#my cdrama edits

[lyselkatzfandomluvs]

@difeisheng has awoken some huáyû 華語* translation pet peeves of mine with this post and compelled the need to vent a little.

知己 has been translated to "soulmate" in subtitles, which -I understand- is short and convenient, and the (cdrama) fandoms ran with that, as fandoms do, bless them!

BUT

"Intimate friend" would be a more accurate, although I don't actually really mind the translation as " soulmates", it just lack nuances and the weight of amatonormativity too often reduces theses words to romantic (and carnal) bonds.

知己

to know - self: a person who understands me (sometimes better than myself).

紅粉知己

rouge - powder - to know - self: a (platonic) lady-best-friend to a man.

知音

to know - sound: a person who understands my tunes/melodies. An artistic soulmate bond, can be between an artist and a connoisseur or people who collaborate to create art, like a musician and a lyricist, two writers, a writer and a graphic artist... (I made a MDZS/The Untamed piece a while ago and already felt the need to explain).

Since we're at it:

緣，緣分

It's the karmic predestined affinity. Between people it can be any connection/relationship: family, friends, rivals even enemies. Without 緣 we would merely be strangers passing by each other.

姻緣

It's a type of 緣分 that leads to matrimony. The red thead that the matchmaker 月下老人 "Old Man Under the Moon" or 月老 YuèLâo ties to the pinkies of a predestined pair, a man and a woman, because of patriarchal heteronormativity but I know (at least in Taiwan) that anyone nowadays can ask for a good romantic relationship in a temple. (Some shrines to the 兔爺兒神 Rabbit deity for same gender relationships but it's not as widely known or accessible).

*instead of Chinese/Mandarin/HànYû choose the term 華語 Huáyû because it's what covers the best the diversity of the diaspora and learning speakers, without geographical/historical/ethnical restrictions.

[dazzlingkai]

LUO YUNXI & BAI LU Behind the scenes of 'Till The End Of The Moon'

[highlynerdy]

If you can meet a zhiji in your lifetime, you can die without regrets. 一生能遇一知己死而无憾。

Fangs of Fortune / 大梦归离

[copia]

endless ghifs 6/? ⛧ source — "So if you meet me, have some courtesy; have some sympathy, and some taste!"

[ladynamie]

SUN ZHENNI as PIAN RAN Till the End of the Moon 长月烬明 (2023) | Episode 10

[xiaolanhua]

Ouyang Nana and Gao Weiguang for Harper’s Bazaar China

[swiftletinthecloud]

THE DOUBLE 墨雨云间 (2024)

@asiandramanet august bingo: color | red

[bellesdiaries]

I promise you that I will never leave you.

[rinbylin]

莲花楼 mysterious lotus casebook ep. 27

[purplexedhuman]

"Do you think my master might be in hiding, under an alias?" — Fang Duobing to Li Lianhua, who is in fact his master who's in hiding under an alias

Mysterious Lotus Casebook (莲花楼) Episode 21

[melodious-tear]

To live, one must rely on oneself. This is the rule of this world.

Liu Yuning and Zhao Lusi in the trailer of The Story of Pearl Girl/The Legend of Jewelry

[nunafilms]

✩ The Double ─ Episode 33 (墨雨云间)

[dazzlingkai]

"I was willing to share the world with you. But you betrayed me." TILL THE END OF THE MOON 长月烬明 (2023)

[highlynerdy]

I am a thousand year old Great Demon. I don't believe my lifetime of power can't break through this ridiculous and heartless ice. ...BREAK.

Fangs of Fortune / 大梦归离

[justplaggin]

choices were MADE

[ladynamie]

TANTAI JIN & YE XIWU Till the End of the Moon 长月烬明 (2023) | Episode 6