#Late Ming Period

[chinesehanfu]

[Hanfu · 漢服]Chinese Early Qing Dynasty Traditional Clothing & Qingming Festival/清明節

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Han ethnic Women's attire & Hairstyle ”Peony Head (牡丹头) in the Early Qing Dynasty

Han ethnic Women's attire and hairstyle in the early Qing Dynasty was not like men that force to change by the Qing government. Women's attire and hairstyle were not particularly different from late Ming Dynasty.

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【Qingming Festival/清明節】

The Qingming festival or Ching Ming Festival,also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day, Ancestors' Day, the Clear Brightness Festival, or the Pure Brightness Festival), is a traditional Chinese festival observed by ethnic Chinese in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites and make ritual offerings to their ancestors. Offerings would typically include traditional food dishes and the burning of joss sticks and joss paper.The holiday recognizes the traditional reverence of one's ancestors in Chinese culture.

The origins of the Qingming Festival go back more than 2500 years, although the observance has changed significantly. It became a public holiday in mainland China in 2008, where it is associated with the consumption of qingtuan,green dumplings made of glutinous rice and Chinese mugwort or barley grass.

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【Qingming Festival Customs: 插柳/戴柳 put willow/wearing willow 】

“清明不插柳，红颜变皓首”：

As the saying goes, it means in Qingming Festival, in the first ten days of March of the lunisolar calendar every year, is the day when traditional customs go to graves to worship ancestors. According to the old custom, when returning from worshiping ancestors during the Qingming Festival, people have to break off willow branches and wear them on head.It is said that if people don’t do this, young people will become old people with white hair.

According to the "Qing Jialu/清嘉录" written by Gu Lu of the Qing Dynasty：

「清明日，滿街叫賣楊柳，人家買之插於門上，農人以插柳日晴雨佔水旱，若雨，主水。」

every Qingming Festival, "willows are sold all over the street, and people buy them and put them on the door.

Q:why wearing willow or put willow on the door?

Jia Sixie(贾思勰)of the Northern Wei Dynasty(386－535) said in "Qi Min Yao Shu/齐民要术":  “取柳枝著户上，百鬼不入家。”

“Take the willow and put it on the door/house, and a hundred ghosts will not enter the house”

It is said that a hundred spirits come out on Qingming Festival, and people need to worship their ancestors while carefully keep a certain distance from other spirits and keep them out of house. Willow has become a weapon for people to avoid evil spirits and protect people from them.

The custom is still widespread in parts of China especially Wudi(吴地) area： area in the south of the Yangtze River

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In ancient times, there were many interesting Qingming Festival customs. Apart from visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites and make ritual offerings to their ancestors, there were also a series of custom sports activities such as spring outing, swinging, Cuju (蹴鞠：is an ancient Chinese ball game）  , playing polo etc.

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🧚🏻‍Recreation Work：@吃货娃娃

🔗Weibo：https://weibo.com/1868003212/MAyid6Mtv

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[giucomix]

i was going to make a shitpost about eunuchs but then i read about the process and the social dynamics of castration in imperial china and that shit was really fucked up. it's almost not worth the price

[captainamsel]

Ma Xiuying from the Radiant Emperor duology!

Design/research notes under the cut

The characters read 馬秀英 (Pinyin: mǎ xiù yīng), her personal name, and 孝慈高皇后 (xiào cí gāo huáng hòu), her name as Empress.

There's certainly no dearth of material on Chinese clothing history out there. That is, if you can read Chinese, which I can't, so everything I have is from secondary and tertiary sources and/or relies on translation software. Fortunately, we're dealing with historical fantasy here, so some anachronisms are not only allowed but encouraged.

While Shelley Parker-Chan takes many liberties, the books are still set in a very specific time period, which is both a blessing and a curse. Most readily accessible resources will tell you about dynasties, which can span hundreds of years, and the duology takes place in a transitional period. So how to dress a Semu girl from the Yuan dynasty who lives with Nanren rebels wanting to revive the Song dynasty and who later becomes the first Ming empress?

Let's go through them one by one. The best resource was this book which is on the Internet Archive. I disregarded Mongol and Semu influences for the design since clothing is very much political and a way to either stand out or fit in with the surrounding society, see for example Wang Baoxiang wearing a topknot in Khanbaliq. Ma, I imagine, would want to fit in with the Nanren around her, so she's pretty much wearing the attire of Han women under Yuan rule. For the hair I went for something that looks youthful while being plausible, though I found very little on hair in this period, so who's to say.

The next one is from a specific scene in the book, so there is some description to go on: red, long sleeves with gold embroidery, high hair, red and gold ribbons. Since this is the scene where Ma declares herself queen and future empress in front of the Red Turban, it has to be a very deliberate dress. It therefore takes inspiration from Song aristocrats' broad-sleeved gowns as well as from 翟衣 (dí yī), the highest ceremonial gown of both Song and Ming empresses. (Some examples for 翟衣 are in this post, which also features the bird shaped crown I just had to include, and this post.) Her hair still has the loops, but it's much more sculpted.

Finally, Empress Ma! This is mainly based on the two actual portraits I could find of the historical figure that Ma is based on, with elements taken from other portraits and paintings. It includes 凤冠 (fèng guān), the phoenix crown, 霞帔 (xiá pèi), the sash, and 禁步 (jīn bù), the jade belt. This video shows how Ming dynasty layers are worn, but it refers to a much later period so it's not quite the same as Ma's.

(Some additional, historically irrelevant notes: I realized too late that a right-to-left timeline might be more appropriate. Oh well! Also, how the colours photograph frustrates me, I swear I did not make her this deathly pale. And finally, some of the characters look a bit smudged because my cat spilled water on them. I did what I could to save them.)

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

"In historical context though-"

This book has potatoes and chilis in supply and demand when these were not traded until the late 15th century... and not used for cuisine and a foods crop cultivator in China well into the 17th and 18th century almost 200 years later. Folding fans that are seen abundantly were not popularized until the 13th century. Taoism was at its largest during the Warring States period of 450 BCE–c. 300 BCE with the epigram of Tao Te Ching. Confucianism became the abundant practice as of 206 BCE to 220 BCE with the authoring of The Analects. It uses fabricated province names for real world Chinese provinces that are relegated to a simple five, when there are of 22 (claimed) and have been the most stable to survive since the Yuan dynasty 1271-1368. Idioms used vary through the centuries and are still a staple of modern day vernacular. The version of futou Jin Guangyao alone wears was a wushamao (乌纱帽), used in the Ming dynasty 1368-1398. Futou was made a part of ministerial and court attire during the reign of Emperor Wu 560 BCE.

The author has said it has no standing Imperial Dynasty it takes place in and has borrowed aesthetics from the Han, Wei-Jin, Song, Tang, Ming and even Qing. All of which had seen several turns of dynasty from Han to Mongol to Han divine rulings. So no, there is no historical context to take in regard when it comes to Madam Yu's overt abuse, to Jiang Cheng's abuse, the clan's classisms and hypocrisy.

It was written in an alternate fantasy of China without this context of real world history and through the lens of modernity of its author. Do not use a history that does not pertain to a novel that is not has not and was never called historical.

[firstservepercentage]

Carlos and Coco seem to be wearing a ming/qing inpired hanfu pattern? But in a very modern "stylization".

okay imma nerd out about chinese traditional clothing a bit (a lot)

so here they are both wearing mid-late Ming dynasty (roughly mid 15th century - mid 16th century)style traditional Chinese clothing. in this period the economy was good so everyone were wearing pretty cloths with fancy patterns (in a lot of the times peasants were not allowed to wear bright colours and complex patterns), and the clothes and their sleeves were quite long and wide.

Carlos here is wearing a Ming dynasty style round collar robe （明制圆领袍）and I am quite sure that this one is of the mid-late Ming period because there are added pieces of cloth to hem of the robe which started to exist in mid-ming. also they managed to cover up his pants and made the whole thing look a lot more proper lol 😭 and carlos' robe has dragon patterning, which would be extremely bold of him if he wore that in early ming (in that period of time only the emperor or very important members of the government could wear clothes wth dragon patterns) but in mid-late Ming the economy was good everyone were quite happy so people didnt really care anymore. But! looking at the cloth and the pattern design and print the maker of this particular robe probably did not think that much about it because this one is probably from the average try-on-some-tradtional-clothes type of stuff at tourist attractions, and would cost around 300CNY if you want to buy one. The better quality ones can easily go 2000+CNY.

Coco here is wearing a stand-up collar side opening short coat （竖领大襟短袄）. yes there is actually a stand-up collar, but this type of collar is usually super tight and shes taller and more muscular than the average asian women so no wonder why she wasnt able to buckle the buttons up😭 this type of collar stated to become popular around mid ming dynasty too. she is also wearing a horse face skirt （马面裙）, which is essentially a really large piece of cloth (its actually two pieces sewed together but anyways) with a lot of pleats but three of them are super wide, and you wear it by wrapping it around your waist with the wide pleats at the front and the back of your body. its the standard lower body clothing for women through out the Ming dynasty, and were also quite popular in the Qing dynasty too. on a side note this thing is actually super comfy and easy to move around in, i some times wear mine on a normal day with a shirt or a sweater or any top and they go together quite well

to explain the two pieces sewed together part ⬇️

and im getting a bit unnecessarily emo over this because when rafa and jcf and moya did that very similar photo shoot in 2005 they were wearing very historically incorrect costumes because knowledge about traditional clothings of the Han ethnic group (ie the majority of chinese people) was largely lost because of several historical events and also people genuinely didnt care. from around 2010 people started to recover knowledge about our traditional clothing again and it started with a very niche group of people (including me) making, buying and wearing very poorly made, quite ugly and historically incorrect clothes lol😭😭😭 so its quite nice to see even though they just pulled out several pieces form the average try-on-some-tradtional-clothes at tourist sites type of collections, these pieces are more or less based on actual historical clothing (tbh the patternings are still kind of sus but its still a huge step forward 😌)

[clairedaring]

Week 8 - My Stand-In News from YYDS Entertainment

The police received complaints from villagers. Normally in a quiet alley there are never dogs. Well, many dogs are barking at the same time at yesterday late nightt. They tolerated for a while and finally couldn't stand it. They went out to see and found a young man age around mid-20 leading three dogs and ordering them to bark periodically. Creating distress for the people in that area. In the near distance, another male was found standing on the fence of the house. crying like he was in a drama. It is believed that it was a filming crew that filmed overtime without permission. The officer ordered a fine of 500 baht for the dog leash. The accused works as a secretary. The police kindly reminds them not to let it happen again.

Warning from official! Beware of high-interest informal loan gangs using force to collect debt illegally. Many people were damaged and injured. At this time there are no clues to the culprit. If seen, you can report it.

TONG-TINKARN IS APPRECIATIVE THAT THE PREMIERE OF 9 SWORDS THE MOVIE RECEIVED RESPONSES FROM FANCLUBS AND MEDIA. Tong-Tinkarn revealed that during filming, he worked hard in rehearsals. He played all the action sequences himself by not using a single stand-in. He got slightly injured during filming but worth it for this work. Thank you to the audience for the good response. He is confident that the second part will definitely receive higher income than the first part. And he is ready to become a billionaire movie star

Mike-Methiyut Akrahyothar, the new generation heirs of the Akrahyothar Group. He is glad that sales of light filter film for building continue to grow in the Thai market. There is also a large amount of exports to foreign markets. This helped him to win the election results from the most recent board meeting and sits on the podium as the new president of the Akaryothar Group. In an interview, he said that the company often produces products to solve problems in the daily life of consumers. Revealing company plans for the second half of the year, he is ready to enter the digital key market. The newest product can be used through the fingerprint and face scanning system. It solves problem for some users who like to forget their condo keycards. This digital key provides maximum security. The product is still under development.

So Ming had Secretary Jim make the dogs bark at him so he can dramatically cry and beg Joe to let him in. Meanwhile, his brother Mike is making yet another investment venture to prevent his brother from playing Romeo 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[specialagentartemis]

NOT COUNTING ROCKS (unless it’s a specific fossil from a time period you can name) or buildings (you cannot hold those)…

[yebreed]

Rural Dongyang Houtu Temple From the Yuan Dynasty

Dongyang Houtu Temple (東羊后土廟), located in Dongyang village, Linfen (臨汾市), Shanxi. Built in the Yuan dynasty, in the fifth year of Zhizheng (至正) (1345). The remaining murals and architecture date from the Yuan dynasty, the altar figurines are from the Ming era.

The temple was erected to worship Houtu (后土神), the Queen of the Earth, ancient goddess of all lands and mountains.

It is curious that the sources of the Spring and Autumn period refer to Houtu as a male deity. Being incorporated into Taoism, Houtu retained his gender from the very beginning, worshipped as one of the Four Heavenly Ministers (四神).

However, he later fell victim to the widespread belief that the Earth represents the Yin principle, and therefore has feminine characteristics. This is how the image of the Lady Mother Earth (地母娘娘) from the late Taoism arose.

Photo: ©大关沿路拍

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

sorry for being super late to the zhuge liang time-loop party but image we're several iterations in and our boy kongming is sitting in his little mountain hut waiting for liu bei to show up like he always does but this time sun zhou yu turns up instead

oh ho this is a hilarious concept! this is the enemies to enemies timeline we all need. i think it would make more sense for lu su and zhou yu to turn up, because of the simple reason that sun quan is a duke at this point and can't leave the palace for such an extended period of time vs liu bei the one-horse warlord.

ok, the timeline needs to be super fucked up at this stage in order to bring these two togather, because in the alpha timeline even though kongming was fairly well known as a genius hermit, he hasn't done anything so extraordinary at this stage that it warrents a personal visit from the two most powerful people in the southland.

i think we can do this by making him kinda new to the whole timeloop thing, and he accidentally/on purpose reveals some future events in order to get liu bei to find him faster, and it ends up backfiring.

picture this: kongming is sitting in his thatched hut, tears in his eyes, heart all a-flutter, waiting for his beloved leige lord to turn up, and the servant is like "master, there's three important men at the door" (idk who the third guy should be but it's a nice round number. maybe huang gai?) kongming: !!!! "ok, I will play some music to set the mood. i was rude last time by falling asleep and i want to make a good impression."

not even 3 bars in and a VERY familiar voice calls out "you're flat."

kongming is so fucking outraged that for a second he forgets to be surprised because that was ONE HALF-STEP DOWN, ASSHOLE!!!! YOU trying getting reincarnated and deincarnated several times over and then meet your soulmate (he called liu bei that irl, look it up) and see how steady your hands are, asshole!!! god, this is just like wei wuxian from my danmeis...

then it dawns on him that none of the peach garden trio have musical literacy. he runs outside, takes one look at the three men in his courtyard and is like "well, this timeline is a wash. aight im gonna go out back and bash my head in. on second thought, i should do it here and freak zhou yu out. suicidal existential despair is no excuse not to troll zhou yu."

but the afformentioned takes this opportunity to stroll into kongming's bedroom, and starts tuning his qin (not a euphamism) without permission. kong ming says passive-agressively, "i see you're quite adept at tightening another man's strings" (not a euphamism), zhou yu replies "a neglected instrument is like a neglected soul" (not a euphamism), "are you offering to duet?" says kongming through gritted teeth to which zhou yu replies "oh don't worry, i can see you're out of practise so i'll be gentle and take it slow," (not a--) and it's at this point lu su grabs huang gai by the elbow and goes "wow, what a nice bamboo grove! the two of us are going for a walk! a nice LONG walk FAR AWAY in the BAMBOO GROVE for THIRTY TO FORTY MINUTES! see you in THIRTY TO FORTY MINUTES!"

huang gai: i literally spent 30 years in the army you don't need all these euphamisms.

lu su: LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SCENIC RUSTLING OF THE BAMBOO!

*insert that scene from Flirting Scholar where zhou yu and kongming start fighting, they roll under a table, there is a brief skirmish, and they come out with their clothes swaped. they are playing doubles on a single qin the entire time.*

[unforth]

This is gonna seem so random but I think we’re all looking for a little escapism today. I see you’ve read Golden Stage! As someone very new to danmei…any recs for similar stories? I guess I mostly mean danmei but with a solid plot outside of the romance. Sadly I’ve already read all MXTX’s stuff.

*waves* HELLO ANON. YES. I am happy to discuss this topic or literally ANYTHING that isn't *gestures vaguely*.

I've read a fair amount of danmei, and I really liked Golden Stage. What I personally loved about Golden Stage was the politicking, which is something I enjoy tons in most books, and that plus the romance really made the book for me. If you're similar - which it sounds like you are! - here are some titles I've read that spring to mind:

Thousand Autumns by Meng Xi Shi (officially licensed, all volumes out): a wuxia novel about an evil sect leader, Yan Wushi, and the fallen leader of a noble, upright daoist sect, Shen Qiao. The politicking is complex and excellent, and it's most definitely romance-lite. Yan Wushi is a horribly wonderful little gremlin of a man, and Shen Qiao is in my top three fave danmei characters with Chu Wanning and Xie Lian, for an idea of the kind of person he is. Highly recommend.

The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua by Meng Xi Shi (unlicensed; I read the Chichi translation, tho there are some issues with it). Intensely political historical fiction about a low-level but capable administrator during the Ming Dynasty, facing up against the corrupt court of the Emperor and the Emperor's favorite concubine, with the help of a morally upright military officer. It's also romance-lite. Heavy politics/romance-lite is kinda Meng Xi Shi's...thing. The show "The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty is loosely based on this book.

Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine by Man Man He Qi Duo (unlicensed; the fantranslation has unfortunately been deleted, though at least some of it is still on the Wayback machine): a historical-esque (but not set in a specific time period) story about a disgraced former top-exam-scorer who returns to the capital out of necessity to help his charges, and his encounters with his former...crush? ...captor? ...it's complicated... who is now the most feared right-arm of the Emperor. I'd say, of all the titles on this list, this is the one most similar to Golden Stage in terms of the balance between the politics and the romance.

The Imperial Uncle by Da Feng Gua Guo (officially licensed, only one volume long): the uncle of the Emperor has a reputation for scheming that he, himself, thinks is entirely unwarranted. This book is first person, and Prince Huai is a delightfully unreliable narrator. The romance includes some misdirection (I'd consider who he ends up with to be a spoiler) but I really enjoyed this historical-esque political drama.

So...those are the ones that spring to mind from what I've personally read. :D Others may be able to toss some other recs into a reblog or the comments. I hope you find a book you love, anon!

ETA ACK I FORGOT ONE I WANTED TO INCLUDE!

Copper Coins by Mu Su Li (recently licensed by 7s! will start coming out late next year): wuxia historical/fantasy China setting, about a celestial dragon who was gravely injured and is now trying to get healthy again and also figure out who hurt him, and the stolid monk who very begrudgingly starts helping him. This one is less political but has a similar mystery vibe, and the main ship are a lot of fun; their dynamic is similar to Wangxian.

[chinesehanfu]

[Cdrama Hanfu]𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀-𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘆 (𝟵𝟬𝟳–𝟭𝟮𝟳𝟵𝗔𝗗) 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗿 & 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗳𝘂 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮【墨雨云间/𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲】

【Historical Reference Artifacts】

1.China Portrait of Qian Duo (10 March 852– 6 May 932), King Taizu of Wuyue (吳越太祖)<Ming Dynasty replica>

2.China Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period: <White marble relief sculpture of Musician> Unearthed from the tomb of Wang Chuzhi, the governor of Yiwu Army during the Five Dynasties period

3.Chinese Five Dynasties Period and Ten Kingdoms Murals: Tomb of Feng Hui冯晖墓

【History about Chinese Traditional Headwear: Futou】

Futou (simplified Chinese: 幞头; traditional Chinese: 襆頭/幞頭; also pronounced and written as putou), also known as fu (幞) and toujin (頭巾),[1] was one of the most important forms of Chinese headwear in ancient China with a history of more than one thousand years. The futou first appeared in Northern Zhou under the reign of Emperor Wu where it became prevalent. It was also commonly worn in the Tang and Song dynasties.  The futou was typically worn by government officials.The futou was originally turban-like headwear which was tied at the back of its wearer's head, with the two corners going to opposite directions and acting as decorations. From the Sui to the Ming dynasties, the futou evolved and was developed based on the fujin.The futou eventually came to assume a variety of shapes and styles.The shape of the futou worn by the government officials in the Song and Ming dynasties, the latter known as the wushamao (烏紗帽), was based on the futou of the Tang dynasty.

The Chinese futou was also introduced in both Korea Unified Silla and continued to be worn by government officials until the late Korea Joseon: 25  The futou with a jinzi (lining) was also introduced back in the Sogdian areas in Central Asia spreading to the Western regions through the Xinjiang region. The futou with jinzi was also introduced in Japan during the Japan Nara period through Prince Shōtaku.

Sui, Tang dynasty, and Five dynasties and ten kingdoms period

Prior to the Song dynasty, the futou was mostly made of black muslin.  In the early Tang, the futou was a sijiaoruanjin (四腳軟巾; 'Four-feet soft scarf'),where all four ribbons were allowed to hang down after being tied. Later on, the early Tang dynasty minister, Ma Zhou, was the first person to use a square kerchief in order to tie a futou and was also the person who added a lining to shape his futou making it more beautiful.The lining which was added to the inside of the futou from the year 614 AD was called jinzi (巾子); the jinzi was used to make the futou look more straight and beautiful in terms of appearance. After being cut into the desired shape, the jinzi was painted black with lacquer and would then be covered by the futou. The jinzi was made with soft and light tung wood and with other materials such as bamboo strips, timbo, miscanthus, silk, and leather. It was also possible to line the futou with a mount-shaped item made out of paulownia (Chinese: 桐木为冠; pinyin: Tóngmù wéi guān; lit. 'paulownia crown') in the front. The step-by-step process to wear the futou with jinzi was to tie the hair up in a topknot, followed by covering the topknot with the jinzi as hard lining, then wrapping the head and the jinzi with a black, square-shaped piece of cloth, and finally tying the cloth in the desired style. The futou with jinzi then became the standard form of futou in the early Tang dynasty. A form of futou with jinzi was a kerchief with two corners attached with two ribbons in opposite directions of each other; the ribbons would then be tied at the back of the wearer's head, allowing the two back ribbons to hang down freely as a form of decoration.With time, the futou with jinzi was further developed, and a ribbon was attached to each corner of the turban to make it more decorative; two ribbons were tied on the top of the head while the back ribbons were tied and were allowed to hang down freely. The futou with jinzi could also have all four ribbons tied at the back of the head and allowed to hang down freely. The yingwangboyang (Chinese: 英王踣样), a futou with a big and forward top jinzi, was created by Emperor Zhongzong and became prevalent during his reign when he awarded this type of futou to his officials. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the neiyang (Chinese: 内样), a futou with a small and round top jinzi became popular around the year 726 AD. Moreover, by adding wire or silk strings inside the added ribbons, the futou could take different shapes and styles depending on its wearer's liking. However, in the Tang dynasty, only the Emperors could use these hard ribbons; these hard ribbons would be bent upward.The Tang dynasties emperor wore a futou with two upturned tails until the Five dynasties period.The Tang dynasty emperors also wore the zhijiaofutou (Chinese: 直腳幞头; pinyin: zhíjiǎofútóu; lit. 'straight-feet futou').

For more the history of futou's evolution, please refer to:

The evolution of futou in China

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Photo：Chinese Actor 曾柯琅/Zeng Kelang

CDrama name：【墨雨云间/𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲】

🔗Weibo：https://weibo.com/u/7823001376

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[audreydoeskaren]

Note about periodization

I am going to start describing time periods in Chinese history with European historical terms like medieval, Renaissance, early modern, Georgian and Victorian and so on, alongside the standard dynastic terms like Song, Ming and Qing I usually use. So like something about the Ming Dynasty I will tag Ming Dynasty and Renaissance. I already do it sometimes but not consistently. Here’s why.

A common criticism levied against this practice is that periodization is geographically specific and that it’s wrong and eurocentric to refer to, say, late Ming China as Renaissance China. It is a valid criticism, but in my experience the result of not using European periodization is that people default to ‘ancient’ when describing any period in Chinese history before the 20th century, which does conjure up specific images of European antiquity that do not align temporally with the Chinese period in question. I have talked about my issue with ‘ancient China’ before but I want to elaborate. People already consciously or subconsciously consider European periodizations of history to be universal, because of the legacy of colonialism and how eurocentric modern human culture generally is. By not using European historical terms for non-European places, people will simply think those places exist outside of history altogether, or at least exist within an early, primitive stage of European history. It’s a recipe for the denial of coevalness. I think there is a certain dangerous naivete among scholars who believe that if they refrain from using European periodization for non-European places, people will switch to the periodization appropriate for those places in question and challenge eurocentric history writing; in practice I’ve never seen it happen. The general public is not literate enough about history to do these conversions in situ. I have accumulated a fairly large pool of examples just from the number of people spamming ‘ancient China’ in my askbox despite repeatedly specifying the time periods I’m interested in (not antiquity!). If I say ‘Ming China’ instead of ‘Renaissance China’ people will take it as something on the same temporal plane as classical Greece instead of Tudor England. How many people would be surprised if I say that Emperor Qianlong of the Qing was a contemporary of George Washington and Frederick the Great? I’ve seen people talk about him as if he was some tribal leader in the time of Tacitus. European periodization is something I want to embrace ‘under erasure’ so to say, using something strategically for certain advantages while acknowledging its problems. Now there is a history of how the idea of ‘ancient China’ became so entrenched in popular media and I think it goes a bit deeper than just Orientalism, but that’s topic for another post. Right now I’m only concerned with my decision to add European periodization terms.

In order to compensate for the use of eurocentric periodization, I have carried out some experiments in the reverse direction in my daily life, by using Chinese reign years to describe European history. The responses are entertaining. I live in a Georgian tenement in the UK but I like to confuse friends and family by calling it a ‘Jiaqing era flat’. A friend of mine (Chinese) lives in an 1880s flat and she burst out in laughter when I called it ‘Guangxu era’, claiming that it sounded like something from court. But why is it funny? The temporal description is correct, the 1880s were indeed in the Guangxu era. And ‘Guangxu’ shouldn’t invoke royal imagery anymore than ‘Victorian’ (though said friend does indulge in more Qing court dramas than is probably healthy). It is because Chinese (and I’m sure many other non-white peoples) have been trained to believe that our histories are particular and distant, confined to a geographical location, and that they somehow cannot be mapped onto European history, which unfolded parallel to the history of the rest of the world, until we had been colonized. We have been taught that European history is history, but our history is ethnography.

It should also be noted that periodization for European history is not something essentialist and intrinsic either, period terms are created by historians and arbitrarily imposed onto the past to begin with. I was reading a book about medievalism studies and it talked about how the entire concept of the Middle Ages was manufactured in the Renaissance to create a temporal other for Europeans at the time to project undesired traits onto, to distance themselves from a supposedly ‘dark’ past. People living in the European Middle Ages likely did not think of themselves as living in a ‘middle’ age between something and something, so there is absolutely no natural basis for calling the period roughly between the 6th and 16th centuries ‘medieval’. Despite questionable origins, periodization of European history has become more or less standard in history writing throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, whereas around the same time colonial anthropological narratives framed non-European and non-white societies, including China, as existing outside of history altogether. Periodization of European history was geographically specific partially because it was conceived with Europe in mind and Europe only, since any other place may as well be in some primordial time.

Perhaps in the future there will develop global periodizations that consider how interconnected human history is. There probably are already attempts but they’re just not prominent enough to reach me yet. Until that point, I feel absolutely no moral baggage in describing, say, the Song Dynasty as ‘medieval’ because people in 12th century Europe did not think of themselves as ‘medieval’ either. I am the historian, I do whatever I want, basically.

[bunnakit]

my stand in ep 6 thoughts, feelings, etc.

lately i don't really have much to say about the show, i don't know that there is much to say on a deeper level because right now things are spelled out pretty clearly as we enter a transitional period of the story.

i did have a thought while watching yesterday's episode that the overarching story formula felt familiar, and then i realized from where. the complicated entanglement between joe, ming, and sol reminds me a lot of a popular iteration of the greek myth of hyacinthus, zephyrus, and apollo.

in this myth apollo is in love with hyacinthus and the two are close, however, zephyrus also harbors a love for hyacinthus. one day, while apollo and hyacinthus are playing with a discus zephyrus' jealousy gets the best of him - i've seen two iterations; one where he decides 'if i can't have hyacinthus no one can' and intentionally blows the discus to strike him, and a second iteration where he blows the discus off track intending to strike apollo but it instead strikes the mortal hyacinthus - either way, the outcome is the same with apollo cradling a dying mortal hyacinthus, weeping over his body, and eventually turning hyacinthus' blood into a flower.

it's not 1:1 direct translation/formula but i definitely think there are a lot of connections that can be made between the two stories and i just think that's neat.

that's all i really have for this week, i'm really swamped with my irl job and i'm very eepy, but i hope you're all enjoying the show as much as i am!

[inspofromancientworld]

Legendary creatures: Kitsune, Kumiho, hồ ly tinh, and huli jing

Fox spirits such as kitsune (狐, きつね) of Japan, kumiho (Hangul 구미호 or Hanja 九尾狐) of Korea, hồ ly tinh (狐狸精) of Vietnam, or huli jing (狐狸精) of China are shape-shifting fox spirits, usually having nine tails. They are typically tricksters that can be either benevolent or malevolent.

By Unknown painter from late 4th to mid 5th century A.D., unknown photographer - http://www.sohu.com/a/193975015_556515, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73024755

The oldest version of the nine-tailed fox spirits was from China. The first story that has the juli jing was the Shanhaijin (山海经 Classic of Mountains and Seas) which was compiled sometime in the fourth century BCE, but the currently known form wasn't completed until the early Han dynasty (202 BCE - 9 CE). It contained stories fables of the pre-Qin dynasty (prior to about 700 BCE). It says '靑丘國在其北其人食五穀衣絲帛其狐四足九尾。 The Land of Blue Hills lies to the north where the inhabitants consume the Five Grains, wear silk and worship foxes that have four legs and nine tails.' The nine-tailed fox was seen as a good omen, only appearing in times of peace. However, it also says 'Three hundred li [150km/93.2 miles]farther east is Qingqiu Mountain, where much jade can be found on its south slope and green cinnabar on its north. There is a beast here whose form resembles a fox with nine tails. It makes a sound like a baby and is a man-eater. Whoever eats it will be protected against insect-poison (gu).' During the Han dynasty, the mythology added the ability to shape-shift into humans as they became older, one description of which was by Guo Pu (郭璞, 276-326 CE) 'When a fox is fifty years old, it can transform itself into a woman; when a hundred years old, it becomes a beautiful female, or a spirit medium, or an adult male who has sexual intercourse with women. Such beings are able to know things at more than a thousand miles' distance; they can poison men by sorcery, or possess and bewilder them, so that they lose their memory and knowledge; and when a fox is thousand years old, it ascends to heaven and becomes a celestial fox.'

By Chris Gladis (MShades) from Kyoto, Japan - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=748434

Fox worship arrived in Japan sometime during the Jomon period (14,000-300 BCE) as evidenced by necklaces including canine teeth and jawbones of foxes. Stories from China were brought to Japan by merchants who traded and brought in as kyuubi no kitsune (九尾の狐, nine-tailed fox). In the Nihon Shoki (日本書紀, the Chronicles of Japan), which is the second-oldest book of Japanese history, mentions foxes twice, both times as omens. It records that in 657 a byakko (white fox) in Iwami Province was a good omen. In 659, a fox bit a vine a construction worker and it was seen as an ill omen. There were tales of kitsune turning into kitsune nyoubo (狐女房 fox wife) that are revealed as foxes after pet dogs that were recorded in the Nihon Ryouki (日本霊異記) book of fables during the Heian period (recorded between 787-824).

By Hùng Phong Lê - Hùng Phong Lê, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=134883158

The Hồ ly tinh have specific ages that they have to reach to gain their tails. They must practice for a hundred years to have three tails and be considered a 'demon fox', for a thousand years to become a 'ghost fox' with six tails. When it gains nine tails, it's considered a 'celestial fox' and can turn its tails into humans. If the fox loses its tail, it dies. In the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (chữ Hán: 大越史記全書, Complete annals of Đại Việt), compiled in 1697, states that Emperor Lê Thái Tổ was saved by a hồ ly tinh when he was hiding in Lam Sơn from the Ming army. He took the time during his hiding to bury a girl in a white dress and that a white fox distracted the army when he was almost caught.

source: https://www.deviantart.com/auroreblackcat/art/Gumiho-283762936

The kumiho are able to become beautiful women who seduce men to eat their liver or heart. The Chinese story entered into Korea during the Three Kingdoms period (삼국시대, from about 494-562) and state that foxes become kumiho with great age and become stronger with that age, too. The kumiho were largely viewed neutrally, though self-centered in their need for human organs and souls. It wasn't until later that they were viewed as evil, bloodthirsty fox-human hybrids that might turn into humans if they can avoid eating human flesh for a thousand years. Something unique to the kumiho is that they develop and pass along 'yeowoo geseul' (여우구슬, 'fox marbles' that they give to and then take back from humans by an action that looks like kissing. It can only remain in the human part of the chain for a year before it can kill them completely. When it's returned to the fox part of the chain, the human has no memory of the yeowoo guseul or the kumino.

[hami-gua]

I'm back!!!

I'm back!! I was literally in no spirits to write fanfics, but thinking about picking it back up again.

Really have been in a Honkai Star Rail brain rot lately (mostly about xianzhou men ^^), and many ideas just popped into my brain. So please read through all of it and tell me which one you think I should start first. And please repost or share it with others! Comments are important!! I know it's long, but just bear with me. It's vital for me (>.<)

Long Fics:

Jing Yuan x Reader

Trope: Childhood friends to lovers

Relationships: Jing Yuan x Reader, TBD

About: Based off of a Ming dynasty emperor who only loved one woman (his childhood friend) for his whole life.

Reader Gender: Female

Tags: Fluff, Angst, Hurt/comfort, Ancient China au, childhood friends to lovers, Honkai Star Rail x Reader, hsr x reader, female! Reader, jing yuan x reader, hsr jing yuan, honkai star rail jing yuan, jing yuan x you

♡ ꒰ ◞ ◟ ꒱⌒)ᦱ 𓈒 ૮₍ ´ . ˕ .` ₎ა 𓈒 ⊹ ໒ ꐦ ｀ヮ ´ ა

Dan Heng x Reader

Trope: Reincarnation

Relationship: Dan Heng x Reader, TBD

About: Loosely based off of the c-drama 三生三世 (it’s really just an ost that inspired me). Dan Heng loves reader for the longest time, but instead of him reincarnating, it’s reader. Basically, reader is mortal while Dan Heng is immortal and heavenly law states that immortals aren’t allowed to fall in love with mortals. Essentially Dan Heng breaks that rule many times and gets punished many times (i.e. heavenly prison, loss of status, etc). And what if reader becomes immortal one day?

Reader Gender: Neutral

Tags: Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, guzhuang, immortal x mortal, immortality, Honkai Star Rail x Reader, hsr x reader, gn! Reader, dan heng x  reader, hsr dan heng, dan heng x you,  suggestive, reincarnation

♡ ꒰ ◞ ◟ ꒱⌒)ᦱ 𓈒 ૮₍ ´ . ˕ .` ₎ა 𓈒 ⊹ ໒ ꐦ ｀ヮ ´ ა

Jing Yuan x Reader

Trope: Maiden and knight

Relationships: Jing Yuan x Reader, TBD

About: Another one based loosely off of c-drama (again, it’s the ost doing it for me). This time loosely based off of Love Like the Galaxy. Some characters may be more calculating  than in the show. Only really thought of this cuz of Jing Yuan being a general.

Reader Gender: Neutral

Tags: Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, guzhuang, Honkai Star Rail x Reader, hsr x reader, gn! Reader, jing yuan x reader, hsr jing yuan, honkai star rail jing yuan, jing yuan x you

♡ ꒰ ◞ ◟ ꒱⌒)ᦱ 𓈒 ૮₍ ´ . ˕ .` ₎ა 𓈒 ⊹ ໒ ꐦ ｀ヮ ´ ა

Blade x Reader

Trope: Good x Evil

Relationships: Blade x Reader, TBD

About: Another another loosely inspired by the c-drama, Love Between Fairy and Devil. Though no, reader isn’t really gonna be an innocent dunce from the start. May display dumb, but not make it her personality. People around reader keep trying to tell them to stay away from the evil ones, but reader doesn’t really listen (cuz folks really don’t be telling them what the evil people look like) and ends up meeting the leader of said evil forces, Blade. Plot starts towards the beginning of the war between the good and evil.

Reader Gender: Neutral

Tags: Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, guzhuang, Honkai Star Rail x Reader, hsr x reader, gn! Reader, blade x reader, hsr blade, hsr blade x reader, blade x you, hsr blade x you

♡ ꒰ ◞ ◟ ꒱⌒)ᦱ 𓈒 ૮₍ ´ . ˕ .` ₎ა 𓈒 ⊹ ໒ ꐦ ｀ヮ ´ ა

Dan Heng x Reader

Trope: Can MDZS be a trope itself?

Relationships: Dan Heng x Reader, TBD

About: Inspired by MDZS/The Untamed. Although it won’t be danmei and will deviate with the fact it’s more chronological than having long periods of flashbacks (yes I’m looking at you Untamed, why tf did you spend so many episodes on flashbacks and then everything after just went by so quickly??? But that’s just my opinion -- anyways). Obviously not everything is going to be 100% accurate since this is a fanfic inspired by MDZS/The Untamed and Star Rail isn’t that.

Reader Gender: Neutral

Tags: Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, guzhuang, Honkai Star Rail x Reader, hsr x reader, gn! Reader, gn! Reader, dan heng x  reader, hsr dan heng, dan heng x you,  suggestive, resurrection

♡ ꒰ ◞ ◟ ꒱⌒)ᦱ 𓈒 ૮₍ ´ . ˕ .` ₎ა 𓈒 ⊹ ໒ ꐦ ｀ヮ ´ ა

Blade x Reader

Trope: Princ(ess) and knight

Relationships: Blade x Reader, Dan Heng & Reader (platonic)

About: Blade is assigned to be the personal guard of lord/lady by none other than their brother, Dan Heng. The lord/lady only thought of Blade as a sword and shield, they never thought they’d ever fall for the man with many mysteries. Yet they know, that those who hold many mysteries are the ones most likely to betray and use. That was just the way of court life. However, a small part of them just hopes -- wishes that Blade would never betray or use them for ulterior motives.

Reader Gender: Neutral

Tags: Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, guzhuang, Honkai Star Rail x Reader, hsr x reader, gn! Reader, gn! Reader, blade x reader, hsr blade, hsr blade x reader, blade x you, hsr blade x you, protective! Blade

♡ ꒰ ◞ ◟ ꒱⌒)ᦱ 𓈒 ૮₍ ´ . ˕ .` ₎ა 𓈒 ⊹ ໒ ꐦ ｀ヮ ´ ა

Luocha x Reader

Trope: Immortal and mortal

Relationships: Luocha x Reader, Fu Xuan (just filling in the role of the monk)

About: Based off of the Legend of the White Snake. Deviation will occur. Reader doesn’t have a sister, and Luocha is an actual doctor not scholar.  Reader will not be imprisoned in a pagoda (like is some shows/rendition of the story).

Reader Gender: Neutral

Tags: Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, guzhuang, Honkai Star Rail x Reader, hsr x reader, gn! Reader,  luocha x reader, hsr luocha, luocha x you, hsr luocha x you

One-Shots

Jing Yuan x Reader

About: Very loosely based off of Fuhao, the Shang dynasty warrior queen. Reader is is a priestess and  a warrior, going off to fight battles and returning victorious until one day, she didn’t return. Stricken with grief, Jing Yuan prepares a burial and tomb for his beloved queen.

Reader Gender: Female

Tags: Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, guzhuang, Honkai Star Rail x Reader, hsr x reader, gn! Reader, jing yuan x reader, hsr jing yuan, honkai star rail jing yuan, jing yuan x you,

♡ ꒰ ◞ ◟ ꒱⌒)ᦱ 𓈒 ૮₍ ´ . ˕ .` ₎ა 𓈒 ⊹ ໒ ꐦ ｀ヮ ´ ა

Dan Heng x Reader

About: Dan Heng (Imbibitor Lunae) takes a stroll for a break. Then stumbles upon a  unique looking figure: softly resting atop their hair were two long feathers of grey color. He had never seen someone like them before, so curiosity getting the best of him, he approaches them. Only for them to turn and look at him. That’s when he froze, both in embarrassment and in fear. Da peng, the only child of the phoenix to feast upon dragons. Da peng, the one who stands before him with a curious gaze.

Reader Gender: Neutral

Tags: Fluff, silly, no dan heng they're not gonna eat you, Honkai Star Rail x Reader, hsr x reader, gn! Reader, dan heng x  reader, hsr dan heng, dan heng x you, chinese mythology

[dangermousie]

I was thinking why I spent the bulk of My Stand In wanting to strangle Ming and never did warm up to him from beginning to end and I genuinely love Huaien in MYATB and a small part of it is any emotion Huaien feels is directed solely for/at XB unlike Ming's obsession with boring Tong

BUT

That's not really it. It's because my reaction to behaviors/characters is setting-dependent. And my atittudes on them are strongly dependent on whether it's a period or modern setting.

I have a very different attitude to actions of a period era killer brought up in a feudal society where human life has no value and killing of a whole clan for kicks is a matter of course, and who's been brought up in a fucked up rebel/imperial family with nonstop abuse and a spoiled modern day dude.

I will accept a hell of a lot more murder/dubcon/noncon/unhingedness/red flag/you name it in a period setting. Because it just fits.

It's sort of like Fei Wo Si Cun novel adaptations - MLs of Goodbye My Princess, Siege in Fog and Too Late to Love You do some truly unhinged stuff but I can understand it more because they are a period royal or a 1930s warlord. The one ML in her adaptations I can't stand is the ML of Sealed With a Kiss. I hated his blackmailing/abusing/rapist self but in watching I realized if that story was set in eg the Wei Dynasty, I'd put up with his "daughter of people I want revenge on must pay for their wrongdoing so I force her to be my mistress and humiliate her and threaten her to give her to my friends and oh I am also married" shenanigans a lot better. I mean, I can't say he'd be a love's young dream under any circumstances but then neither is the murderous rapist ML of GMP and while I can't say I root for him, he is a mesmerizing character, tragic as much as repelling - a shark in a tank full of other sharks.

Like - the sole time Boys Over Flowers' ML's actions made sense was in Gong which basically transposed the whole thing into the Qing Dynasty.

Or think of Meatbun's CFC, which I ended up loathing. I'd still have issues with how the last third blew up the themes set up in the first 2/3, but MC's actions would be less repellent to me if it was a period setting.

It can all be summed up as - if a modern man murders people on the reg, believes women are inferior to men while married to ten of them at once, and owns slaves, he should be in jail for life. If he's a 10th century dude, he's just average warrior dude.

Ming is a modern dude, a spoiled kid of a rich family who's never lived in an extreme, death is a second away and the whole world is like this, society. I have different standards for him than a period dude.