#pingxie blog

[lotusflowerbreakingthesurface]

✧ This is Zhang Qiling (Men You Ping) and Wu Xie Only blog aka “𝓟𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓧𝓲𝓮 𝓞𝓷𝓵𝔂” blog.

✧ This blog is dedicated to post fanfic recommendation/reading record of PingXie/PX/瓶邪/Zhang Qiling × Wu Xie pairing/ship/cp from a Chinese novel series Daomu Biji/DMBJ/盗墓笔记 and other related things that are mostly in Chinese fandom.

✧ I will try my best to provide the link where you can read the fanfiction, but please keep in mind that due to the rules and limitations (the link is no longer accessible, the fanfic got deleted, private site's restrictions, etc T_T) I cannot put the reading links to all of the fanfictions here. Nevertheless, I want to put those fanfictions here as mementos of the writers' hard work as well as for my own reading records (since I forgot them easily).

✧ Avatar/Background image by 刘巴布

✧ Header image by 吟耳汤

✧ This blog uses the dividers by @saradika-graphics, @anitalenia, and @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

✧ PingXie banner/divider/GIF original pictures by 刘巴布 and edited by me

✮⃝ There are some points that I would like you to know about this blog to avoid misunderstanding, you can check: Introduction: About This Blog and Me

✮⃝ Fanfic Recs Masterlist ✮⃝ Birthday & Festival

✮⃝ Meta Recs ✮⃝ Let's Talk About PingXie

✮⃝ DMBJ and PingXie Archives ✮⃝ My Fics (AO3)

✮⃝ Tags Page ✮⃝ Tags List ✮⃝ Ask Page

✮⃝ PingXie Only Area and Landmine Clearance "避雷"—(If you absolutely need it, don't hesitate to PM me)

⚠︎ 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐲 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐓𝐋 ⚠︎ 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 ⚠︎ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐑𝟏𝟖+ ⚠︎ 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 ⚠︎ 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐗𝐢𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 –𝓟𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓧𝓲𝓮 𝓘𝓼 𝓘𝓻𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓲𝓫𝓵𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓤𝓷𝓫𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓪𝓫𝓵𝓮– 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠, 𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚:

𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢. 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗. 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗! ⚠︎

Hi, welcome to my blog! I appreciate all the likes, comments, and reblogs. However, due to personal reasons, I have deleted/edited some of my old fic rec posts. Therefore, the 'reblogged' version of my old fic rec posts no longer represents me (because once it's reblogged, I can't delete it). I apologize for the inconvenience and I hope you understand. If you don't mind, please delete the old fic rec posts you have reblogged. Also, if you're willing to reblog my new post, I would appreciate it. If it's too much to ask, that's okay too. Thank you for your understanding :)

[raymondduggantravel]

ping your website daily, always ping your new blog daily.

[lunanoc]

Hey I'm doing some fanlore edits (https://fanlore.org/wiki/Daomu_Biji) and do you have any sources for popular ships in Chinese fandom? I basically just cut it down to pingxie and heihua because those were the ones showing up in 2021 lofter data (https://hardwareabstractionlayer.tumblr.com/post/649989752761810944/the-top-100-ships-in-chinese-fandom-according-to) and like basically ONLY pingxie is on ao3 in any numbers but I'm pretty sure HuaXie was a whole big thing I just can't find a source for it... Thanks in advance!

hi! i don't know if i'm necessarily the best person to answer this question because my incursions into the chinese DMBJ fandom are very curated and basically mostly limited to pingxie spaces, so my knowledge of other ships and their hubs is pretty sparse

that being said, finding centralized hubs to get full numbers and stats from for dmbj ships historically in the chinese fandom is complicated for a number of reasons, one of them being that DMBJ is an older fandom, which means a number of fics were hosted on websites and forums that no longer exist. another is that due to the state of chinese internet, fans also host fics and fan art of ships in closed access forums that are sometimes more or less difficult to gain entry to so as to create safe spaces. that being said, there are still ways to somewhat measure the current popularity of a ship. since this is an ask, i figured i'd turn this into a small informative post if anyone is interested in a surface level overview of what's popular in the chinese fandom by comparison to the english-speaking one. just keep in mind that because of all the above reasons, this is only ever going to be an overview of what's currently popular in general and not everything that exists, because arguably probably everything exists in some capacity, and of course this is all very surface level, so i'm sure someone else could do a more in-depth deep dive, especially if they get around more

disclaimer: because i know some might take this the wrong way, to be clear this is NOT meant to spark any kind of discourse surrounding ships, nor is it here to say that some ships are "better" than others. it's purely numbers i've tried to present as objectively as possible, mostly to provide comparison between two different sides of the fandom that behave differently and have sometimes vastly differing preferences

Chinese DMBJ Fandom Ship Popularity

to start off, i think it's relevant to point out that ao3 isn't the best way to measure a ship's popularity in chinese fandoms even if it can give you a rough idea. it can get you rankings to some extent (and even then it really depends), but the numbers aren't going to be at all accurate considering ao3 isn't the platform of choice for chinese fan fiction for several reasons i won't get into here, but that i'm sure people who've been in cdrama/novel fandoms are probably aware of

so your best bet to get any sort of idea of what ships are most popular is by looking at how they rank on big public platforms, namely lofter and weibo

lofter has yearly rankings like the one OP mentioned that people talk about, and it's a fairly good way to get an idea since it's a pretty popular blogging website for fan fics and fan art. lofter isn't cooperating with me right now, but i'll be using the data compiled for end of 2023 (or as of february 2024) by this bilibili video for the 200 most popular ships on lofter. among those 200 most popular ships, 3 of them are DMBJ ships, and are ranked as follows:

XiePing (not to be confused with PingXie, because yes, chinese fandom differentiates ships by top/bottom dynamic) at #120

HeiHua at #25

PingXie at #2

no other DMBJ ships make an appearance on this list, and if nothing else, it tells you not only that both PingXie and HeiHua are by far the most popular DMBJ ships in general, but also gives you an idea of just how insanely popular DMBJ is in china overall to have three ships in the top of a general fandoms ranking

next we have weibo where getting an idea of a ship's popularity is a bit different, and there are multiple ways to do it, but one of the easiest ones to get an idea is by looking at how high a ship's super topic ranks on both the real time and weekly popularity rankings. super topics function similarly to how communities work on X and aren't tags, so not everything tagged with a ship is necessarily going to reflect what's posted in the super topic and vice-versa, but it still gives something of an idea of overall popularity. looking at the today's super topic ranking in the fictional characters category, again the same two ships show up in the rankings:

HeiHua at #23

PingXie at #5

for the sake of comparison, because it's easier to actually see figures with weibo super topics, i also looked up both other ships that do get some traction in the chinese fandom despite being less popular, as well as ships that the english-speaking fandom tends to talk more actively about (in tumblr spaces anyway)

HuaXie at #174, which has an audience, but the numbers are already very different and speak to the fact it's generally speaking a smaller ship as of now (for reference, 万 that you see on these pictures is a unit for ten thousand, so here 1.1 万= 11,000)

HeiPing (unranked), which is in somewhat of a similar situation as HuaXie, but considering HuaXie is ranked, it's safe to say that's probably the only other ship that's even remotely popular by comparison to the two giants that are PingXie and HeiHua

allXie at #160, which is less a ship and more of a bottom!wu xie enjoyers cocktail that has a little bit of everything under the sun, though is mostly a mix of wu xie being shipped with some of the main male characters (i.e. xiaoge, hei xiazi, xiao hua) as well as other more minor characters such as zhang haike notably. it's not really a thing in the english-speaking fandom, but it's worth mentioning because it does exist enough to be represented

PangXie (unranked), which is quite honestly one of the bigger contrasts between the chinese fandom and the english-speaking one in that this ship is pretty much non-existant, or at least i've never seen fan fiction for it. again, my view of things is biased because my experience is deliberately curated so it's entirely possible there are things i just don't see, but the numbers don't seem to contradict that impression

PangYun (unranked), which i'm providing here mostly because pangzi is most often shipped with yuncai (and usually as a sideship that i can tell), though these numbers aren't necessarily representative of what content exists for this ship, since most things tagged as PangYun are posted to the general DMBJ super topic. if anything this mostly gives the impression the ship doesn't have much of a dedicated following, especially given it's part of the other category rather than the fictional characters category

PingSang (unranked), which is one of the only two ships that have any kind of following that involve liu sang, is also in the other category, and along with PangXie and his other most notable ship, is most definitely a rarepair, which is another notable difference with part of the english-speaking fandom where liu sang ships tend to be both fairly popular and have active communities

CanSang (unranked), which is in yet another category (CP as in couple as in ship), though this one's rarepair status might be explained by the fact that, if you couldn't already tell, the chinese fandom has little to zero interest in secondary or minor characters, and beyond that, the core of the chinese DMBJ fandom doesn't care much for the dramas/live action adaptations and is largely centered around the books, so given the premise of this ship is based in the adaptations, it's not surprising

Iron Triangle at #65 is getting a special mention, not only because it is ranked, but also because it's not necessarily what you think. the 角色 or fictional characters category for super topics isn't limited to ships, so you also have super topics for characters on their own in it. what chinese fandom considers to be the six main DMBJ characters, aka wu xie, xiaoge, pangzi, xiao hua, hei xiazi, and huo xiuxiu, each have their own super topics that are in the top 200. the iron triangle topic is ranked, but it's more in the same vein as those, that is to say it's a gen super topic, not a ship super topic. the chinese fandom doesn't seem to be into polyships in general, so that might explain it

i'm not sure how informative this post is, since i get the feeling some of this information is either obvious or things that people already know more or less, and i'm also not sure it really answers OP's question about finding reliable sources for numbers, but it's a surface level attempt. if anyone has more in-dept knowledge or would like to add onto this with different sources or data feel free to!

[pingxie-exchange]

I just realized that the first post I made wouldn't have ended up in the tags, so here we go again:

Sign-ups for the Pingxie Exchange are now open (June 5-15)!

(For more information, please see the pinned post at the top of this blog.)

[eirenical]

10, 14, and 39?

silk - do you like k-pop?

I don't dislike it? But I don't really follow it or anything, either.

buttery - favorite snack?

...is it weird to say I don't know? O_o;;; Like, I generally go through a few weeks where there's exactly one snack I want, then I don't eat it again for months as I move on to the next snack. I don't really have one consistent favorite. Though currently I'm enjoying American cheese and apples? (Not together, just those two snacks. XD) And toast with butter. (I should clarify, it's specifically this sprouted barley bread that I found at my local supermarket that is AMAZING and I'm obsessed. *_*)

sweetheart - favorite mug/cup?

OK SO. THESE ALSO ROTATE AND I HOPE I HAVE PICTURES SOMEWHERE BUT. I AM SO MUG OBSESSED. 😁😁😁

So I have five current favorites that I'm rotating between.

One is a Weilan mug of chibi-fied versions of them enacting the angry handkerchief scene (from taobao).

One is a mug with Xiaoge surrounded by little gold fish that ARE JUST PRETTY AND HAVE NO MEANING WHATSOEVER.

One is a really sweet Pingxie kiss.

(Those last two are by @deboracabral and can be found on her redbubble -- you'll find the link on her blog's pinned post.)

And the other two are mugs I made myself that have my newest favorite glaze pattern on them. ^_^ (And yes, I made the little plate, too. ^_^)

AREN'T YOU GLAD YOU ASKED? XD

[If anyone else would like to send an ask, here they are! ^_^]

[dmbjakathepits]

I have fallen into the endless abyss which is DMBJ. I love the iron triangle, they are friend goals personified. I am a Pingxie shipper but I do love some Pangzi mixed in as well.

I have watched most of the drama adaptations but I have not read the books. I am in the beginning stages of reading those.

This blog will focus on the dramas mostly with some meta posts on my favourite tropes and the scenes which stayed with me.

So welcome to the blog and I hope you enjoy my random ramblings.

[fixaidea]

14, 20, 21 for the fandom ask? 🙏

14. the ship that always makes you smile

I'm prone to getting a tunnel-vision when I'm fixated on something, so currently nothing beats Pingxie, but Hualian is always right up there around the top of the list.

20. your very first fandom!

It's kind of a tossup between LotR and HP. I've known and loved LotR since I was five, but only really started to discover fandom as a concept when I got into HP, so of course these two were the first I looked up.

21. a fandom you're not active in anymore but that you still really like

Ah, Les Misérables. Sure, some parts of the fandom are kinda bad for my blood-pressure, but there's a nice canon-era focused, research-happy nieche I really enjoy. I still follow some blogs from there even if I don't really interact with the fandom anymore.

[vryivs]

Guide to navigating my bimbo blog

My fic

Fic tag (posts w/links to ao3)

Koi no yokan (gets its own tag because i loredump)

My art

art blog

my art + gif tag

Find me elsewhere

ao3

I am vryivs on discord. Feel free to add me!

Help Eslam take care of her family in Gaza

More on what I’m about is below the cut

I LIKE!!! (i really really like)

honkai star rail (march, acheswan, liubai, yanqing, jing yuan, jingluo), honkai impact (einstein, einsla, voidwelt, kiamei), charli xcx, chappel roan, fire emblem (soren, ikesoren, jerileth), dmbj (pingxie), maglor silmarillion (daemags), doing my nails, ateez (yeosang), red velvet (seulgi), aespa (ningning), writing, transgenderism

I DON’T LIKE!!!!! (you will be blocked)

Serious things

TERFisms

Anti voting propaganda

Sinophobia

antiblackness

anti romani sentiment

TME/TMA discourse and intersexism

ableism

Silly things

robinhill

cae/stellefly

kafhime

renheng

edelgard hate :c

taylor swift

(sometimes i will talk about this stuff of my own accord. this is because i have made the conscious decision to choose to. please understand nuance)

[good--merits-accumulated]

Thanks for the tag!

Favourite ship:

Looking at my blog is enough T_T but yeah, it's Anderperry. Bonus additional: Pingxie (get YOU a man that will wait ten years for you while you guard some fucking gate and forget him in the process!) and Merthur (this one is just solidly tween nostalgia tbh). (Wait how could I forget Guangliang! Rivals and lovers of all time)

Last song:

This is actually current song I'm listening to as I'm typing this lol, Your Protector by Fleet Foxes. (Tell your father I was good......... I am in complete shambles)

Last film:

Last film was The Wandering Earth, embarrassingly in like, November I think? I don't watch many movies. It was a pretty solid film! (Although I hear the second one is better, plus Hu Xianxu is in it?)

Currently reading:

The Frayed Atlantic Edge by David Gange, OH MY GOD. I'm only about half a chapter in but some very evocative writing, and he really already had me at "folk history of the west coasts of Britain and Ireland". Dr Gange please tell me more about Shetland fishing vessels. Recommend for anyone into nature writing, language + literature discussed in combination with the history of the natural landscape, etc. etc. etc.!!

Currently craving:

It's a wonderful world because I am currently eating my currently craving, potato sanwimikin. (That can't be the official Anglicisation, but not in the mood.) Just finished the last spoonful. Mmm.

No pressure tags: @violetfudge @sinni-ok-sessi @whisper-my-serenade @gargoyle-doyle @expectris-patronum and as ever anyone else who wants to answer these!

Thanks for the tag, @acrossthewavesoftime! 💕

Favourite ship

Well obviously it's lams in musicalverse, and as for historical... I must say Cutty Sark. What a speedy girl!

Last song

Handel's Wassermusik Suite in F major (the Mozart bubble has finally burst)

Last film

I finally found the time to watch Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction, and while I can't say it's a great movie, it was certainly amusing and charming and scratched the historical romance itch.

(Side note - Danish now sounds to me like someone speaking Norwegian with cottonwool in their mouth.)

Currently reading

About a dozen volumes of letters by Johannes von Müller, queer Swiss historian of the 18th century. Yes, really, for fun.

Currently craving

I'm with you on spring, @acrossthewavesoftime (this is new to me – I'm not used to seasons!).

Also marmite.

And a swiss roll (unrelated to swiss history).

Tagging @permanenthistorydamage @ouiouixmonami @nordleuchten @kaiserin-erzsebet and you!

[miisart]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 盗墓笔记 | Time Raiders (2016) Relationships: Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling Summary:

Wu Xie thought he would never see that person again.

[jockvillagersonly]

Where is the two page essay OP!

Now you’ve done it, now you’ve unlocked the gates to the super mega turbo gay hell of my stupid long PingXie metas I hope you’re ready to take responsibility !!!!!! I won’t raise this child alone !!!!!!

[lotusflowerbreakingthesurface]

Let's Talk About PingXie: Part 2

PingXie "Super Group"

If we talk about Chinese fandom, you may already know various platforms, such as: Weibo, Lofter (lof/老福特), 哔哩哔哩 (Bilibili/B站), etc. On Weibo, just like any other topics of discussion, PingXie has its own Super Group/Super Topic/Super Talk "超话" (chāo huà/ch). Super Group is a feature of Weibo which allows us to interact with fellow fans and talk about a topic of interest. To put it simply, it's like a fan group or a fan community. If you have a Weibo account, don't forget to follow "PingXie Super Group". I think it's rather easy to create an account on Weibo than other platforms. Although it's not a must, it's pretty convenient to have it.

There are so many super groups related to Daomu Biji; the major super group 盗墓笔记, the sub super group of the characters, the ships, the series, the events, the landmines, the merchs, etc. Since this is a PingXie blog, let's talk about PingXie Super Group “瓶邪话题” (mtl: PingXie Topic).

©Divider by @anitalenia

In 瓶邪话题, you can find many PingXie fanworks, some meta(s), and discussions as well. It was also my starting point where I began to explore the PingXie Super Group looking for some food :D But, please note that there are rules that you need to know and abide by before you dive in even more further. Aside from the general rules, some rules may sound strict because of the differences in our fandom cultures.

Let's take a look at those rules:

1️⃣ 瓶邪不拆不逆 (PingXie is not breaking up and not switching position)

Explanation:

PingXie is not breaking up/not dismantling. It means that PingXie should be the only one for each other, only have each other as lovers as well as s*xual partners, only love each other, and none of them has other relationships/love affairs (which also means no cheating/no multishipping/cannot pair them up with someone else).

PingXie is not switching. It means exactly what it said. PingXie don't switch their positions. They emphasize the position of Top (Zhang Qiling)/Bottom (Wu Xie). It doesn't matter whether it's NSFW or SFW. Sometimes it can be seen from the atmosphere, the vibe, or the plot that unconsciously implied the matter of the position even without making it as NSFW. To them, PingXie has always been its own ship and pretty much clear there that “瓶邪” (PingXie) and “邪瓶” (Xie||Ping) are two different ships. Thus, PingXie “瓶邪” is not representative of other ship/cp, especially the reversed version. For instance, when you saw a PingXie fanart (usually it's with the ship tag), you thought it was a good fanart, so you wanted to repost/reblog it. Since you thought there was no difference, you tagged Xie||Ping as well so that more people would know about it. However, that is not a good thing to do in Chinese fandom space. They care about Top/Bottom dynamic of the ship so much that for some people it's very important. So, please be aware of it and respect their preferences, at least when you are there.

In conclusion, it's prohibited to post or comment which has the intention of breaking them up or switching position of top and bottom.

2️⃣ 禁止梦 (banned dream-girls-comment and the like)

Explanation:

The word "梦" (dream) here refers to "梦女" (dream girl), that is the fangirl who likes to treat either Zhang Qiling or Wu Xie as her husband. It's a ship/couple super group after all. Thus, it's prohibited to post any contents or comments with this kind of attitude.

3️⃣ No drama discussion

Explanation:

It's prohibited to mention and discuss all derivative films and TV shows. Well, 瓶邪话题 is a ship/cp super group for two-dimensional characters in the book only.

You can see the rest of the rules there.

Those are some rules in "PingXie Super Group". There is also a bot for PingXie on Weibo, you can search “瓶邪bot” directly. It is where you can read PingXie's excerpts from the webnovel, the physical book, interviews, official games, and it also includes the artworks from the official manhua(s), except for dramas though.

If you are interested, you can also follow Zhang Qiling and Wu Xie's account lol. Yeah, they have accounts there, as well as the others (maybe someone made it, not sure who's behind it). As for the other characters, you can search for it directly, it's easy to find them.

In fact, PingXie fan base in China is quite fond of “洁癖” (mtl: cleanliness/mysophobia). The word "洁癖" has the same meaning of "only" in “瓶邪洁癖”, which is similar to “PingXie Only”. It is basically the same as “瓶邪不拆不逆” that I've mentioned before in PingXie Super Group rules, but “瓶邪洁癖” can be stricter or more extreme. Some of them can't accept that either Wu Xie or Zhang Qiling has ex-lovers (women or men) with any emotional and physical experiences in fanworks, especially since the canon implies that they have never engaged in a relationship with anyone else before. They also refuse to see any fanworks by authors with opposing preferences, and many more depend on each individual. It sounds strict, right? But judging by the fandom space itself, it's actually understandable. Their fandom space and culture are completely different from those here in the first place.

Even though not all of Daomu Biji fans (稻米) are into this, the number of PingXie "only" shippers is still abundant. PingXie itself is the most popular ship and has a significant influence on its fandom. I noticed that many DMBJ fan artists and writers are also into this. It may just be a preference, but the impact on the fandom itself is quite big. I don't know much about the details of its history though... it's just that, compared to other fandoms, PingXie Only in China is highly conspicuous, which is really impressive!

It's truly phenomenal!! ✨��( ˃ᴗ˂ )◞ • *✰✨

At the end of the day, I hope everyone will respect each other's preferences. Thank you ^^

Supplementary link for 瓶邪洁癖，不拆不逆

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[wheresanne]

10 Things to do in Jiufen Old Street: A Day Trip from Taipei

Jiufen Old Street (九份老街) in Taipei

An hour bus ride outside of Tawan’s capital city, this famous village shows a glimpse of northern Taiwan and Taiwanese life outside of the city. Beautiful tea houses, alleys full of food, interesting gift shops, hundreds and hundreds of red lanterns, you could experience how the Jiufen Old Street is always packed with visitors and locals.

About Jiufen Old Street (九份老街)

Jiufen is a small village in the mountains and next to the water, located an hour's drive from Taipei. Rumor has it that Jiufen is actually the village inspired in the “Spirited Away” Hayao Miyazaki movie (2001). True or not, the village does look similar to it! 

How to get to Jiufen from Taipei

Since Jiufen Old Street is a popular tourist place, you can use a public shuttle bus or by taxi or even signing up with a tour.  Remember to always use Google Maps for navigating in Taiwan!

By Train and Bus 

Take the MRT blue line to Zhongxiao Fuxing Station Exit 1, then take bus #1062 to Jiufen Old Street Station. Check the bus 1062 timetable here. 

Use Google Maps for navigating in Taiwan!

(Bus 1062 goes directly from Taipei’s Zhongsxiao Fuxing MTR all the way to the entrance of Jiufen Old Street. If you are taking the train, please note that the station is Ruifang.)

Or you could take a taxi.

How to go back to Taipei (from Jiufen Old Street)

You can take the Keelung bus 1062 back to Taipei for about a 1hr15min ride. The bus stops in front of Zhong Xiao Fuxing MRT or just take the bus to Rui Fang Station. 

Things to do in Jiufen Old Street

1.) See the water and Keelung Mountain

When you first arrive at the “Jiufen Old Street” destination, the bus or taxi will likely be on a sharp-cornered hill. You will need to walk up the hill, where you’ll see many other visitors and locals with market stands or gift shops. 

That is the green Keelung Mountain, the huge orange-roofed Hà Hải Thành Hoàng Miếu Temple, and as you walk up the hill, you can see the Shen’ao Elephant-Trunk-shaped peninsula out in the sea.

2.) Walk through Jiufen Old Street “Dark Alley” Markets and Gift Shops

As mentioned above, when you first arrive, you will have to walk up a hill lined with markets. The alleys will be jam-packed with people (or it was during the Chinese New Year when I went!) since it is the main thing to see in Jiufen. Walking through the food and gift shops in the “Dark Alley” is how to get to the famous Jiufen Teahouse!    

3.) See the famous Lantern Tea House

After you walk through the alley of markets, you’ll find the famous Jiufen Tea house! 

4.) Drink Tea, Coffee, or Eat Snacks in a Tea House

From the tea house windows or balcony (on Shuqi Road) of the tea house, you can enjoy the tall views of Keelung Mountain, the sea, or Jiufen village. A-Mei Teahouse is pictured above. I heard that you have to make a reservation online since it is one of the most famous tea houses. I just went to another tea house on this road.

5.)  Look at All the Masks and Other Interesting Shops!

6.) See the Taipei Sweet Potato & Mining Tunnels

7.) Buy some gifts or snacks in the shops! 

While I was walking through the alley and gift shops, I saw a variety of bags, magnets, key chains, pens, wooden-carved Taiwanese souvenirs, everything Taiwanese you could ever imagine. Since I didn’t have much room in my backpack for souvenirs, I only bought the Taiwanese pineapple cakes.  

Jiufen Old Street can be explored in two or three hours, here are a few other destinations you can visit nearby Jiufen! Personally, I did not visit these places below, but I wish to visit them in the future:

 8.) Send Your Wishes in Lanterns to the Skies in Pingxi

Probably crowded all the time, locals and tourists can stand on the village train tracks to release their sky lanterns, filled with their wishes. Pingxi is mainly popular for the sky lantern festival, where you can see hundreds of lanterns lit in the sky; and it’s becoming more eco-friendly or eco-conscious. (Sources: Taiwan News 2018 and Taiwan-Scene 2019)

9.) Find the Shen’ao Elephant Trunk Rock in Keelung City

I didn’t visit Keelung, yet, but I wish to find the Shen’ao Elephant Trunk Rock, and go into the small city to see the Shiqiuling Pingan Temple, Shiqiuling Fort, Fo Guang Shan Ji Le Temple, Maritime Plaza, and Wangyougu. (Source: Google Maps)

10.) Shifen Waterfall

I didn’t visit Shifen Waterfall, yet, but I wish to see the waterfalls and green scenery here!  (Source: Google Maps)

Want more Taiwan? You can read my full “15 Things to do in Taipei, Taiwan”  post or see more Taiwan photography #Taiwan on my site.

If you have any questions or recommendations, please contact me or leave a comment below! Thanks for reading! 

[lunanoc]

Is there a dmbj fandom space of sort that's... Not focused on Liu Chang characters? Or to put a positive angle on it, I'd love to talk about dmbj canon and its characters and their on page/screen interactions or how the books and sites compare but I'm not really sure where to do that? Do you have a discord or tumblr tag or blog suggestions? (Or if that doesn't exist, this is a marker of interest if you make one. I think there's actually if nothing else a lot of people in this fandom who are interested in pingxie who don't know where to go to talk to each other because it seems like most of the fandom spaces apart from the yucun discord are pretty dead)

hi anon! i’m both glad and sad you asked because i get that feeling and i’m sorry to say there’s… not really much of a good answer i can give you 🫠 though i can offer the start of one at least

a lot of the problem is the people you’re talking about, for reasons i don’t fully understand myself, have come to take up most of the visibility in the public fandom spaces to almost the exclusion of anyone and everything else. this is definitely a hot and likely unpopular take, but it’s gotten to the point where ironically (as far as the english speaking fandom goes at least, the chinese fandom is very different) in some respects, pingxie has become something of a “rarer” pair these days by comparison to ships involving more minor characters, particularly ones involving the characters you mentioned, and i find wu xie and xiaoge themselves are less talked about outside of the context of those ships than the characters you mentioned as a whole. and this isn’t a post meant to dunk on those particular interests, just my opinion on what the dmbj fandom is like at this point in time. the issue is, like you said, it leaves the people who aren't interested in that lost and with no one to talk to despite i'm sure there being a lot of us that would love a place to actively engage with each other

as far as places to talk about pingxie and the dmbj canon in general outside of that, in my experience tumblr doesn’t have all that much to offer apart from a few isolated people unfortunately. just checking the main tags tells you as much, but there are a few people. but i also know tumblr isn’t necessarily the best space for genuine conversations as i get the feeling that’s more what you’re looking for (correct me if i’m wrong). there’s a bit more going on on twitter, but it’s also fairly marginal and it also depends on what it is you want to talk about (and also, it’s twitter).

for discord servers, i can suggest 3 options, two of which i’m sure you’ve probably heard of:

the “dmbj (盗墓笔记)” server (https://discord.gg/xjTSVdUP), which was the original server created before the yucun one was and is technically the largest one (the yucun discord server actually broke off from it in part to be a space more dedicated to liu sang and liu chang characters and eventually became the fandom’s most active hub). fair warning, it’s pretty dead in the sense most of the minimal talk that goes on there isn’t really about dmbj at all, and is more generally drama-oriented. it’s also not strictly dedicated to pingxie

the “dmbj book-centric fun times” server (https://discord.com/invite/z7ZNNEbv3P), which as its name suggests, is book-oriented rather than drama-oriented. it’s also pretty dead apart from one or two sporadic posts from time to time, which i see as partly the consequence of a good chunk of the dmbj fandom either not having read the books or not particularly caring about them by comparison to other things. that being said, if enough people went there, i’m sure it could be more active. this one is also not strictly dedicated to pingxie

the “盗墓笔记 - changbai mountain” server, which is going to be my biased suggestion as it’s a tiny server started somewhat recently by myself and a couple of other friends who felt the same and wanted to try and create a safe space to talk about pingxie (and other ships if relevant, though by this i mostly mean heihua for now) and the dmbj canon and its characters as a whole. it’s very small atm and as active as it can be given that, and while it’s open to anyone interested, because of previous experiences with some people in the fandom, i would need you to get off anon and dm me if you (or anyone else reading this) is interested (as long as you’re comfortable with that ofc) as i don’t necessarily feel comfortable posting a public invite. for the record, anyone interested is very welcome to dm, we really do need more alternative fandom spaces

i’m sorry i can’t help more anon, but i hope this is something of an ok answer even if it’s not the best one

[pingxie-exchange]

Sign-ups for the Pingxie Exchange are now open (June 5-15)!

(For more information, please see the pinned post at the top of this blog.)

Five more days to sign up, everyone! Please join us!

[jockvillagersonly]

This is too fucking much you guys

Full Bazaar shoot photos here

Video Clip with 十年 lines voiceover translated here (original on weibo here)

Interview translated here

Behind-the-scenes clip here

That should be everything from the Bazaar shoot so far, but they're adding more content to the magazine on March 4th!

(All videos can be downloaded from weibo without a watermark using this website)