAang before they accept him, or Sokka humbling himself to the Kyoshi warriors and Master Piandao, Aang could only speak to the the lion turtle after he'd given up, after he was humbled.

Even beyond Aang, it enhances the show's themes at large. A theme in A:TLA is paving your own path, and that you can do what you want despite the pressure. Your true destiny will come, you might be surprised by it, but it's yours and you're free to carve it.

You just have to keep going, to continue to do the right thing, and your destiny will find you. Things have a way of working out in the end, eventually.

Sparing Ozai serves the theme, thus the show overall. Everyone told him it's his destiny to kill the Fire Lord and end the war. But he didn't agree, paving his own path, his own destiny, and all was well. The pieces fell in their place.

It is s amplified by the fact that if you read between the lines, he actually did follow all the previous Avatars' wisdom besides Yangchen's.

Aang knew what he wanted from the start. He isn't going to kill the Fire Lord. People (rightfully) tried to pressure him, but in the end, he stuck to his decision.

Justice was served. Aang took his bending away and put him to rot in prison for the rest of his life. There's more than one way to execute justice.

"... and the destiny of the world". That's exactly what Aang did. He followed his own path (staying true to himself) while saving the world (ending Ozai regime).

So that leaves us with Yangchen's advice. The one he didn't follow:

This opens another layer to this. Why doesn't Aang take the advice of a fellow Air Nomad? The one he should relate to the most? Because despite both being Avatars and Airbenders, Aang is the last. They're not the same. Yangchen is speaking from a place of privilege. She can carry the weight of the Avatar and not worry about the Air Nomads. Notice the wording: "spiritual needs". But it's deeper than that. In her time, they were there, they'll preserve their culture and values. Aang doesn't have that.

He's Avatar: The Last Airbender. He has both weights to carry. The decision to spare the Fire Lord, while protecting the rest of the world, is embedded in the show's title.

There's also something so incredibly powerful in Ozai being defeated specifically with Air Nomad values. A 100 years ago, during Sozin's Comet, the Fire Nation started the war by genociding them. When it comes back, the Avatar, the last Air Nomad, ends the war and stops the next genocide while preserving their values. The Fire Nation isn't going to push him to taint (one of) the last living aspacts of the Air Nomads, and Aang is shouting it – in the very same day the disaster occurred.

(Additionally I view this as a land mark of his character development since Siege of the North. He used spirit powers for murder, now he's using them for mercy).

(A:TLA is also a show made with kids in mind. They may not be able to make Aang kill Ozai. He got his bending stolen and sentenced to prison for the rest of his life. That's a more than serviceable punishment for a show aimed at kids).

(Ps: If Ozai had died Zuko would never have found out where his mother is).

The concept is fantastic. Nothing wrong there. But now, it's time for the critisism.

What's the problem then?

Despite looking in internet forums, it's entirely possible that I missed some things. With that being said, the Lion Turtles could have been foreshadowed better. As I stated, I don't mind it. But as far as I recall, it was foreshadowed once in The Library, and that's it. (Edit: It's also foreshadowed in Sokka's Master and The Beach, but the point still stands).

The Lion Turtle is a twist, it subverted expectations, but that doesn't mean it has to be a deus ex machina. That's what foreshadowing is for. It's the literary device to making a plot twist feel believable. The result is many fans, including me, feeling as though it came out of no where, even though it didn't.

Overall, I love that Aang spared Ozai. It ties into the themes of the show and Aang's role as the last airbender. It makes perfect sense, it's rather beautiful. However, I do wish the foreshadowing was better.

And for Anon, to apologize for the wait, I dedicate you this meme:

[empressofmankind]

CROCTOBER 1/31 - "Uncle Croc"

Not Crocodile bringing a gun to the custody knife-fight...

Inktober masterpost

[abyssalaquarist00]

UNCLE SAM'S NEW CLOTHES: How are American tax dollars spent?

Read more for artist commentary.

have had this concept simmering for a while now. wanted to imagine the "uncle sam" character as if he were to appear as a contemporary US politician. his pockets flow with taxpayer dollars, and its more the merrier with him. a couple things to note..

ill start off with the dogs. the US depends on Saudi and Emirati oil, hence why those dogs are black. theyre barking for american money, and aid in conflicts theyve started. these countries depend on the US military.

now the UAE in particular wants to become westernized, its in its best interest to do so. i have something else planned for that, so i wont get into it now.

israel is hiding between uncle sams legs, with a mouth dripping with blood. that is where its most safe, to be shielded from criticism. the dog is white in representation of both the flag and the fact that the zionist movement originated in europe.

the US uses these three nations militaries as its own personal attack dogs in what we call the "middle east" (which has its own british / french colonial origins)

also look up: why is the UAE called little sparta?

the zippo lighter represents the US military, they were also famously used in the vietnam war. you can assume that uncle sam used the zippo to light the dollars to light the cigar, which in turn is causing thick smoke (pollution)

of course its stupid to light the money on fire to light the cigar, but he has all the money a person could want. what does he care he burns a few hundred bucks?

the US military is actually one of the worlds leading polluters! you can look this up yourself if youd like.

and finally the cigar. the US sanctions and blockades countries they oppose, spend decades on propaganda against them, yet they want to reap all their resources and exports. what they cant have is luxury, so they crave it even more.

i think i forgot to mention the tie. its red and blue because the 2 party system is the same lol

the art might speak for itself but i know we live in a time where media literacy is at a low so. here it goes

crossposted from twitter of course

[unforth]

@esper-aroon has enabled me, so here let me scream at y'all about The Imperial Uncle.

Okay, so I recently read The Imperial Uncle (Huang Shu) by Da Feng Gua Guo from Peach Flower House and I really loved it??? It's first person pov, mlm, about the Emperor's uncle Jing Chengjun, who is mistrusted by everyone simply because of who his parents were and his position, and so he's basically given up on trying to convince people that he's actually a nice, decent person without ulterior motives. He's super trapped by his position, and there's so much he can't say and do, and he's also a hopeless romantic, like, from his own mouth all he really wants is to sleep beside and wake up next to someone who actually gives a shit about him, and even that is basically out of reach in his life. Like, the book starts with his wife (who he has never once had sex with) storming into a meeting he's having and announcing he's a cuckold and she's pregnant.

But also, this poor bastard really thinks he knows what's going on and his very smart. Very unreliable narrator. He's actually kinda a hilarious, impulsive himbo. But the TL:DR is that his loneliness and isolation and the extent to which he's politically trapped routinely lead him to make absolutely terrible decisions.

E. Danglar's translation is absolutely gorgeous, too, and... idk, if you love political plots, melodramatic idiot main characters, a dose of pining, and a slow burn that eventually pays off, come take a look??? (some people think it's a love triangle??? idk, I never really got that vibe, I never felt it was really in doubt which of the two potential dudes he'd end up with, but maybe I only feel that way because I got it right, lmao).

Anyway, I can't stop thinking about how these two idiots end up finally finding each other and getting together, and I have an entire AU in my head (a modern corporate one) and part of another (canon divergent from like a decade before the book starts), and I just want people to love this book as much as I did and scream with me about it.

[fortune-maiden]

I know Imperial Uncle is a danmei but the real highlight is every one of Prince Huai’s interactions with his nephews

He loves them so much T_T

[randomidiocyncrazies]

SCREAMING CRYING FROTHING AT THE MOUTH

my beloved Imperial Uncle is licensed!!! I’m really curious about how they’ll handle the various terms of address and personal pronouns, as the reveal a lot about the shifting relationships and power dynamics between characters...

[theyilinglaozus]

Peach Flower House danmei is officially closing down. Known for licensing danmei to the west, with titles including Golden Terrace, Little Mushroom, In the Dark, Peach Blossom Debt and The Imperial Uncle, PFH will continue to be holding a sale up until site closure on the 30th of November. So if you live in the United States or Canada, I highly suggest grabbing whatever copies are left while you still can!

Once this stocks gone these books will likely go out of print, meaning that the only way to purchase them will be second hand. For those outside the USA, check with other online retailers for danmei, as these titles have been released through other stores also. Go and grab those novels so you can continue to enjoy and share them in the future!