#chinese lit

[llovelymoonn]

yiyun li the book of goose

kofi

[godzilla-reads]

“When you’re happy you can indulge yourself a bit.”

— The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian (trans. Bruce Humes)

[birdears]

instant follow for wuxia meta!!! also, thinking of this essay by translator yilin wang briefly discussing the way wuxia as a genre has always allowed for stronger women even before new wuxia like jin yong

due to answering the ask I just got, I was reminded again of Gu Long's "On Wuxia" essay, translated here on Wuxia Wanderings which is a really fantastic resource by the way!

More specifically, the passage where Gu Long writes about Jin Yong (both of them tremendous greats in the wuxia genre btw) is just so...kind. There's something so wonderful about the way he talks about how he feels about the genre as well as Jin Yong himself.

I was initially reluctant to talk about contemporary wuxia authors, but I can make an exception for Jin Yong. Because his influence on this generation of wuxia fiction is unmatched, and for the past eighteen years or so, no matter what author you take, all of them have been influenced by him to some degree. He merged together the strengths of each major author and school, and not just from wuxia fiction, but also from classical Chinese literature and modern Western literature. in order to create his own unique style that is succinct, tidy, and lively! His novels are tightly plotted, large in scope, yet the endings match up with the openings, and the characters within are lifelike and vividly portrayed.

[....]

Most importantly, he created the current style of wuxia fiction that almost no one has been able to surmount.

[...]

When I myself first began writing wuxia novels, I was basically just imitating Mr. Jin Yong. Ten years of writing later, when I was writing The Sword and Exquisteness and Legendary Siblings, I was still imitating Mr. Jin Yong. I believe there are many wuxia authors in the same situation as me. On this point, Mr. Jin Yong certainly deserves to feel proud.

I'm not entirely sure I have a meta essay about this, just thinking about the way that like, even someone like Gu Long who was also truly one of the wuxia greats of all time, had such admiration for Jin Yong and his work, and how so much of the time in fandom when I've talked about it people don't know his work really well! They might love MDZS or erha or works that have come after, but we all stand on the shoulders of giants in many ways.

I also remember something a friend commented when we were on the thread on spcnet.tv forums mourning Mr. Jin Yong's passing in 2018, that's really stuck with me and that's the line of "I feel like, in [his] stories, the women are always braver." and maybe that's what I was thinking of when looking up this essay due to the ask I just answered.

[yesloulou]

Max and Daniel play badminton at the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix 🏮🐉

[mournfulroses]

Huang O, tr. by Kenneth Rexroth, from Women Poets of China; "Flowers of Fire,"

[literaryvein-reblogs]

A List of "Beautiful" Chinese Words

for your next poem/story

Pinyin - English

Àn - dark

Ān quán - safe

Bēi cǎn - tragic

Dú tè - unique

Fàng sōng - relaxed

Hài xiū - shy

Huā shào - flowery

Jiāo - burnt

Jiāo ruò - delicate

Jīng diǎn - timeless

Jīng zhì - exquisite

Kǔ tián - bittersweet

Měi (lì) - beautiful

Méng lóng - misty, hazy

Mó hu - vague

Nài xīn - patient

Qí guài - strange

Róu hé - soft

Sī huá - silky

Tián - sweet

Xī yǒu - rare

Xiāng - fragrant, aromatic

Yǒu jià zhí - valuable

Yù - rich, strong

Zì xìn - confident

Hanyu pinyin

The phonetic symbols for Chinese characters.

The system to transcribe Mandarin Chinese sounds into a Latin alphabet.

It was invented in the 50s, and adopted officially in mainland China in 1958.

Pinyin is used for several purposes:

It can help learners of Chinese (including native speakers) to read Chinese characters and/or words.

To transcribe names and places into words accessible to Romanized language speakers, and it can be used as an input method for typing Chinese characters.

If any of these words make their way into your next poem/story, please tag me, or send me a link. I would love to read them!

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Word Lists

[heretherebedork]

Each of them in the light and thinking of each other but also hurting in ways so deep it's going to break them. But there's light still and that light is each other, that light is freedom, so close and so far, cold and distant, but the warmth will come back someday.

[lunarriviera]

#UndertheSkin2 currently #1 on Weibo hot search, thanks to mid-autumn festival greetings from Tan Jianci, Jin Shijia, Zhang Bojia, Zhu Jiaqi and Lu Yanqi

[hideyseek]

the other thing that hurts me real bad about this show is that the like, strain(?) of meth that our beloved task force is tracking is translated as "lucifer" in all the english subs (apparently another word for the devil in christian theology, thanks wikipedia) which is nice and heavy-handedly in line with this show's anti-drugs messaging but! in the dialogue in chinese it's called 雪天使 xuetianshi, or snow angel, to match with our broader snow and ice themes

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

"Fandom for Witches" is available to read here

[mysteriousboo]

Why I prefer cdramas over kdramas(as an international fan)

kdramas ive watched - business proposal, sweet home, rookie historian goo hae-ryung, mr queen, link: eat, love, kill , the glory , crash landing on you, what's wrong with secretary kim, true beauty, romance is a bonus book, goblin, meow-the secret boy, hometown cha cha cha, see you in my 19th life

cdramas ive watched - the untamed, word of honor, blood of youth, ten miles of peach blossom(i regret watching this one), love between fairy and devil, the starry love, till the end of the moon, put your head on my shoulder, mr honesty, the romance of tiger and rose, love o2o, go go squid!, love and destiny, currently watching back from the brink

1) Cdramas tend to have more developed side characters

ive seen a good variety of kdramas, and i always find the side characters to be lacking! they are often treated as props or only used for comical purposes. meanwhile, in cdramas, they tend to have more personality and are important to the plot as well rather than just being a plot device! (i agree that not all cdramas do it well, but the ones that do leave behind a good impression)

2) Cdramas make the characters interact well

one thing that i have noticed in cdramas is that they make character interactions to be deep and meaningful! personally, i prefer consuming media where both the main characters and side characters stand out, and while it's hard to create something like that, cdramas do it better than kdramas! side characters often don't get enough screen time or are too one-dimensional to make an impact on the viewers! im not saying that kdramas don't do it at all, im saying that a lot of times, it just doesn't hit as hard as in cdramas.

3)The angst hits harder in cdramas!!

now, don't get me wrong, im not saying that kdramas can't be angsty! it's just that a lot of angst in kdramas tends to be more romance related, and as an aroace person, i don't care much for romance and that's why the angst in cdramas(not just romance related) feels and hits way harder! yes, i absolutely adored the angst in the glory freaking loved it! i live for it, but angst in cdramas tends to focus a lot more on familial and platonic relationships, and my lil heart just loves it too much!!

4) kdramas have a lot more filler than cdramas

yes, ik that cdramas are longer, but just hear me out! i have noticed that a lot of times, if you remove a couple of episodes from a kdrama, it makes no impact on the plot whatsoever! or a lot of arcs just feel like they don't deserve as much screen time, and some arcs don't make much sense either after being dragged on for so long!! meanwhile, cdramas are definitely longer, but most of them, if not all of them, are adapted from a webnovel, and that, in general, leads to them being super long! yes, it feels like they are dragging some parts out, but it all seems significant to the plot and is not just filler!

5) relationships between females are better portrayed in cdramas!!

i absolutely adore female friendships or just respectful relationships between females. and cdramas definitely do it better than kdramas! look at li susu and pian ran from TTEOTM or jiele and xiao lan hua from LBFAD or WOH or back from the brink! female connections are better portrayed in cdramas!

6) cdramas tend to be more fantasy focused than kdramas

i enjoy fantasy as a genre a lot, and cdramas tend to be more fantasy based! chinese fantasy is so interesting, and i absolutely adore wuxia/xianxia as a genre! kdramas don't have something similar, and while i adore a lot of historical kdramas, fantasy just hits differently! especially cause there is just so much to explore in chinese fantasy! look at the blood of youth, i had so much fun watching that show. and the fight scenes were so well done!

7) cdramas have beautiful platonic relationships, and i adore the found family arc a lot more in cdaramas

there is definitely a found family arc going on in most of the cdramas ive watched, and i live for it! a lot of time, the characters might not have as much screen time, but they all seem to have depth, and that makes the drama so much fun! yes, kdramas also have found family arcs, but a lot of times, the characters are purely used for comical purposes and have no back stories! they are mostly just used to fill screetime! whether it's the untamed or the starry love, the found family arc would make my heart go so soft cause all those characters have back stories and depth and i am so in love with all of them and even losing one of them can make me go feral and that's exactly why i adore cdramas!!!!!!

shortcomings of cdramas:-

a) the re-dubbing in cdarams- as you all know that China re-dubs their drama, and that can be annoying cause it's always the same va!!

b) the chinese censorship is so strict, and a lot of times, some scenes don't make it into the final cut which can be frustrating or a lot of time even getting past the censorship can be impossible!!

c) i feel that fans seem to be more critical towards cdramas! people behind the scenes put way too much effort so that we can watch their work, but how the drama changes after the censorship is not in their control! they try their best, and adapting novels is not easy!! yet the fans are less understanding towards them! i just wish the audience was a little more understanding!!

d) another problem that's persistent with most cdramas are the poorly translated subtitles! sometimes, the subtitles can be very unclear, or the translation is not accurate at and that can create a disconnect with the international fans in general!!

this is just my opinion! im not saying that cdramas are better than kdramas. i adore them both a lot! im just saying that i PREFER cdramas more! please be understanding and try to be polite when interacting with this post!! that being said, feel free to leave recommendations cause i WILL check em out ;))

[godzilla-reads]

🌙 The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian (trans. Bruce Humes)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“A long-time confidante of the rain and snow, I am ninety years old. The rain and snow have weathered me, and I too have weathered them.”

At the end of the 20th-century an old woman sits among nature and reflects on the joys and tragedies that have fallen on her people: the Evenki tribe of north-eastern China. In the 1930’s, the intimate, and secluded world of the tribe is shattered when the Japanese army invaded China.

I’ve been reading this book since the summer. At a modest 360-pages, it is not a terribly long book but I felt that I had to take my time with it and embrace all that it had to share. I can see why the Penguin Vintage Earth collection included this book as it is surrounded by a deep respect and love for nature around us. It’s beautiful and tragic. It’s heartwarming and heart wrenching.

I highly recommend this book.

“My tale must come to an end, but not everyone gets an epilogue.”

[notesoncrocs]

all of it

thought about the movies everything everywhere all at once and the half of it today until i was sick. eeaao because i was analyzing joy wang's character as a nihilist and the half of it because i'm writing a final paper comparing it to sartre's no exit.

i'm so behind on this class, it's not even funny. it's called literature & existentialism and i picked it because i thought i would like it. i was supposed to like it. then again i was also supposed to take another lit class and consider the major this semester and none of that happened either. when i did wake up in time, i'd go to this class and sit in the back and try to just listen in, and the professor would call on me for nodding off.

but it'll be okay. my discussion post is a month late but i talked about how jobu tupaki searched through all possible universes for a version of a mother who loved and understood her. how she was driven to give up her sense of freedom and agency in the face of these pressures from her mother -- to be straight, college-educated, skinny, more fluent in chinese, less americanized -- and succumb to the conclusion that nothing matters. i have an idea for the thesis for my final paper -- in class we learned about sartre's framework for the concept of "the other" and how profoundly disturbing it is to be in the presence of another person, because as the center of your own universe you are in control of the meaning you choose to give to the world, and when another person is within your universe, your agency is being chipped away. you -- and your meaning -- become chained to the other's judgment of you. and for the half of it i was thinking about different ways people try to take back control of their narrative from the other, whether that's through overexplaining or overexposure of yourself or through physical distance from the other.

there's other things, more important things, about both movies that an existentialist framework could never fully explain away. i thought about evelyn, when facing the possibility of losing her own daughter to the black hole, asking helplessly to her father how he found it in himself to let her go. i thought about the lights from the failing laundromat, the smashed windows, the glass on that dark street, and mother and daughter trying so hard one more time to listen to each other, even though it hurts so much. then i thought about the ending of the half of it, paul munsky running after ellie chu's train, knowing that it's futile and that she's going where he can't follow, but doing it anyway because it was her favorite scene from the movie ek villain and he remembered. he remembered because he loves her. no drawn-out 60-page essay, translated to english from french, laying out a blueprint for how a man should face the burden of his freedom or his death or whatever, could dream of capturing this.

[soulmaking]

[contremineur]

My sorrow is perfectly visible to spring that painted hussy but she visits my river pavilion as if it meant nothing at all encourages the flowers to open shamelessly then persuades the orioles to sing themselves into a frenzy.

Tu Fu (712–770), from Random feelings

from here (not my original source)

[mournfulroses]

Huan Fu, translated by Jim Weldon & Michael Hockxy, from a poem titled "Wild Deer,"