#lei ming

[xinyuehui]

The nature of palace dramas 🙊

鸣龙少年│The Hope (2023)

[pi-ying-xi]

When Lei Ming finally turns himself around publicly, even though he's always been as caring, in action, as his father was towards students.

Here, he's giving a speech at an edutech institute that wants to use AI and big data to monetise his methods of teaching the five students he'd picked.

Before he gives this speech that is totally not what the edutech guys expected, he sends his students a location pin.

They follow it to find the tree he's referring to very much not dead, and indeed thriving in the midst of other trees (as we know trees can).

And then the big FU before he walks away from this whole thing he got himself into.

Episode 18 has really got me in the feels.

It's not just this scene - it's all of it: his father's funeral, his discovering things he didn't know, about his father and about his students.

Yes, his father indeed neglected him, was unable to express his love or be there for crucial moments in their life. And sometimes it's no use to do things secretly and still expect the person for whom you're doing things will magically know and appreciate your efforts.

And perhaps in that way, because of this public disavowal of what people outwardly know of him, Lei Ming is not just the better teacher, but a better person than his father.

[zegalba]

Lei Xue: 'Drinking Tea' (2009)

Smashed Cans Sculpted and Hand Painted in the Traditional Style of Ming Dynasty Porcelain.

[casualavocados]

so i've been going down several translation holes while giffing kiseki... finding different sources which have their own translations, etc. then trying to choose the words that fit the meaning of the scene im giffing best.

i just wanna talk about two lines in particular that have made me tilt my head and wonder about nuances, so here we go:

the first line/translation i want to mention is from ep9, and is to do with the meaning and intention of the characters/story. it's when chen yi is confronting ai di after he gets out of prison about the time ai di slept with him four years before. i found three different versions of what ai di cuts him off with:

these all contain insanely different meanings in english. i was losing my mind trying to figure out the subtleties of what ai di was saying here, so i reached out to a very helpful speaker of the language who has made kiseki translation posts before, @nikkotinamide , and they said this about it:

and i just got so excited about that...the nuance! the specifics! referring to it as "settling accounts" is likely where the first translation about "the past" comes from, but the other two are closer to the true meaning. however, if you simply went with the revenge line you would miss the complexities that are being suggested in ai di's character.

thinking of that night as a debt he owes to chen yi and has to pay back... as something to be settled - something he isn't even really asking about but more expects chen yi to follow through on... it makes this line so much more poignant to me because it describes his guilt and heartbreak about what happened between them - about what ai di chose to do - in a much more specific and cutting way. ai di expects anger, rejection, and retaliation from chen yi, and tries goading him into reacting in those ways bc he believes he has done something unforgivable (and also that chen yi doesn't (and will never) love him), so he would rather chen yi push him away than risk being that close again.

(un?)luckily for him chen yi is absolutely smitten with him and doesn't let him get away with it. ♥️

the second translation i want to focus on is in ep12 & has more to do with words that don't translate exactly into english, but i went on a similar bender trying to decipher it:

specifically the translation of the last two characters: "堂口 (táng kǒu)" - the word translated here as "office".

bc outside of youtube i found those characters also translated as "headquarters," "gang," and "hall", which are all, again, wildly different from each other. so my best guess was that it was actually a very specific word that highly depended on the context it was being used in, and that context was being translated generally so that non-speakers in the audience would understand. but i wanted to know what that specific word and context was!

so i reached out to a bestie who did some more digging and she found this:

which IMMEDIATELY made me batshit insane because of course that's what it means; of course it's that specific!!

"office" is too professional for where chen yi lives - it's a car garage; it's their front as an auto shop. but it's also not yiyun's "headquarters" because that's the building with the spa where chen dongyang and his husband operate out of: the true central point of the gang. but because of this other line in episode 3, we know chen yi (and ai di too through association; they're a pair, do not buy separately, etc.) leads a specific division of yiyun gang:

so when chen yi asks ai di in ep12 if he's going to the bar or to "堂口" he's asking if he's coming home to the auto shop: their specific division of the gang, (which we knew all along was what he was talking about in the first place).

(...and this is just me continuing with the meta side of it, not the translations, but i also think this connects to what xiao jie and ai di were both talking about when they brought up chen yi's succession as the leader of yiyun:

because chen yi is currently just a leader of one branch of the gang, and young (25 at the point where cdy retires), so to me it makes sense that older, senior members of the gang - possibly even leaders of other divisions - would want that spot. but chen yi is practically cdy's son so get wrecked guys the gang passes to him. 🥰

and that's also why cdy is urging ai di to just come back and be a member again. bc he raised both chen yi and ai di (they are a pair, do not buy seperately) and because chen yi is gonna need ai di to watch his back as he takes over full responsibility. ...im mad we didn't get to see more inter-gang dynamics. that could have been so COOL let me IN.)

anyway those are the two translation bits that have left the biggest impression on me while i've watched and giffed kiseki so far. i just think language is so fucking neat.

[movielosophy]

Dashing Youth | a group of oddballs

[akatsuki-shin]

when you know, you know

[ava-core]

i had an idea of courier six may’s story as this sort of dark romcom—dark meaning it’s still as grisly, may still lives under the constant threat of getting her head blown off or snapped at by deathclaws—but the tone, soundtrack and framing of it is like this funny buddy adventure with boone, veronica, arcade and occasionally lily because may is secretly very fond of her super mutant gramma, who is much better than the judgemental ahmas she had in shi

give may some JOY 2024 (i can imagine the theme song being something like meteor garden (2001)’s qing fei de yi)

[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

[whydoyouaskmethis]

The Eight Young Masters of Beili

[bunnakit]

three post-canon headcanons for kiseki, go!

WHOAGH OKAY i wanted to keep this one until i was done with work and could put some serious brain power into it.

This is gonna be a sad one but I don't think Zhou Ming Lei lived for very long after leaving the family, probably 5-10 years or less. He looked so tired in the last episode and so worn down. I think they got married, maybe a year or so after they left the family, and after his death I don't think Chen Dong Yang moved on but I think he continued to live in the quiet, understated house that they had gradually turned into a cozy home together.

I fully believe the conversation in the car about death was Ai Di and Chen Yi's version of a proposal. I don't think either of them give a shit about a proper marriage, laws have never been something they've had much regard for anyway and they certainly don't need a piece of paper to show their love. What they have is forged in blood and acts of devotion and loyalty. I do think maybe one day, when his guilt has faded, Chen Yi asks for Zong Yi's help to make a cake for Ai Di to give him a proper ring, something with a unique design so any time Ai Di punches someone it leaves the imprint on their skin. (Ai Di fucking loves it.)

Zong Yi mentions at one point in the show that he is attending treatment for his memory loss. I believe with time it does get better, but not completely. Some things can only be healed so much. He has some particularly bad brain fog days, gets more easily frustrated on those days, and still has to reach for his notebook from time to time. He doesn't like to talk to Fan Ze Rui about it, doesn't like the way his face shutters with guilt. Maybe someday they each decide to go to therapy; either together or separately.

idk how accurate these are but they're just kinda thoughts i have floating in my head, i don't really get too attached to any headcanons bc they're really just that, silly little thoughts to try and spackle in some gaps, but i think they're entertaining to think about!

[xinyuehui]

You could get the hardest question right, why did you leave the others blank? What's the point of getting it all right? What's the point of going to university? Will I be financially independent by then? So you want to be financially independent by finding a boyfriend?

鸣龙少年│The Hope (2023)

*Qingbei is a fictional university in the drama, but it's reference to the top two universities in China, Tsinghua(Qinghua) and Peking(Beijing) University.

[leornadodabvinci]

Here they are with some color 🫶🫶🫶

[beckbombergirl]

Zombie Poker Night

Ming Lee is having a hasty poker night with a zombified Megu-Nee and Hsien-Ko

[hiyutekivigil]

drinking tea by lei xue

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: Hello There (2023)

Trailer: Jin Moxi x Meng En | Hello There | 公子贵姓 | iQIYI

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3w6V-whte0

[chungledown-bimothy]

It's not gonna happen, but I need Meteor Garden to end with Si, Shancai, and Lei in the power throuple of all time