#it just bugs me when ppl say shipping wwx and jc or jyl is incest

[starrywangxian]

(pls fact check me if i'm wrong!! /gen and also disclaimer that i'm not chinese!!)

one of my biggest pet peeves with this fandom is that people confuse fanon with canon too much or they miss the cultural differences in mdzs because i keep seeing people say that wei wuxian is the adopted son of jiang fengmian and yu ziyuan which is not true.

normally, i don't want to be "that bitch" who comments on stuff like this but when it concerns the cultural difference and/or is relevant to someone's character than i will be That Bitch.

because wei wuxian was not officially adopted or fostered or any such thing.

wei wuxian refers to jiang cheng as "shidi" (师弟, shīdì) which means younger martial brother and is used for junior male members of one’s own sect. the character for "shi" (师, shī) means sect and the character for "di" (弟, dì) means younger brother but this is just a term of address. the same for jiang yanli: wei wuxian only calls her "shijie" (师姐, shījiě) which means older martial sister and is used for senior female members of one’s own sect. "jie" (姐, jiě) uses the character for older sister but again, it's just a term of address that shows you're familiar with someone and can even have romantic undertones. (meanings taken from the seven seas translation and my chinese knowledge which you're free to correct if i'm wrong! /gen).

wei wuxian doesn't directly refer to jiang cheng or jiang yanli as his blood or adopted siblings neither jiang fengmian or yu ziyuan as his adopted or fostered parents. there are a few examples when they make the connection and reveal that they see each other in that way though, which is why a lot of people see them as family and it happens a lot in fanfiction and fanart etc. for example, when wei wuxian compares them (jc and wwx) to the twin jades of gusu. or when jin zixun calls wei wuxian 'just a servant of the jiang sect' and jiang yanli says he's like a brother to her. wei wuxian also mentions in the family banquet extra that he went to the jiang sect's family banquets too. but wei wuxian isn't ever officially recognised as an adopted son.

so he would not be included in the family records. to the jiang sect's records, wei wuxian was just the first disciple and that's it. and this is so important to wei wuxian's character because he has no one. when he defects from the jiang sect, he's all alone with no support from anyone. he was just a disciple of the jiang sect and he served them like any other disciple then he defected and now he has no ties or relations to them.

a side point but this is also why people ship jiang yanli or jiang cheng with wei wuxian but that is a whole other can of worms that i don't want to open. (for clarity: i don't personally ship wwx with anyone but lwj but i see no problem with shipping wwx and jc or jyl! i won't go anymore into this as i'm not chinese so i can't really talk about the cultural differences as well as chinese people can, so you can listen to them instead!)

basically, the relationship between wei wuxian and the jiang family is purely down to intrepretation but just bare in mind that it is never official or canon in the novel!