#character: chen fang zhou

[movielosophy]

Derailment | What if she gets the wrong idea?

[dilebe06]

My Favorite Male Characters

[lynne-monstr]

QZGS Fanwork Rec Bingo 2022 (Roundup)

In late 2022, the QZGS fandom had a rec event. I posted each rec in its own post, and now two years later, I finally have a masterlist.

I added some new recs in addition to the original set. These were in my notes at the time, but I didn't get myself in order in time for posting. I'm very glad to be able to include them now.

Rec guidelines: I tried to limit myself to one fic per author. I did not always succeed. This list is heavily biased towards yuhuang and Blue Rain because that's where my fannish interest lies.

NSFW recs or fics with content warnings will be indicated on the rec itself.

Fanworks under the cut

Pre-canon - That Dream, Passing On by kaleidastra

Author’s summary: Fang Shijing celebrated Blue Rain's first championship; along with someone he never expect he'd meet again. Rec notes: This fic makes me so happy!! It’s chaotic and funny and emotional all at once, and manages to have a lovely emotional resolution while still sucker punching you in the face in the best way. I love all of FSJ’s internal narration. And have I mentioned it’s funny! Adaptation: Novel/Donghua Characters: Fang Shijing, Wei Chen; gen No content warning

A work from before 2020 - they're never hiking ever again please and thank by andthenabanana

Author’s summary: “This,” Zheng Xuan says between heavy breaths, “is not bonding.” Rec notes: Ahhhh this fic is so wonderful. Blue Rain goes on a hike and there are Shenanigans. Full of teasing and team bonding and Huang Shaotian being the best vice captain. This fic brings Blue Rain to life and gives great warm fuzzies. Adaptation: Novel/Donghua Characters: Blue Rain; gen No content warnings

Rare Relationship focused - One big exhale (never did me no good) by UndeadRobins

Author’s summary: Different players need different incentives to help them improve. It doesn’t take long for Xiao Shiqin to figure out what Sun Xiang needs. Rec notes: The xsq/sx fic of my dreams! Their live action dynamic was begging for a fic like this, and this one delivers!I love how the dynamic between them creeps up slowly until it fills the entire page. Truly a gem of a fic. Adaptation: Live Action/Novel Characters: Xiao Shiqin/Sun Xiang Contains: light D/s, rated m

Glory focused - china's sword and curse by snoflakesun

Author’s summary: It… it could’ve been a fluke, or just a lucky moment. This was what most of the audience thought. Perhaps he had seen Yu Wenzhou’s screen, or maybe the mic didn’t pick up what he had said. But all of the pro players knew, this definitely wasn’t something that happened by chance. Rec notes: They’re partners your honor!!! Um I love everything about this. Fun banter, teamwork, and Huang Shaotian gets to trash talk as much as he wants! So much fun! I am a sucker for yuhuang synergy and fun battles and this delivers on everything. Adaptation: Novel/Donghua Characters:/Ships: Yu Wenzhou, Huang Shaotuan, Sun Xiang, Zhou Zekai; Yuhuang No content warnings

A fic longer than 10k - Memorable by Saxifactumterritum

Author’s summary: Huang Shaotian’s retirement is announced to the world at the last moment, right at the end of the season, but Blue Rain know about it a long time before that. Huang Shaotian retires, everyone expects him to stick around Blue Rain, but he doesn't. And then it's sad. Rec notes: Sad retirement fic 😭😭😭. My favorite thing about this fic (besides all the feelings and character stuff and friendships and OCs and everything else) is the very realistic look it takes about what happens when people move away. It’s so easy to pretend nothing will change but the truth is that it does, and it takes work to maintain those connections at a distance. The journey Huang Shaotian (and Blue Rain) take when Huang Shaotian leaves is, in turns, sad and sweet and funny and it feels like getting punched in the gut in the best way. Adaptation: Live Action Characters/Pairing: Huang Shaotian, Yu Wenzhou, Blue Rain; background yuhuang No content warnings

One of your favorite tropes - my baby brings heat like a mama does by wolframvonbielefeld

Author’s summary: GLORY FORUM POST #89566: huang shaotian is NOT in love with yu wenzhou. false alarm. Rec notes: A bit “idiots to lovers,” a bit “didn’t know they were dating,” and a whole lot of mutual pining and also friendships! This fic is just so much fun! Bonus for one of my all time favorite visual moments with huang shaotian getting caught (bewildered) holding a massive tub of lube. Brilliant, a masterpiece. The fic is unfinished, but I believe it’s just the epilogue that isn’t posted, and the existing fic delivers on emotional resolution. So even if you avoid WIPs, I still recommend this one. Adaptation: Novel/Donghua Characters/Ships: Yu Wenzhou/Huang Shaotian, various pros Contains: NSFW (Rated Explicit), sexually explicit, omegaverse

Free Space - Out With the Old and in With the New by smallspace 

Author’s summary: Everything is swapped! The avatars are playing a slice of life tabletop roleplaying game where they are the players and the esports pros are the characters. But not everyone wants to play the same character forever. Here is a series of snapshots of avatars changing their characters. Rec notes: What a fun idea! The way the TKA storyline is adapted for the swap is so clever, and the humor is top notch. I laughed all the way through (except for the knife part 😭😭) Adaptation: Donghua/Novel/Live Action Characters: avatar and player ensemble; gen No content warnings

Post-Canon - at the edge of a new leaf by GeniusCactus

Author’s Summary: Wang Jiexi and Yu Wenzhou bond over tactics and good quality tea Rec Notes: The power of teamwork!! This fic is such a lovely quiet moment between Wang Jiexi and Yu Wenzhou, and filled with all the things I love: friendship, introspection, parallels, the occasional pun, and people being stronger together than apart. Also tea metaphors! Bonus for both Tiny Herb and Blue Rain having a very strong presence in the fic despite not appearing in the story. Adaptation: Novel Characters: Yu Wenzhou + Wang Jiexi; gen No content warnings

Missing Scene - The Old Man and the Dream by Dayadhvam

Author’s summary: During Season 10, Wei Chen goes to All-Stars for the first and last time. Or: a brief sojourn down memory lane ft. one Troubling Brat. Rec notes: My heartttttt alksjdlksjfsd. It’s fine I’m fine (that’s a lie I am NOT fine I am drowning in feelings). I love them, I love them, I love them. I have so many emotions about Wei Chen’s conflicted feelings over Blue Rain and Glory and Swoksaar, and where he fits into it all. This fic packs so much of a punch and I love every second. Characters: Wei Chen + Huang Shaotian; gen Adaptation: Novel/Donghua No content warnings

Female character focus - lightning strikes thunder(clap) by afincf_tirwer

Author’s summary: Dai Yanqi knew they were wrong. She knew where Thunderclap’s strengths lay, and it wasn’t solely Xiao Shiqin’s burden to bear. It rested on everyone’s shoulders, everyone who played, to support each other and cover for where others lacked. And right now, they were lacking Xiao Shiqin. Rec notes: Dai Yanqi tactician fic!! Love this glimpse into Thunderclap without Xiao Shiqin, and Dai Yanqi finding herself and her place and growing up. I particularly love the balance between her as a serious player and also having a happy, shiny personality. Get a girl who can do both! Adaptation: Novel Characters: Dai Yanqi, Thunderclap; gen No content warnings

Made you laugh - my captain, my tortoise by Fayah

Author’s summary: “Sun Xiang, don’t you have any pride at all? Even a tortoise is more professional than you are! But saying that is an insult to my cute little pet tortoise!” Huang Shaotian gets a bit too carried away with his trash talk in Blue Rain’s match against Excellent Era and accidentally reveals that he is secretly raising an illegal pet tortoise. Rec notes: this didn’t just make me laugh, it made me howl, it’s so funny omg. Top notch humor, 10/10 amazing. Beautiful. The live action turtle fic of my dreams. RIP Huang Shaotian, he’s trying his best. Blue Rain, best team. Adaptation: Live Action/Novel Characters/Ship: Blue Rain, yuhuang No content warnings

Comic or Fanart - the adventures of tiny swoksaar by saxifactumterritum 

Rec notes: This isn’t a traditional comic format, rather a series of art across two tumblr posts depicting a tiny Swoksaar breaking out of his snowglobe to seek a tiny snowglobe Troubling Rain.  The art is so rich with details, I really feel like I am getting a glimpse of Huang Shaotian’s living space and all the knickknacks he owns. All the poses are so dynamic and full of motion, and the facial expressions are fun and evocative. And the story it tells is adorable! Bonus for live action-based art, which is particularly rare and brings me endless joy. Adaptation: Live Action Characters/Pairings: Swoksaar/Troubling Rain No content warnings

Art link

Alternate Universe - A Life Given, A Life Restored by NR_Red

Author’s summary: Yu Wenzhou was a cyborg, and sometimes he thought he may have forgotten what it was like to be a ‘complete human’. Rec notes: A yuhuang meet cute AND super cool worldbuilding! All the rich details make me feel like I am getting a glimpse into a much larger world. The contrast between Yu Wenzhou’s matter-of-fact acceptance and Huang Shaotian’s enthusiasm is just as wonderful here as it is in canon. Adaptation: Novel/Donghua Characters/Pairing: Yu Wenzhou/Huang Shaotian No content warnings

Team focused - Initial Actions (Not Initiations) by Syncogon

Author’s summary: Team Blue Rain welcomes their newest member. It’s a great time! Almost no regrets are had whatsoever. Rec notes: I admit I am biased on this one because this fic was gifted to me for secret santa but also it’s amazing so i am in fact not biased at all. Rec Notes: I love this both for the team dynamics (new player traditions! Spicy noodles! So much teasing! They’re a family!!) and how all the players get distinct personalities, and the individual character moments (Zheng Xuan!! And the tiny hints of Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian’’s history glimpsed around the edges). This gives me such happy warm fuzzy feelings and I love it every time I read it. Lu Hanwen’s outsider POV on the team is a constant delight. Adaptation: Novel/Donghua Characters: Blue Rain; gen No content warnings

Crossover/Fusion - Lu Hanwen and the Wizard of Oz by SeiryuuSuzaku

Author’s Summary: Lu Hanwen is now the Captain of Blue Rain and trying to do his best to lead his team. But he has his doubts and his impulsive indulgence in chicken is going to give him a very strange dream that night. Gods of Glory are everywhere; Even in your dreams (●'▽'●)ゝ Contains: no content warnings Rec notes: Whimsical and delightful but at the same time, such a lovely character study of Lu Hanwen as captain of Blue Rain. This is exactly the kind of humor/crack I love, with just the right amount of seriousness woven into the shenanigans. And so many hilariously funny visual descriptions! I snorted out loud several times!  Adaptation: Novel/Donghua Characters: Lu Hanwen; ensemble No content warnings

Made You Cry - somebody that i used to know by BlueberryAsh

Author’s Summary: “I’m not him,” she says. “Nobody can ever be him. But I’m here. Ye Xiu, I’m here. Let me help.” Set within the confines of s01e35. Rec notes: I’m starting off my recs with an easy one, because this fic came immediately to mind when I saw the prompt. There’s just so much packed into all 533 words of this fic. I love the vibe of it—so much history and emotion and nearly none of it is said out loud and it doesn’t need to be. One of my favorite parts of this is that Su Mucheng and Ye Xiu are in this together, and there’s such a heavy weight to their history that comes across in the fic. And also it’s sad pegging, which I think is great. Pairing: Su Mucheng/Ye Xiu, past Su Muqiu/Ye Xiu Adaptation: Live Action Contains: pegging, angsty pegging, nsfw, canon character death

A non-english work or translation - 夜莺 by 青山为雪 (Verdancia)

Author’s Summary: L向群星致意。(t/l: Greetings to the stars) Rec notes: i have sadly only read this via machine translation, but even with the clunky “translation” this fic is gorgeous and I love it deeply. A lot of the story is told in flashback,and follows Astronaut/explorer Huang Shaotian and his relationship with Yu Wenzhou over the years. A series of partings and reunions set against the backdrop of a mystery in the current day. There’s some cool funky stuff the author does with time and perception that eventually rips your heart out in the end, but it’s worth it. Adaptation: Novel Pairing: Yu Wenzhou/Huang Shaotian Contains: There is major character death involved but it’s a bit of a twist that unfolds as the fic progresses. If I were to tag it as if it were my own fic, I would use “Choose Not To Warn.”

Prequel Era - This rec is a 2-for-1. Art and fic!

Fic: not yet by saxifactumterritum

Author summary: just a little moment before ywz is captain, before he and hst are in a relationship, before they've quite got to friends. anyway they're dancing in a dark room instead of doing chores. Rec notes: ASLKJSDFLKJS! One of my favorite things about this fic is how it says so much in so little. It’s a tiny slice of life moment but it’s also a silent turning point for Yu Wenzhou and Huang Shaotian, the shift from two people towards a real partnership. It’s quiet and soft, like a liminal moment made real. Characters/Ship: Yu Wenzhou, Huang Shaotian; pre-relationship Adaptation: Live Action No content warnings

Art by bienmoreau

Artist caption:  “I’m glad you found me.” “I nearly didn’t.” Rec notes: There is so much life in this art that it blows me away every time I look at it. The poses, the facial expression, the amazing use of light and dark. I feel like this art just reached into my brain and scooped out the fic and brought it to love. It’s so gorgeous and amazing and absolutely stunning.

As an extra tiny bonus, I will link the podfic I did for this fic. Advance apologies for my pronunciation. I can only hope it doesn’t overshadow the vibe of the fic. (Is it tacky to link my own podfic? Perhaps, but this fic is so great that I want people to be able to read it in multiple forms)

A fic shorter than 1k - Curse or gift by UndeadRobins

Author’s Summary: Swoksaar knows curses. After all, he’s a warlock and there’s no one knows curses better than a warlock. Rec Notes: Short and sweet and right in the feels. I love the matter-of-fact tone that gently eases from statements of facts and into feelings. And bonus for avatar fic <3 Adaptation: Novel Characters/Pairings: Swoksaar/Troubling Rain No content warnings

Meta - Raindrops to a Downpour by TheDefenestrator

Author’s Summary: How could two people so different ever make an effective combination? Rec Notes: While not technically meta, this fic gives me cool meta vibes so I'm going with it. Meta in a fanfic hat, perhaps. Anyway, I love the thread of mirroring and parallel that runs through the fic. Under the surface of fast vs slow lies something much deeper and more complex Adaptations: Novel/Donghua Characters/Pairings: Yu Wenzhou + Huang Shaotian; Yu Wenzhou/Huang Shaotian No content warnings

A “Comfort Food” work -  What do you want? By Saxifactumterritum

Author’s Summary: Huang Shaotian meets Sun Zheping by accident. He's a little bit overwhelmed by how cool Sun Zheping is. This is going to be very fun.  Rec Notes: This fic is so fun! Huang Shaotian swooning over Sun Zheping is so adorable. And huge bonus for all of Huang Shaotian’s other friendships in the background - with Ye Xiu, with Zhang Xinjie, his relationship with Yu Wenzhou that’s mostly in the background but no less strong for it. At it’s heart, this is a getting together fic but all the various friendships breathe so much life into the story. Also, Sun Zheping’s jacket is super cool. Adaptation: Live Action/Donghua Characters/Pairings: Huang Shaotian/Sun Zheping; Yu Wenzhou/Huang Shaotian (polyamorous relationship) No Content Warnings

Minor Character Focused - I (don’t) wanna be the very best by jellysunfish

Author’s Summary: Zheng Xuan's season 8 quest to find Zhang Jiale and make him un-retire himself so Zheng Xuan doesn't have to carry the burden of being the GPA'S #1 Spitfire. How stressful. Rec Notes: Another fic where I’m maybe cheating because this fic was gifted to me. But is it not in the spirit of a gift exchange to love your gift? So perhaps it’s not cheating after all. This fic is such a delight, I reread it all the time and it never fails to make me laugh. Zheng Xuan is so relatable in his search to not work too hard or get too much of the spotlight. And I appreciate him gleefully throwing his teammates under the bus in his efforts. I cackle so much at all the shenanigans! Adaptation: Novel/Donghua Characters: Zheng Xuan, Zhang Jiale No content warnings

And that's a wrap! If you made it this far, please give the fic authors and artists some love <3

[jiroli]

Category:

M/M

Fandom:

大梦归离 | Fangs of Fortune (TV)

Relationships:

Li Lun/Zhuo Yichen, Zhao Yuanzhou | Zhu Yan/Zhuo Yichen, Li Lun & Zhao Yuanzhou | Zhu Yan, Li Lun & Zhuo Yichen, Zhao Yuanzhou | Zhu Yan & Zhuo Yichen

Characters:

Zhou Yichen, Li Lun (Fangs of Fortune), Zhao Yuanzhou | Zhu Yan, Cheng Huang (Fangs of Fortune), Ran Yi (Fangs of Fortune), Wen Xiao (Fangs of Fortune), Pei Sijing, Pei Siheng, Ying Lei (Fangs of Fortune), Bai Jiu (Fangs of Fortune), The Demon Hunting Squad - Character

Additional Tags:

Fluff, Crack, Fluff and Crack, Crack Fic, Cannon Rewrite, Isekai and Transmigration, Transmigrator Zhou Yichen, Zhou Yichen touched grass, I swear this is my compensation for all the angst from Shallow End Angle, Zhou Yichen living the life, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Humor, Fluff and Humor, Attempt at Humor

Summary:

@DefinitelynotYichen : I can't express just how disappointed I am with the majority here. Author, what happened? I thought Zhu Yan will have to go to that place first? I thought our plot will have some major development after that last arc? Why did it suddenly end that way? I'm so frustrated, I thought that this story will be a masterpiece till the end. I was so in love by this series, I was so loyal to the fanbase and the series and this is how you ended it? I hate this novel to the core. It used to be so good but now it feels like a hot garbage pile. Damnit! Fangs of Fortune? More like Fangs of Unfortunate! Overall Rating: -10000000000/10

CHAPTER 1:

Wait? Ain't no way he's inside of his favorite novel that he hated last minute.

And Xiao Chen? Who is Xiao Chen? Xiao Chen… Xiao Chen…

Ah! He finally remembered— Xiao Chen??? That one side character who had the same name as him? The Zhou Yichen who died in the earlier chapters of the novel? The Zhou Yichen who died in the most embarrassing way?

Back when he was reading this novel, he found it quite funny that there was someone who had the same name of him inside the novel. The naive second Young master of the Zhou Clan— the Demon Hunting Bureau to be exact.

Even more so when the main character— along with his love interests were investigating his death. Leading them to a conclusion that Zhou Yichen— died when he tripped on the ground and hit his head very hard.

He was not gonna lie— he literally laughed when he read that part. Like, imagine being a side character who died just because he tripped. It was too laughable for Yichen— But well oh well? The same thing had happened to him in his time and now— he's stuck on the same body whose death he used to laugh at.

[k-odyssey]

Just finished ep 19 of Fangs of Fortune. So much happened!!!

Zhao Yuan Zhou started the episode in a cage. Under threat, he finally said something nice about everyone. Zhuo Yi Chen once again decided to fight by his side. Then Wen Xiao saved the day but it wasn't really a happy occasion. Li Lun's story is too sad for anyone to celebrate his death. And Zhao Yuan Zhou was hurting too much. If you've accidentally caused your loved one's suffering and forced seclusion & he turned evil... yeah that's hard to grapple with. But I love that we get complex characters, everyone has more to their story than meets the eye.

Then we finally learned what was up with Pei Sijing & that was fun. But the reveal of who was behind the mask though!!! And Little Bunny did have a secret after all... of course.

Unrelated thought I had: The battle songs always hit! I should edit all of the cool fighting scenes together. But idk if that's a good idea. If I leave the soundtrack as it is, it'll be like bits and pieces of the same two songs over and over? If not, I don't think it'll be as cool without the sword sounds etc.

[yibocheeks]

Historical Background for 《无名》 (Hidden Blade)

A very brief summary of historical details of note for understanding the context of the film:

The film is set during the Second Sino-Japanese War and WWII. There are several powers in play at this time: the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang, and Imperial Japan. Imperial Japan invaded Manchuria (located in northeastern China) in the early 1930s and established the puppet state of Manchukuo. It was here where they hoped to establish a base from where they would continue their expansion into Asia.

In 1937, after many years of conflict, Japan occupied Shanghai, Nanjing, and Beijing. The Nanjing Massacre occurred at this time. After the fall of Nanjing, which had been the capital of the Republic of China at that time, the Kuomintang moved the capital west to Chongqing, under Jiang Jieshi's leadership. During this time, the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang formed a temporary alliance, suspending the years of civil conflict between them, although their vie for power continued. The Chinese Communist Party set up their base in Yan'an.

In 1940, Wang Jingwei, who was once a member of the Kuomintang but had always been in opposition against Jiang Jieshi, collaborated with Japan to establish the Wang Jingwei regime. They claimed to be the leadership of the Republic of China, when in fact they were a puppet government of Japan, overseeing the Japanese-occupied territory in eastern China, under Japan's control. They established their capital in Nanjing and used the Kuomintang flag. The Axis powers recognized the Wang Jingwei regime, while the Allied powers still recognized Jiang Jieshi as the leader of the Republic of China.

From 1937-1941, Japan had left a few neighbourhoods in Shanghai unoccupied, because that was where the American-British joint settlement and French Concession were located. Many people fled to this area to live at that time. After Pearl Harbor in 1941, the entirety of Shanghai became occupied by Japan. Many cities were bombed during these years, including Guangzhou, which experienced bombings for 14 months in 1937-1938.

During this era of war, which is also called the War of Resistance in China, espionage networks were established to try to undermine the enemy. Hidden Blade tells a story about these individuals.

Characters in the film (spoiler-free):

Director He (Tony Leung): Director of the Political Security Department for the Wang Jingwei regime

Mr. Ye (Wang Yibo): A subordinate under Director He, works for the Political Security Department of the Wang Jingwei regime

Captain Wang (Wang Chuanjun): A captain working for the Political Security Department of the Wang Jingwei regime, under Director He

Minister Tang (Da Peng): Minister of the Political Security Department of the Wang Jingwei regime, Director He's cousin

Officer Watanabe (Mori Hiroyuki): Head of secret service in Shanghai, claiming to be a follower of Ishiwara's faction (Japanese general who believed in the Pan-Asianism ideology)

Mr. Zhang (Huang Lei): A secretary of the Chinese Communist Party's underground network

Ms. Chen (Zhou Xun): A messenger of the Chinese Communist Party's underground network

Ms. Jiang (Jiang Shuying): Kuomintang agent assigned to assassinate Minister Tang

Ms. Fang (Zhang Jingyi): Disguised as a dancer, she worked together with other progressive youth to try to assassinate Japanese officers

[web-novel-polls]

Favorite Web Novel Men Tournament

[Last Checked: December 30th, 2024 - Please check the original post for updated information]

Rules:

Must canonically be male or male-adjacent (includes canon trans men!)

Must be from a web novel or WN-adjacent

One character per response

Submit as many responses as you want 

Tournament Tag: #wn men tournament

No Propaganda

Bracket A: Non-Danmei

*Cédric Riester from When the Third Wheel Strikes Back

*Jesse Venetiaan from When the Third Wheel Strikes Back

*Park Moondae (Ryu Gunwoo) from Debut or Die

*Yoo Joonghyuk from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

Bracket B: Danmei

Bian Yanmei from Thousand Autumns

A-Tai (Tengla Isai) from Tianbao Fuyao Lu

Bai Sheng from Hui Tian

Chang Geng from Sha Po Lang

Cang Ji from Nan Chan

Chen Xing from Dinghai Fusheng Records

Cheng Qian from Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect

Fei Du from Mo Du / Silent Reading

Cui Buqu from Peerless: Wushuang

Fang Juexia from Fanservice Paradox

Feng Xin from Heaven Official’s Blessing

Feng Xiao from Peerless: Wushuang

Fu Shen from Golden Stage

Gu Yun from Sha Po Lang

Fu Wenduo from The Earth is Online

Gu Jianshen from Want to Ascend? Then Fall in Love

He Xuan from Heaven Official’s Blessing

Jun Wu from Heaven Official’s Blessing 

He Yu from Case File Compendium: Bing An Ben

Jing Lin from Nan Chan

Kong Hongjun from Tianbao Fuyao Lu

Lan Sizhui from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Lan Wangji from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Li Jinglong from Tianbao Fuyao Lu

Lin Jingheng from Can Ci Pin

Lu Bixing from Can Ci Pin

Lu Feng from Little Mushroom

Luo Binghe from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Lu Xu from Tianbao Fuyao Lu

Mo Rigen from Tianbao Fuyao Lu

Mo Xi from Remnants of Filth

Murong Lian from Remnants of Filth

Nie Huaisang from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Original Shen Qingqiu (Shen Jiu) from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Peony from Unlucky Clover

Pei Tingsong from Fanservice Paradox

Qin Jiu from Global Examination

Shen Wei from Guardian: Zhen Hun

Shen Qingxian from Want to Ascend? Then Fall in Love

Shen Zhuo from Hui Tian

Song Qingshi from Mistakenly Saving the Villain 

Shi Qingxuan from Heaven Official’s Blessing

Wei Wuxian from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Tang Mo from The Earth is Online

Xiang Shu from Dinghai Fusheng Records

Wenren È from Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

Wu Xingxue from Unseen Immortal of 300 Years

Xue Meng from The Husky and His White Cat Shizun

Xiao Fuxuan from Unseen Immortal of 300 Years

Xie Qingcheng from Case File Compendium: Bing An Ben

Yu Shengyan from Thousand Autumns

Yan Zhengming from Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect

Yin Hanjiang from Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

You Huo from Global Examination

Zhao Yunlan from Guardian: Zhen Hun

Zhou Zishu from Faraway Wanderers

^ Spoilers Warning!

*Dealer's Choice (Brackets are not final. I'm just dividing them as Danmei vs. Non-Danmei for right now. It'll probably be divided by popularity later)

[yuexuan]

[Review] 万有引力

Title: 万有引力 (Forces of Temptation)

Author: 骑鲸南去

Length: 320 chapters

Tag: infinite flow, supernatural, horror

Summary: [Taken from Novelupdates]

The world’s shared, open interactive communication game ‘Forces of Temptation’ went online and quickly took the world by storm.

There was a perfect ecosystem, a physics engine that was completely close to reality and game instances that opened up dimensions that could be chosen. In particular, the supernatural instances received rave reviews.

Almost everyone thought they were playing a normal game until one day, millions of people saw a dialog box that appeared in the sky.

[Sun.exe isn’t responding. If you continue to wait, the program might respond.] [Do you want to end this process?] [End Process / Cancel]

Novel| Novel[translated]|Audio drama

Comments *contains spoilers**

Per the summary, the game ‘Forces of Temptation’ became a sensation in the online gaming world. Things changed when higher dimension beings intervened and turned the game into reality. All over the world, people began to disappear mysteriously. Turns otu, they were transported into a game where they had to fight for their survival. 

The novel has a rather unique start - focusing on a major side character called Li Yinhang. She was returning from her work when all of a sudden the entire bus she was on was transported into the game world. In the pilot level, she met two strange characters - the naive but physically powerful Nan Zhou (MC) and the handsome, half-Ukrainian Jiang Fang (ML). Together, the three of them formed the ‘Li Fang Zhou’ team and worked together to survive the various challenges that the game threw at them.

Li Yingang is one of the few female characters in danmei whom I thought is well-written: she is a normal office worker, but utilizes her experience from dealing with clients to guide her actions and interactions with the MC and ML. She is well aware of her strengths and limitations, and on many occasions made conscious decisions that maximize her survival and avoids becoming a burden to the team. Consequently, the main pairing also trusts and values her decisions, going above and beyond their characters to protect her. 

Another thing I like is MC’s naivety. Since Nan Zhou is an NPC that escaped the bounds of his game scenario, he is quite clueless - but curious - about the world around him. He is like an overpowered kid who tries to learn how to act like a normal person, but often ends up being confused over human behaviors (e.g. He voices his sexual attraction towards ML as ‘a need to reproduce’, which is something that can be rationalized and controlled). 

As with any infinite flow story, the worldbuilding is extensive. In the novel, the world works similar to an RPG game, with five towns for characters to recuperate and conduct daily activities, and various scenarios or missions that they can go on to earn items and points. I do wish, though, that more emphasis is placed on some of the game mechanics, such as the handicap where characters have to purchase oxygen tanks to ensure that they can breathe. 

The best arc is probably the last arc about the characters’ wishes. It is both entertaining and touching. My poor, poor Chen Shifeng who wishes for his inexistence just so that his older brother and lover could come back to life :’). This is also the first danmei I read where the characters are extremely careful about the wishes they made. Usually, when there is an end reward in the form of a wish fulfillment, most infinite flow stories don’t explore the dangers of making these wishes. In this novel, it is pointed out that the higher dimension beings will do all they can to twist the characters’ wishes by finding loopholes in their logic or wording. Hence all the characters had to preface their wishes with clauses and disclaimers to ensure that there is no ground for misinterpretation. 

Frankly, I like a lot of the side pairings compared with the main pairing…Li Yinhang and Nan Jixing has such a cute relationship (and yes, I know it might constitute partial-bestiality to ship them together); Yi Shuige and Xie Xiangyu has a spicy enemy-and-lover romance; and Chen Shuiye and Yu Tuisi has such a tragic backstory. There are just so many fun side relationships to read about!

Thing I don’t like

If I have one complaint about this story, it is that some of the arcs can drag for too long, without really progressing the story. For example, the arc where they are gambling against the team with higher dimension being is longer than expected. Unless you like card games, this can be quite boring, especially when the main pairing is pretty much OP and there is no chance for their opponents to win from the start. It reduces a lot of the stakes and makes the whole arc feel too one-sided.

[audriel]

tmia omegaverse headcanons

Several headcanons to my TKA/QZGS fic the moon in autumn:

By the League’s Season 9,

Fang Rui is a member of three packs: blood pack (permanent), original Wind Howl (permanent: Lin Jingyan and Ruan Yongbin) pack, and Fifth Gen pack (permanent: Zhou Zekai and Wu Yuce).

Ye Xiu is a member of three packs: blood pack (permanent), Su siblings (permanent), and Happy (unofficial/unformed). He is also a former member of the original Excellent Era pack (including Tao Xuan).

The non-betas in the Alliance:

Alphas: Ye Xiu, Tang Rou, Qiao Yifan (Happy), Wang Jiexi (Tiny Herb), Huang Shaotian, Zheng Xuan (Blue Rain), Zhou Zekai (Samsara), Sun Xiang (Excellent Era) 

Omegas: Fang Rui (Wind Howl), Mo Fan, Wei Chen (Happy), Zhang Xinjie (Tyranny), Chu Yunxiu (Misty Rain), Dai Yanqi (Thunderclap)

(Blue Rain lost their omegas to Happy XDD)

The teams that are also packs in the Alliance:

The official pack in the Alliance: Blue Rain (with pack leader Huang Shaotian), former Wind Howl (with pack leader Lin Jingyan)

The unofficial packs in the Alliance: Happy (with pack leader Ye Xiu), Thunderclap (with pack leader Xiao Shiqin), Samsara (with pack leader Zhou Zekai), Void (with pack leader Wu Yuce), and Tyranny (with pack leader Han Wenqing)

Character Scents/Pheromones:

Fang Rui: Lemon. This scent is picked for Fang Rui due to the proverb “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Because canon Fang Rui is very good at this, and this is a trait that remains despite the curveball life thrown him that is his secondary gender in this universe. It’s also a good fit for the Sharp in his name, because lemon scent can be very sharp in certain conditions, while in others it can be a clean, refreshing scent. Look at his sincere eyes! Ultimately it’s a scent or taste not for everyone and that’s the way Fang Rui is and he himself prefers.

Ye Xiu: Tea. This scent is picked for Ye Xiu because it’s traditional. Traditional can mean old-fashioned, but it can also mean that it has strong roots or foundation. And Ye Xiu has this in abundance, it’s his greatest strength. He cannot achieve all his titles: Battle God, Glory Textbook and Master Tactician, and fully utilized the Unspecialized Lord Grim if he doesn’t have strong, solid foundation. And tea can be mixed and turned into anything, traditional and modern snacks, food and beverages. It’s also good for health. Basically it can be turned into anything while not losing its unique taste.  Not to mention the scent is ordinarily not overbearing. This is not unlike Ye Xiu himself.

Meanwhile I haven’t really thought the scent for others. It’ll be nice if there is someone to brainstorm with.

[aishangotome]

Chapter 12-9 Observe the Mind Through the Lens of Dharma (辯法觀心)

Chapter 12-8

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I accepted the marriage proposal, and the housekeeper's face was filled with horror.

Housekeeper Chen: My lady, do you really want to marry this nouveau riche? He can neither shoot an arrow through a willow leaf from a hundred paces nor charge into the enemy lines seven times and come out seven times...

Princess: ...Well, let's accept the gifts first, and if we change our minds, we can return them. But it seems like the residence can't accommodate all these maids and servants that were sent?

The housekeeper sighed and resignedly took out a key.

Housekeeper Chen: They can go to the manor in the south of the city. It has been abandoned for many years, covering several acres of land. It's just right to accommodate these people.

-

Back in the room, I finally opened the large red marriage proposal with gold sprinkles, and a secret letter indeed fell out from inside.

Qianjin Qiu: To the Princess, "Zhu Ming" was last seen at Baiyu Jing's Yuyan Pavilion.

Qianjin Qiu: Knowing that the Princess has already arrived in Nancang, you might as well go and investigate. Perhaps you can find other clues. Qianjin Qiu is always at your service.

At the bottom of the secret letter, Qianjin Qiu drew a symbol and wrote a line of small characters - "Please turn the page, Princess."

I followed his instructions and turned the page over. On the back was Qianjin Qiu's free and elegant handwriting.

Qianjin Qiu: The intelligence is true, and the marriage proposal is even truer. My sincerity towards the Princess is as bright as the sun and moon. Becoming your consort is absolutely no problem.

Qianjin Qiu: Please consider me, Princess! I beg you!

Princess: ...

I rubbed my temples helplessly, lit a fire starter, and watched the secret letter being licked clean by the flames, leaving only a wisp of smoke.

Wangjue: Auntie! Auntie!

The boy's urgent cries reached my ears. As soon as I opened the door, Wangjue dashed into the room like a swallow returning to its nest.

He went straight to the marriage proposal, studying it vigilantly, over and over again, unwilling to return it to me.

Princess: What have you figured out?

Wangjue reluctantly put down the marriage proposal, walked up to me, and took my sleeve.

Wangjue: I've figured it out—if I don't stop you, Auntie will really marry that wild man outside!

Princess: Well, it's a good thing you stopped me. Otherwise, I might even dare to acknowledge a wild nephew, so of course, I would also readily accept a mere wild man...

Wangjue: You can't lump those two together! I'm saying that men become bad when they have money. Qianjin Qiu must be the worst of the worst, definitely not a good match!

Wangjue spoke with conviction, full of spirit and vigor, like a feisty little dog.

Princess: But Qianjin Qiu is not bad. He's handsome and clingy, and so rich...

Wangjue: Auntie, you, you've been completely blinded by money! Maybe the true good match is in our Nancang?

Princess: Well, there are indeed many men I know in Nancang... the little doctor, Chen Qi, Chen Xiu, and also Fang Ping, Zhou Tang, Shi Wuxian...

I counted them one by one, and when I looked up, I saw Wangjue's face darken, like an eggplant beaten by frost.

Princess: What's wrong with you?

Wangjue: Nothing, I just confirmed that I'm not a man in Auntie's eyes.

Wangjue looked at me with a pitiful expression, and I finally couldn't bear to continue, bursting into laughter.

Princess: I was just teasing you. But I really do have something to ask you.

Princess: ...Do you know Yuyan Pavilion?

-

The marketplace was lined with pearls and jade, and every household was filled with silk and satin. Buildings with intricate brackets and soaring eaves were interwoven and shadowed each other.

From Wangguan Pavilion, the sounds of string and bamboo instruments drifted out. Literati and refined gentlemen gathered in groups, composing poems, drinking wine, playing pitching pots and liubo... presenting a scene of decadent indulgence.

Princess: What's the prize for this poetry competition?

A man took out a "Nancang's Most Handsome Men List" from his bosom and handed it to me.

Literati: The winner today can be listed on this list! This is the supreme marriage treasure book that all the girls in Nancang will consult...

I opened the booklet, and the first name was strikingly Wangjue's teacher.

Princess: Ning Wu...?

Literati: Hmph... All show and no substance. He's highly influential in the court, but privately he's an unromantic bore.

Literati: I really don't know how such a taciturn person can debate with others...

Literati: Ahem, he has a long-term private room here, I'd better keep my voice down.

Princess: Does he come here often?

Literati: Occasionally. But now the Dingchao Tai incident is causing a storm in the city, and he's in the eye of the storm, so he hasn't shown up for a while.

Literati: Having the empty title of a Shangqing is already extremely honorable. Why does he have to goad the king into pushing for some new policy?

Literati: Even if he does nothing, he won't lack wealth and honor. Why bother with this muddy water?

After asking around, it seemed that there was no one resembling "Zhu Ming".

The music and dance on the high platform paused for a while, and only a few plainly dressed scholars were arguing with flushed faces.

Scholar A: The Lin family raised those wild boars in the suburbs for hunting in their leisure time. That's the Lin family's property.

Scholar A: The farmer hunted other people's private property without permission. According to the law, he should be punished with five years of hard labor. Now he's only sentenced to two years, which already shows the Lin family's compassion and understanding. How dare he still cry injustice?

Scholar B: If it weren't for those wild boars constantly destroying the fields and injuring people, and the farmer's repeated negotiations with the Lin family had no results, he wouldn't have resorted to this last resort!

Scholar A: Today they kill the wild boars raised by the aristocratic families, tomorrow they will be slaves, and the day after tomorrow, wouldn't they rebel? This concerns the dignity of the family. If they are not severely punished, how can we convince the people in the future!

Scholar B: It was the wild boars that trampled the farmer's land and caused him to lose his entire harvest, but the Lin family's tenant farmers' taxes were not reduced at all... Is this trying to cut off the farmers' livelihood?

Scholar A: Hmph, this is the law of Nancang. The farmer knowingly broke the law and deserves a heavier punishment!

Scholar B: Laws are also made by people. Beyond the law, there is also human compassion!

Scholar A: Laws are made by the aristocratic families!

Princess: I wonder if the young master is so angry because he has relatives in the Lin family? Why didn't the Lin family buy you an official position?

My words were forceful and resounding, and several inquiring gazes came at me like a shower of arrows. Wangjue half-embraced me, trying to drag me further into the crowd.

Wangjue: Auntie, why did you blurt out the truth...

Princess: Relying on wealth and power, allowing livestock to destroy fertile fields, not only refusing to compensate, but also biting back at the victim.

Princess: Those who know would think it's a prestigious family, those who don't would think it's some bandits or local bullies coming down the mountain to cause trouble. Animals don't understand the law, do you not understand either?

The scholar was momentarily stunned and didn't retort. Instead, a chuckle suddenly came from a nearby private room.

???: What the young lady said makes some sense, but unfortunately... it's the wrong place to say it.

With that, the tightly closed door creaked open, and a slender figure appeared in front of everyone, dignified and open-minded, like a green bamboo in the wind.

??: The existing laws of Nancang were indeed initially established by many aristocratic families.

Princess: Then this set of old laws is no longer applicable.

The newcomer covered their face with a fan, their voice clear and resonant, each word forceful and resounding.

???: Oranges grown south of the Huai River are sweet, oranges grown north of it are sour. Laws and decrees naturally also need to be adapted to local conditions.

???: Everything that exists is reasonable. This humble one believes that the old laws are most suitable for Nancang. If one wants to seek change, I'm afraid it will lead to disaster.

Princess: Since everything that exists is reasonable, why don't we see people today imitating the actions of our ancient ancestors who ate raw meat and drank blood? Blindly worshipping the past in everything, without seeking progress, how can there be development?

Princess: Young master, you know to adapt to local conditions, do you not know to change with the times?

???: Young lady... Are you arguing with me?

Princess: It's clear that the young master has nothing to argue back with.

We were at loggerheads, and I still couldn't see the person's face.

Although his argument was old-fashioned, his voice was slightly raised. He didn't seem angry, but rather... there was a sense of lightheartedness and joy.

Before I could think further, a chilling sensation of being watched startled me.

Among the ordinary crowd, there suddenly appeared a few people with light footsteps, shuttling around.

Looking for someone? My first thought was—could it be that Wangjue's absence from the palace has been exposed? I grabbed Wangjue.

Princess: Quickly lower your head and follow me.

-

Da, da, da... Stable, firm. These were the footsteps of a martial artist.

The sound grew closer and closer. But Wangjue and I had already reached a dead end, with nowhere to hide. In the narrow corner, we could only hear each other's rapid breathing and heartbeats.

At this critical moment, a strong force suddenly gripped my wrist—a warm palm slid along my skin and forcefully unfolded my tightly clenched right hand.

???: Oh dear, young lady! You and your nephew, I'm afraid you're in for a bloody disaster today!

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Chapter 12-10

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to buy me a coffee here! :)

[renshengs]

bringing this post back because it has been over a month and i still can't scroll through the fangs of fortune ao3 tag without taking incredible and unprecedented amounts of psychic damage. Who the fuck is Zhou Yi Chen and who the fuck is Pei Shijing. are some people not even spellchecking their fics. where are we. if you don't even care enough to spell the characters' names right you might as well just go fixate on a show set in modern north america where everyone's name is John

i just think if you are going to get really passionate about any deeply cultural show with distinctive ethnic names, and you are going to be so passionate about it, in fact, that you are going to consistently post about it in a public space for other people to see and/or you're going to write fanfiction about it, then you should at least make an effort to correctly spell the characters' names and know how to refer to them.

while fandom spaces are indeed for your personal enjoyment, there is a willful ignorance in the way a lot of people navigate fandoms surrounding media that is more culturally alien to them that reflects their subconscious unwillingness to take these cultural differences and intricacies into consideration. in my post's case, as i am chinese and am frequently in fandoms for chinese media, i can only speak on the fandom etiquette around names from shows that are generally more popular in english-speaking circles, like word of honor, the untamed, etc. and to be completely straightforward i think the name and terminology butchering has been pretty bad with some fandoms and absolutely unbearable in others.

"but i'm bad with names/i'm bad at spelling!" i can empathize. but i think making excuses is also a terribly avoidant thing to do. type with more care. find a method that works for you. the cultural context is crucial to the show and its characters; why are you here if you don't care about it? and yes, not paying mind to name usage is absolutely an ignorant thing to do, even if you are doing it unintentionally. obviously, spelling a name wrong does not indicate you are someone with that kind of prejudice, but not making any effort to get it right is irresponsible and insensitive, especially considering that native english speakers in the west have an extensive history of being dismissive and rude toward ethnic names, chinese ones included.

lastly, because this website has a victim complex that almost rivals twitter's:

the aim of this post isn't to imply that anyone who misuses or misspells names are bad people who should be witchhunted and torn apart (nor am i going to do that, which is why i am making a post about it), or that people who have dyslexia and other disability issues with reading & spelling accurately just need to "get better" (see: "find a method that works for you"). typos are not morally wrong & my point is not to shame anyone. i just hope people can find it in themselves to reevaluate their own stubbornness and just—learn to tread with more care. to treat these stories and their characters with the consideration that they already give to the media they're most familiar with, and to approach the cultural learning curve with willingness, or else just don't engage with such things at all if you are not able to understand that to enjoy them fully and deeply requires you to actually interact with the cultural context in which they were created.

[thekingsavatar-fan]

Good news for the WeChat users - a collection of cute TKA themed (qsize) stickers! Check out the comments to see them already in use. [weibo] 

[skygemspeaks]

I just finished the QZGS anime(and OVA) and I'm already such HanYe trash???? Also, question for you, who are your top 5 characters?

Han as in Han Wenqing? I can see it ^^ My personal otp for Ye Xiu is definitely him and Su Muqiu (who you don’t know yet) but ahhhh, it’s such a tragic ship T^T Though lmao for a while I did kinda ship Ye Xiu with Steamed Bun lmao.

As for my favourite characters, if we’re talking about just the ones that have shown up in the donghua, I’m gonna say:

Ye Xiu

Qiao Yifan

Bao Rongxing (Steamed Bun Invasion)

Huang Shaotian

Zhou Zekai

But if we’re talking about characters from the webnovels as well, I’d say:

Ye Xiu

Qiao Yifan

Bao Rongxing

Wei Chen

Fang Rui

[drwcn]

How To Name Your Chinese Characters: 

1) LAST NAMES: 

I’ve pasted the Top 100 common last names in alphabetical order, and bolded the ones that appear in CQL:   

B: 白 Bai C: 蔡 Cai ; 曹 Cao ;  常 Chang ; 曾 Ceng ;  陈 Chen ;  程 Cheng ;  崔 Cui ; D: 戴 Dai ; 邓 Deng ; 丁 Ding ; 董 Dong ; 杜 Du ; F: 范 Fan ; 方 Fang ; 冯 Feng ; 付 Fu ; G: 高 Gao ;  葛 Ge  ; 龚 Gong ; 顾 Gu ; 郭 Guo ; H: 韩 Han ; 何 He ; 贺 He 洪 Hong ; 侯 Hou ; 黄 Hua ; 胡 Hu ; J: 贾 Jia ; 蒋 Jiang ; 姜 Jiang ; 江 Jiang ; 金 Jin ; K: 康 Kang ; L:  赖 Lai ; 李 Li ;  黎 Li ; 廖 Liao ; 梁 Liang ; 林 Lin ; 刘 Liu ; 陆 Lu ; 卢 Lu ; 路 Lu ; 吕 Lü ; 罗 Luo ; M: 马 Ma ; 麦 Mai ; 毛 Mao ; 孟 Meng ; N:  倪 Ni  ;  牛 Niu ; P: 潘 Pan ; 彭 Peng ; Q: 钱 Qian ; 秦 Qin ; 邱 Qiu ; R:任 Ren ; S: 邵 Shao ; 沈 Sheng ; 史 Shi ; 石 Shi ; 施 Shi ; 宋 Song ; 苏 Su ; 孙 Sun ; T: 陶 Tao ; 谭 Tan ; 唐 Tang ; 田 Tian ; W: 万 Wan ; 王 Wang ;  汪 Wang ; 魏 Wei ; 吴 Wu ; X: 邢 Xing ; 夏 Xia ;  蕭 Xiao ; 谢 Xie ; 徐 Xu ; 许 Xu ; 薛 Xue ; Y: 阎 Yan ; 严 Yan ; 杨 Yang ; 姚 Yao ; 叶 Ye ;  余 Yu ; 于 Yu ; 袁 Yuan ; Z: 张 Zhang ;  赵 Zhao ; 郑 Zheng ; 钟 Zhong ; 周 Zhou ;  朱 Zhu ;  庄 Zhuang ;  邹 Zou ;

Above are all single character last names, but there are some double character Chinese last names, seen below (list not exhaustive): 

独孤 Du’Gu ;  公孙 Gong’Sun ; 南宫 Nan’Gong    欧阳 Ou’Yang ;  司马 Si’Ma ; 上官 Shang’Guan ; 宇文 Yu’Wen ; 长孙 Zhang’Sun ; 诸葛 Zhu’GE ; 

2) GIVEN NAMES/COURTESY NAMES

《Elements》: 

Light*： 光 (guāng) - light，  亮 liàng - bright / shine， 明 (míng) - bright， 曦 (xī) - early dawn， 昀 (yún) - daylight， 昭 (zhāo) - light, clear，照 (zhào) - to shine upon，

Fire: 焰 (yàn) - flames， 烟 (yān) - smoke，炎 (yán) - heat/burn， 烨 (yè) - dazzling light，  

Water: also see “weather” OR “bodies of water” under nature; note the words below while are related to water have meanings that mean some kind of virtue: 清 (qīng) - clarity / purity， 澄 (chéng) - clarity/quiet， 澈 (chè) - clear/penetrating， 涟 (lián) - ripple， 漪 (yī) - ripple， 泓 (hóng) - vast water， 湛 (zhàn) - clear/crystal， 露 (lù) - dew， 泠 (líng) - cool, cold, 涛 (tāo) - big wave，泽 (zé)，浩 hào - grand/vast (water)，涵 (han) - deep submergence / tolerance / educated

Weather: 雨 (yǔ) - rain， 霖 (lín) - downpouring rain， 冰 (bīng) - ice， 雪 (xuě) - snow，  霜 (shuāng) - frost 

Wind: 风 (fēng) - wind

* some “Light” words overlap in meaning with words that mean “sun/day”

《Nature》:

Season: 春 (chūn) - spring， 夏 (xià) - summer， 秋 (qíu) - aumtum， 冬 (dōng) - winter

Time of Day: 朝 (zhāo) - early morning / toward， 晨 (chén) - morning / dawn， 晓 (xiǎo) - morning， 旭 (xù) - dawn/rising sun，昼 (zhòu) - day，皖 (wǎn) - late evening，夜 (yè) - night 

Star/Sky/Space: 云 (yún) - cloud，天 (tiān) - sky/ heaven，霞 (xiá) - afterglow of a rising or setting sun，月 (yuè) - moon，日 (ri) - day / sun，阳 (yáng) - sun，宇 (yǔ) - space，星 (xīng) - star

Birds: 燕 (yàn) - sparrow， 雁 (yàn) - loon， 莺 (yīng) - oriole， 鸢 (yuān) - kite bird (family Accipitridae)，羽 (yǔ) - feather

Creatures: 龙 (lóng) - dragon/imperial

Plants/Flowers:* 兰 (lán) - orchids，  竹 (zhú) - bamboo， 筠 (yún) - tough exterior of bamboos， 萱 (xuān) - day-lily， 松 (sōng) - pine， 叶 (yè) - leaf， 枫 (fēng) - maple， 柏 bó/bǎi - cedar/cypress， 梅 (méi) - plum， 丹 (dān) - peony

Mountains: 山 (shān)， 峰 (fēng) - summit， 峥 (zhēng)，

Bodies of water: 江 (jiāng) - large river/straits， 河 (hé) - river， 湖 (hú) - lake， 海 (hǎi) - sea， 溪 (xī) - stream， 池 (chí) - pond， 潭 (tán) - larger pond， 洋 (yáng) - ocean

* I didn’t include a lot of flower names because it’s very easy to name a character with flowers that heavily implies she’s a prostitute. 

《Virtues》: 

Astuteness: 睿 ruì - astute / foresight， 智 (zhi)， 慧 (hui)， 哲 (zhé) - wise/philosophy, 

Educated:  博 (bó) - extensively educated， 墨 (mo) - ink， 诗 (shi) - poetry / literature， 文 (wén) - language / gentle / literary， 学 (xue) - study， 彦 (yàn) - accomplished / knowledgeable, 知 (zhi) - to know， 斌 (bīn) - refined， 赋 (fù) - to be endowed with knowledge

Loyalty: 忠 (zhōng) - loyal， 真 (zhēn) - true 

Bravery: 勇 (yǒng) - brave， 杰 (jié) - outstanding, hero

Determination/Perseverance: 毅 (yì) - resolute / brave， 恒 (héng) - everlasting， 衡 (héng) - across, to judge/evaluate，成 (chéng) - to succeed， 志 (zhì) - aspiration / the will

Goodness/Kindness: 嘉 (jiā) - excellent / auspicious，磊 (lěi) - rock / open & honest， 正 (zhèng) - straight / upright / principle，

Elegance: 雅 (yǎ) - elegant， 庄 (zhuāng) - respectful/formal/solemn， 彬 (bīn) - refined / polite， 

Handsome: 俊 jùn - handsome/talented 

Peace: 宁 (níng) - quietness/to pacify, 安 （ān) - peace, safety

Grandness/Excellence：宏 (hóng) - grand，豪 (háo) - grand, heroic，昊 (hào) - limitless / the vast sky，华 (huá) - magnificent， 赫 (hè) - red/famous/great， 隆 (lóng) - magnificent， 伟 (wěi) - greatness / large，轩 (xuān) - pavilion with a view/high，卓 (zhuó) - outstanding

Female Descriptor/Virtues/Beauty: 婉 (wǎn)，惠 (huì)， 妮 (nī)， 娇 (jiāo)， 娥 (é)， 婵 (chán) (I didn’t include specific translations for these because they’re all adjectives for women meaning beauty or virtue) 

《Descriptors》:

Adverbs: 如 (rú) - as，若 (ruò) - as, alike，宛 (wǎn) - like / as though，

Verbs: 飞 (fēi) - to fly，  顾 （gù) - to think/consider， 怀 (huái) - to miss, to possess， 落(luò) - to fall, to leave behind，梦 (mèng) - to dream， 思 (sī) - to consider / to miss (someone)，忆 (yì) - memory， 希 (xī) - yearn / admire

Colours: 红 (hóng) - red， 赤 (chì) - crimson， 黄 (huàng) - yellow， 碧 (bì) - green，青(qīng) - azure，蓝 (lán) - blue， 紫 (zǐ) - violet ，玄 (xuán) - black， 白 (baí) - white

Number：一 (yī), 二 (er) - two, 三 (san) - three,  四 (si) - four,  五 (wu) - five, 六 (liu) - six, 七(qi) - seven, 八 (ba) - eight,  九 (jiu) - nine, 十 (shi) - ten

Direction: 东 (dōng) - east， 西 (xi) - west， 南 (nan) - south， 北 (bei) - north，

Other: 子 (zǐ) - child, 然 (rán) - correct / thusly

《Jade》: *there are SO MANY words that generally mean some kind of jade, bc when ppl put jade in their children’s name they don’t literally mean the rock, it’s used to symbolize purity, goodness, kindness, beauty, virtue etc*  琛 (chen), 瑶 (yao),  玥 (yue),  琪 (qi),  琳 (lin)

《Spirituality》

凡 (fan) - mortality 

色 (se) - colour, beauty. In buddhism, “se” symbolizes everything secular

了 (liao) - finished, done, letting go 

尘 (chen) - dust, I’m not… versed in buddhism enough to explain “chen”, it’s similar to “se”

悟 (wu) - knowing? Cognition? To understand a higher meaning

无 (wu) - nothing, the void, also part of like “letting go” 

戒 (jie) - to “quit”, but not in a bad way. In buddhism, monks are supposed to “quit” their earthly desires.

极 (ji) - greatness, also related to the state of nirvana (? I think?) 

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Writing Tips - Chinese Names!

If you want to read this elsewhere, read this on medium or go check out my IG at @annessarose_writes! On that account, I’m writing book reviews of AAPI fiction, posting quotes, and I’m hoping to post more tips and tricks to boost Chinese representation in fiction.

Okie. I see a lot of posts with “name suggestions” going around, and they’re pretty neat! But they’re also almost exclusively Eurocentric and I rarely come across one that includes any non-white names.

Which, well, I do admit they’re helpful. But also, when it’s the only thing that keeps showing up, that’s not very good. When I tried my hand at creative writing when I was 7/8/9 years old, those were the only lists I ever saw online.

I’m Chinese. I tried to give my ocs a Chinese name. I took a look at those lists, and saw not one non-Eurocentric name. So I turned all my ocs white as a small beginning writer because as a child, I didn’t know better, and I thought names like mine were weird and that white was the only normal.

And... jeez. If writers can’t even get our names right - if they can’t even look at our names without going “that’s weird/out of place” - well, no wonder we’re so alienated. Look. We’re human. We’re here. We belong in this world and we deserve to be seen in fiction, too.

So here’s a list of Chinese family names. To my sci-fi writer friends or to my fantasy-writer friends who wish to draw from eastern cultures to inspire their worlds, if you wish to do so, go right ahead! But do it respectfully and don’t appropriate/completely whitewash it (see: how George Lucas did a lot of his stuff in Star Wars…)

They’ll be formatted [Mando]/[canto]. This is not a comprehensive list by any means. This is just a quick shortlist with some of the most popular family names so you can use this for your Chinese characters.

Wang/Wong

Li/Lee

Liu/Lau

Chen/Chan

Huang/Wong

Yang/Yeung

Wu/Ng

Zhao/Chiu

Zhou/Chow

Xu/Tsui

Ma

Zhu/Chu

Hu/Wu

Gao/Ko

Lin/Lam

Zheng/Chen

Liang/Leung

Xie/Tse

Examples of full Chinese names (or names inspired by Chinese culture), pulled straight from The Poppy War Trilogy by R. F. Kuang (seriously, go read it, I think it’s the best trilogy I’ve ever read):

Fang Runin

Chen Kitay

Yin Nezha

Sring Venka

Other examples from famous figures, historical or modern:

Yen Ji-Dan (Donnie Yen)

Jāu Sīngchìh (Stephen Chow)

Sun Yat Sen

Chiang Kai Shek/Jiang Jie Shi

Mao Zedong/Mao Tse Tung

Zhou Enlai

Some notes about personal names:

Personal names can vary immensely. In large families, all the daughters will be granted one character and all the sons another character and the only thing that will vary is the last character. Here’s an example:

Let’s say you’re writing about a family with the name of Chow set in like the 1900s. If they have lots of children, all the sons could be named “Chow Hok ____” and all the daughters “Chow Yuk _____.” So you could totally have a Chow Yuk-Dang and Chow Yuk-Tung and Chow Yuk-Kei in one family.

Why do they do that? It’s because in these families, it is very possible to meet someone and have no idea that you’re related. The naming system is, in a way, a method of figuring out how to identify each other.

Some old/traditional families pull the middle character of the full name from an ancient poem or text. It’s a way of identifying generations — one generation will have one character in the poem, then the next generation, the next character, and so on. It’s a family legacy tradition. The names would be something like [Family name] [Poem word] [Other word]

As for new families — some of whom have moved/adapted to the western world but still have a hold on their Chinese roots — their method of naming could be a lot simpler. Some parents just choose a name because it sounds nice. They might not even know what the name means. Source: This was how I’m named.

Smaller families who are not so entrenched in tradition but live in China could very well choose their children’s names based on sayings, poems, and the like. Their child’s name could mean something like “hard-working” or “prosperous.”

Some other things to consider:

Some people use hyphens between the two characters of their personal name. Some do not, and combine it into one word when romanizing it. Some leave them as two separate words. It varies per person’s preference — all of these are valid.

When I say “family name,” I mean last name (I think this is fairly obvious).

Chinese names are formatted [family name] [personal name]. Family name is one character — personal name is usually two.

There are many other dialects that I have not listed here. I stuck to Mandarin and Cantonese as they’re the ones I’m most familiar with. It should be noted that I’m using Hong Kong Cantonese here.

If you’re writing a diaspora character, they’ll likely stick to the traditional western format of writing names — as in, they’ll probably use [first name] [middle name] [last name]. It is very, very realistic to have a character named “Dennis Heen Gwong Lee” or something.

Sources:

Having lived this.

My parents, from Hong Kong.

My grandmother, who comes from China and was a Chinese History/Culture teacher for decades.

[fgodump]

Connections to “The Poppy War”

The setting and characters to The Poppy War has derived a lot of inspiration from historical events and myths alike. This is meant to discuss which characters have a relation to those preexisting. Of course, you do not need to know this information to enjoy the books, but I think knowing them will elevate your reading experience. None of this information is official. This is just the conclusions I came to while reading. Feel free to make comments

MAJOR MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS

Locations

Nikara: Qing Dynasty. 

Mugen: Japan (Meiji Period)

Hesperia: Britain

The Hinterlands: Mongolia (unsure)

Murui: Yellow River

Tianshan: Kunlun

The different provinces were based off the Chinese Zodiac

The Poppy Wars: the Opium wars, as they have the heavy involvement of foreign invaders

Fang Runin: Rin’s character does not seem to take from a specific person, however the wiki stats that she was inspired by multiple people, such as Azula from ATLA and Mao Zedong

Chen Kitay: It's pretty obvious his character is inspired by Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three kingdoms. In actual history, he wasn't that much, but in the book, Zhuge was a monster at strategy. 

In the first book, Irjah proposes a question, which Kitay replies “to bait the enemy into giving them arrows by rolling out a boat of strawmen”. This is something that Zhuge did as well.

Sring Venka: Honestly I'm blanking on Venka. I think perhaps Venka isnt supposed to represent a character at all, but instead all the comfort women and victims of the Rape of Nanking, based on what happened to her during Golyn niis. 

Yang Souji: He and his group the “Iron Wolves” remind me so much of the Shinsengumi. He even shares a name with Okita Souji, the captain of the first unit. 

The Shinsungumi were also nicknamed “The wolves of Mibu”

I know the glaring problem with this is that the Shisungumi are Japanese, and should have been Mugini in this book, but I think these parallels are pretty cool in any case.

Chiang Moag- Ching Shih. Woah, as soon as I heard Lady Pirate, it was undeniable who Moag is. Ching Shih, the most famous pirate in China perhaps, and she was a woman.

Their backstories share similarities too. Ching shih was a prostitute, just like rumors around Moag. 

The Cike: During the Zhou Dynasty, Wu Zetian (China’s only female emperor) had a secret police force that assassinated everyone she needed. This sounds incredibly similar to the way Daji used the Cike. 

Altan Trengsin: I believe that Altan is like Rin; either an amalgamation of many characters or simply someone Kuang made for the sake of the story.

Ramsa: I believe him to be Nikara’s representation of the creation of fireworks. Not based off a person, but instead one of the Four great inventions of China. Or maybe I’m looking too far into it lol, since he doesn't strike me as being inspired from a myth, since he is not a shaman

Baji: Zhu Bajie of Journey to the West. Based on his description and his name, I had him guessed before they even said anything about pig.

His weapon is even the same as Bajie’s, a nine-toothed rake. 

He also shares his desires, both of them being lusty for beautiful women

Suni: Sun Wukong. I had him guessed by his name as well. Although I believe the connection to be true, I cannot help but feel disappointed that the avatar of Sun Wukong was killed off so easily

The traits that these two characters share are pretty different, much more different than Baji had Bajie. 

For one, Suni is generally calm when he is not being taken over by his god, and is pretty gentle and nice actually. This is very unlike Sun Wukong, and also the reason why I think Suni was a bad body for Wukong to take over, since I think their desires do not match up like Rin and Phoenix

Aratasha: The last in the trio, Sha Wujing. I was confused at first, since Aratasha is no fighter, but I realized his name sounds incredibly similar to Sha Wujing. Wujing was a sand river demon in JTTW, so I don’t think it was a stretch to believe that Aratasha was based off of him (his god is a river god, after all)

Plus, Aratasha died before Baji and Suni did. Wujing in JTTW was weaker than both of his companions. 

Chaghan and Qara Suren: This may be a stretch, but I think Chaghan was inspired from Genghis khan. Gengis Kahn united the Mongols, like Chaghan united the Ketreids and Naimads. Even though the time period would be centuries apart (Genghis 1206, Qing Dynasty 1644-1912), it is the most likely option. It is unrecorded whether Gengis had any sisters, so I believe that Qara was made for the sake of plot (anchor). 

Yin Family: The entire Yin family was taken from the story of Nezha. You can read more about the original story by searching his name in Wikipedia. R F Kuang kept a lot of things from the original tale, and these notes are what I have noticed

Yin Vaisra- Li Jing. Li Jing was also a great general, and in other stories, he was the head general in the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Army. If you know about “Journey to the West”, it was him who attempted to subdue Sun Wukong. 

Yin Saikhara- Lady Yin

*its interesting how Kuang decided to make the mother’s name the family name for the Yins. Originally, I would have thought it was Li instead.

Muzha and Jinzha’s name were lifted directly from the source material

Mingzha is a character Kuang added, for Li Jing only had three sons (or 2 sons and a daughter in this case). There is no source material for how Muzha and Jinzha’s characters are; even in adaptations we rarely get to see any exploration of them.

Yin Nezha- Nezha:

Yin Nezha, like his original counterpart, was the third child of his father. Since Muzha was changed to a female, he is actually the second son. 

He has the powers of the Dragon of the Western river (TBG 392), likely referring to the White Dragon in myths, who is the dragon ruler of the western sea. 

Like the Nezha in the myth, Yin Nezha had an occurrence with a dragon that changed his life. 

At the first battle between Nezha and Rin in TBG, it is stated he wears golden rings around his wrists and ankles. Guanyin bodhisattva did this to Nezha in Journey to the West, in order to placate him. 

The Trifecta: All of the figures in the Trifecta were based on the Fengshen Yanyi (AKA the Investire of the Gods).

Jiang Ziya: His name was directly taken from the novel. 

Su Daji: Her name was directly taken from the novel, as well as some of her penchants for murder. Daji, in both history and the novel, was infamous for her torture methods. 

Jingzha being delivered back to his father in a dumpling holder would qualify as a toruture method. I applaud Kaung for being creative.

Yin Riga: I do not know if Riga is meant to be King Zhou or Ji Fa (the man who overthrew Zhou). Perhaps he was inspired by both of them, or neither. 

Since Kuang did not go into depth into which gods were in the pantheon, I will make a list to who I think is there

Gods mentioned in the books:

Erlang Shen

Sanshengmu 

Sun Wukong *implied through Suni

Zhu Bajie *implied through Baji

Huxian *implied through Unegen, and also Daji

Phoenix

Nuwa

Fuxi

The Four Dragon Kings (Yin Riga was likely the Dragon of the East) *There is no confirmation that there are multiple dragons, but I believe it was strongly implied

Chang’e

Xi Wang Mu, Queen Mother of the West

Zhenniao *implied through Pipaji

The Four Guardians (Azure Dragon, Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise) *implied through Dulin, who summoned the Black Tortoise

Wong Tai sen *implied through Lianhua (Actually I am not sure, but I could not think of any other healer god in Chinese myths)

Gods not mentioned but I believe are in the Pantheon: 

Yudi: Usually depicted as the husband of Xiwangmu

Hou Yi (Since Chang’e is there. However, there is a possibility that he is in Chuulu Korikh as punishment for killing the sons of Yudi)

Shennong: He exists between Nuwa and Fuxi as the “human”

The Eight Deities

Guanyin: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Yanwang: (Since Wukong is implied to be a god) showed up in JTTW

Other tidbits:

Arlong’s name may have been the combination of “Azure” and the chinese word for dragon “Long”. 

Aquebus are guns, but they shoot very slow. This aint a AK 47

The Red emperor could have been based off of Qin Shi Huang, or even the Jade Emperor himself.

Chuulu Korikh’s origin, although explained, has ties in Chinese myths. It was the mountain that encased Sun Wukong before he was broken out by Xuanzang. This means that the mountain was put there by the big B, Buddha. (Actually I can't remember if Kuang said who put the mountain down, but if she didnt specify this is what I think happened) 

I am more familiar with Chinese history and myths, rather than Japanese ones, so if im missing something feel free to correct