This is for anyone confused by the sudden appearence of the mom in a Qing Dynasty halloween costume 🤣

There's this cruel minion-nursemaid of the evil Empress from My Fair Princess 还珠格格, which is this really REALLY popular Qing Dynasty TV series from the late 1990s - the first two seasons were practically everyone's childhood staple LOL - called Rong momo 容嬷嬷 (Rong is her surname, momo is the honorific for her position).

Rong momo is well known and frequently memed for the famous scene in which she tortures Princess Ziwei, played by Ruby Lin, by repeatedly stabbing her with a needle.

She looks like this:

Wakey wakey, time for a poke ~

Oh you're sick? Do you need an injection ~ ?

alskdhd just some examples of the memes.

Anyway that's why the mom is in that getup and holding that giant hairpin at the end. If you look closely, the colours of the mom's costume are even a rough approximation of Rong momo's in this the needle scene!

As for the bees, it's a reference to this scene!

The protagonist, Xiaoyanzi got herself stung by bees when an attempt to imitate a butterfly attracting friend went hilariously awry, and then while she was hiding her swollen face in her rooms, the Empress and her nursmaid dropped by to make fun of her. As a revenge prank, she tricked them into accepting new headwear that had been secretly doused in the same bee-attracting flower honey fragrance that she had used earlier. And so we have the above scene!

新添声杨柳枝词 - Newly Added Melody to Willow Branch Lyric

by 温庭筠 (Wen Tingyun, ~812 - 866)

井底点灯深烛伊， jǐng dǐ diǎn dēng shēn zhú yī, At the well’s bottom, lighting a candle in the deep, illuminating you; At the well’s bottom, lighting a candle, my words for you are heartfelt.*

共郎长行莫围棋。 gòng láng cháng háng mò wéi qí. accompanying you, my dear, in a game of changhang but not weiqi. They’ll accompany you on your journey long. On the promised return-date, do not renege.*

玲珑骰子安红豆， líng lóng shǎi zǐ ān hóng dòu, Dainty, lively ivory dice - red bean inlaid; 

入骨相思知不知？ rù gǔ xiàng sī zhī bù zhī? of this bone-deep yearning, are you aware?

*Alternate reading of the line based on homonyms of certain words.

Keep reading

part of me feels bad for tacking fandom things onto this very informative and interesting post, but i need everyone in the dmbj fandom, particularly pingxie enjoyers, to understand that this poem is literally the canon chapter name for the chapter in sand sea where wu xie gets his throat slit. and falls off a cliff. that parallels the other time he falls off a cliff. when xiaoge was there to help him. except now he’s not. and of all the references npss could have made, he chooses a poem about longing and missing a loved one. likely specifically as a callback to that other time wu xie fell off a cliff and the fact the person who saved him is no longer here to do it. never mind the poetic voice is implied to be a wife speaking to her absent husband.

and no one ever talks about it

i feel very normal about this

Don't feel bad! This is awesome :D!!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing about this poem and its significance in daomu biji (@liberty-or-death This may be of interest to you). It's exactly this sort of aha! recognition of allusions and easter eggs in the wild that I write for.

/There is so much depth to Chinese poetry to explore, and seeing how it's still so relevant and continues to be a part of people's lives is delightful to me.

Also! 👀 curious to know which line of the poem was used for this chapter title and if there are more.

Read it here | Reblog for a larger sample size!

OP I have never heard of this poem or the poet, but I recognize the translated words! Thank you for providing his name because it made googling much easier.

This is a 5 character regulated verse about 试眼镜 / trying on glasses ~

《试眼镜》 by 孔尚任 西洋白玻璃 市自香山噢 制镜大如钱 秋水涵双窍 蔽目目转明 能察毫末妙 暗窗细读书 犹如在年少

西洋 | 白 玻璃 / 市 | 自 |香山噢 xīyáng | bái bōlí / shì | zì | xiāngshānō Western | white glass / traded | from | Heong San Ou [1]

制 镜 | 大 如 钱 / 秋水 | 涵 | 双窍 zhì jìng | dà rú qián / qiūshuǐ | hán | shuāng qiào manufactured lenses | big as coins / autumn waters [2] | encompass | both eyes

蔽目 | 目 转 明 / 能 | 察 | 毫末 妙 bìmù | mù zhuǎn míng / néng | chá | háomò miào before the eyes | sight turns clear / able to | observe | miniscule marvels

暗窗 | 细 读书 / 犹如 | 在 年少 ànchuāng | xì dúshū / yóurú | zài niánshào dim window [3] | meticulously reading / as if | still in youth

[1] old name for macau [2] they are limpid; this is also often a descriptor for eyes [3] a window which opens to someplace indoors as opposed to directly outside, hence the dimness without natural light

I have some new co-translations of Li Qingzhao's poetry out in Glyphoria, a publication created by Metatron.

Living in the Song dynasty, Li Qingzhao was China's most celebrated female poet. The poem I translated is my favourite poem of hers and touches on female friendship and sisterhood.

Two translators each give their take on a Li Qingzhao lyric, then collaborate on a third translation - all with extensive footnotes, an explanation of the poetry form and the author's bio. We don't see translations presented in such a format much, so I'm very delighted to get this insight and behind-the-scenes peek into their considerations and feels.

Nirvana in Fire 2023 (Mini) Exchange

Did some interest check in the LYH Discord server and looks like some folks are still interested in NIF Exchange, so I guess we’re doing it!! Thanks to the mods for letting me intern this year. <3

A also did a lovely banner for us. Thank you!

Nirvana in Fire 2023 (Mini) Exchange is now open for sign-ups!

2023 Schedule

for modern AU fics - what chinese media did diaspora consume?

making this post because some of us in the diaspora server were having a chat about what Chinese media "Diaspora Chinese" watched in the 90's - 2000's (and even sooner than that) while not having access to satellite chinese media or streaming services - this is in the context of writing modern AU fics based off Chinese media/novels (so your main character's grandpa or uncle is not, in fact, watching an episode of Friends or Shortland Street or something as flavour text because sorry what the hell-)

We generally watched a lot of stuff on VCDs, including bootlegged and non-bootlegged movies, shows, anime/donghua. My household had a whole VCD album of this, and a lot of VCDs (even if they were pirated editions) would have a fancy hardcover box with a magnetic clasp and some artwork representing the show on it.

All of this is Mandarin - so not TVB stuff, because I'm from Northern China and I don't know any cantonese - but Canto friends, please feel free to add to the list! This is mostly stuff my parents liked to watch, or I liked to watch with them, with the exception of a few which I mainly watched with friends/cousins when I was maybe twelve years old onwards. This is a pretty personal list, meant to give people general idea of a possible "ballpark" of sorts, and by no means exhaustive.

Now, for the list of shows which I can confirm I had or someone I know had on VCD or some kind of offline media format lol (I'll try add release year stamps and links to the EN wikipedia where possible):

Period dramas (mostly Qing Dynasty stuff):

Huan Zhu Gege 还珠格格 (1998, April-) This is a classic, so many memes come from this show; hugely popular series, basically cemented Zhang Tie Lin's face as the face of the Qing Emperor for about a decade. Tie Chi Tong Ya Ji Xiao Lan 铁齿铜牙纪晓岚 (2002-2010) - I loved this show as a kid and watched all four seasons on repeat with family... The "trio" in this show are well known and loved.

Amazing Detective Di Ren Jie / 神探狄仁杰 (2004) A very popular and addictive show. Ok now the Big Four:

Romance of 3 kingdoms 1994 / 三国演义 (1994) - a classic that has had many remakes, my older cousin would play this on repeat...

Hong Lou Meng/红楼梦 （1987） - another classic with many remakes, but I think the most recognised by the public one is the 1987 one.

Journey to the West / 西游记 live action (1986) - I think the 1986 version of the live action is the most recognised one. *Shui Hu Zhuan / 水浒传 (1998) - I am not too familliar with the live action of this one in my household tbh bc my mum doesn't like it lol (she keeps saying it's too depressing) but I'm sure it's up there with the rest of the big four, if anyone has an opinion on this one please let me know!

Modern setting shows:

My dad loved all the Sun Honglei (孙红雷 - actor name) stuff, iirc it was a lot of MinGuo period espionage stuff, your shanghai 1920's sxc aesthetic. This actor has been around since 1999? Qian Fu （潜伏）was very famous, and Ren Jian Zheng Dao Shi Cang Sang （人间正道是沧桑）。 These were around '08 and '09.

Chuang Guan Dong - 闯关东 (2008) (Baidu link, sorry - couldn't get an EN wikipedia one). This show was huge when it was airing, everyone was watching it. I was pretty young but even I watched it and got invested ... and I thought it was such an "old person" show at the time lmao. Xiao Bing Zhang Ga / 小兵张嘎 （2004） (sorry, again Baidu link) - yo, anti-japanese war movies set between 1937-1945 were crazy popular - this is one of them and was very popular):

Donghua/Anime (all the stuff kid me watched and some which I didn't but were popular):

喜羊羊与灰太狼 (2005-) Calabash Brothers / 葫芦兄弟 （1986-1987） Black Cat Detective / Hei Mao Jing Zhang 黑猫警长 （1984-2010） Lan Mao Tao Qi 3000 Wen 蓝蓝猫淘气3000问 AKA 蓝猫 (blue cat) (October 1999 - Present) Legend of Ne Zha 哪吒传奇 (2003) Journey to the West/Xi You Ji 西游记 This was truly the Donghua I grew up on, the OP song and ED song are classic bangers all kids know. Slam Dunk/ 灌篮高手 - People truly watched a lot of anime that may or may not have been terribly dubbed into mando (possibly canto too). Late 80s and 90s kids were all over this, and Dragon Ball.

Taiwanese Dramas:

This is mid-late 2000's, I would be remiss to not talk about the Taiwanese dramas of this era. Mike He, Rainie Yang, Wu Zun (amongst many, many others) were huge. Stuff like Dou Niu Yao Bu Yao, it started with a kiss, Hua Yang Shao Nv (Taiwanese version of Hana Kimi) were all pretty popular. Not sure if these shows all hold up in 2023, but boy were they popular at the time.

Note about CNY:

For CNY, people would try to tune into 春节联欢晚会 (the CCTV official CNY show) at that One Friend Who Had China Satellite TV's house. Zhao Ben Shan / 赵本山 was a comedy staple, and the show would often feature people from the music industry to perform. Eventually these people became more and more relevant to my gen and Jay Chou etc started appearing.

Last but not least Xian Jiaaaan 仙剑:

In 2005 I was all over 仙剑奇侠传 (Chinese Paladin), based off the video game. This show was crazy popular and probably sent me and a whole lot of other kids into Xianxia / Wuxia hell (and Hu Ge hell, and later I came back to love Liu Yifei). Thank you. The OST is a true banger.

For Taiwanese dramas I'd like to list the two biggest ones I can remember - these went viral in my Chinese diaspora community in the US before viral was a term! These were both in Taiwanese Mandarin.

Meteor Garden (2001) aka 流星花園

Meteor Garden is an idol drama starring Barbie Hsu and the boy band F4. This was the first live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga Boys Over Flowers, about a girl who enrolls in an elite high school and encounters a gang of wealthy bullies called F4. (Yes, they did that.) If Boys Over Flowers sounds familiar, that's because there's been a live-action Japanese adaptation (2005-2007 TV series with a 2008 movie), South Korean adaptation (2009), mainland China adaptation (2018, also titled Meteor Garden), and a Thai adaptation (2021). Taiwan did it first, though. 🇹🇼

The Prince Who Turns Into A Frog (2005) aka 王子變青蛙

Another idol drama starring Ming Dao and Joe Chen. Joe Chen (female lead) stars as a poor young hustler who accidentally hits a wealthy hotel heir (Ming Dao) with her car, which causes him to lose his memory. Angst, identity shenanigans, love triangles, social class issues, amnesia, long drawn-out montages with sad pop ballads... This one had it all! And if you'd like to enjoy it in it's campy glory, it's currently streaming on Netflix (at least in the US).

I'd like to add that the VCD struggle was so real. Also, I watched a lot of media dubbed in Mandarin - especially things from Hong Kong - and I never realized that they were originally in Cantonese till much later!

TY for the original post, Ponz! Looking forward to more additions ❤️

I didn’t even have VCDs in my time, it was rental VCRs ^^; I remember watching a lot of Jin Yong adaptations, and in my time it was the ones where Tony Leung and Andy Lau were still super young, filmed in the 1980s. You could get the OSTs on cassette tape too, my older sister bought all of them. 

Adjacently related to what I share here, so I thought I’d reply on this blog! We had cable TV, which was where I watched all the TVB drama in my childhood - only my grandmothers had it in their rooms, so I watched with my popo on weekdays after school and also on weekends when she went to stay with my cousins. They had re-runs of the dramas from weekdays on weekends, except marathon style, so you can catch up on missed episodes maybe LOL

On regular TV, we had one or two channels for each target audience group and for the two Chinese channels, there would be dramas at certain timeslots daily. I usually watched with my parents in the evening at dinnertime and before bedtime. If we liked the drama a lot, we’d look for VCDs locally. I have no idea if they were bootleg or not xD One of my go-to shops is still around - I see outlets in malls and central-ish locations!

These are the dramas I remember from the mid 1990s to the 2000s. 

Wikipedia (w), Youtube (y)

TVB (Hong Kong) Dramas

To a certain degree, all my impressions of mythology, wuxia and historical settings came from this period... the modern dramas also influenced me to take a path in my studies that I didn’t end up pursuing as a career, but it was very fun while it lasted anyway. Also! I wasn't the only one. Met friends in school who told me they had the very same source of inspiration!

(Notice how most of them have fairly normal English names? xD Gosh, those were the days...)

Mythology / Fantasy

西游记 (1996) Journey to the West (w) (y)

西游记贰  (1998) Journey to the West II  (w) (y)

封神榜 (2001) Gods of Honor (w) (y) - Investiture of the Gods adaptation

缱绻仙凡间 (2003) In the Realm of Fancy (w) (y) - The amazing twist at the end has me crying every time. If you do give it a try, don’t spoil yourself on wikipedia (I am SO amused and amazed and delighted by that entry, because it means someone loves it enough to write that much on an obscure drama in another language hahaha) 

人龙传说 (2006) Dragon Love (w) (y) -  Shenanigans between a dragon and an aspiring dragon slayer \o/ I loved this drama so much.

Wuxia

笑傲江湖 (1996) State of Divinity (w) (y)

云海玉弓缘 (2003) Lofty Waters Verdant Bow (w) (y)

大唐双龙传 Twin of Brothers (w) (y) - Adapted from the novel of the same name. I cannot remember any of the plot, but I heard the first line of the opening theme song while looking for another drama one day, and was like WAIT A SEC -

Timetravel 寻秦记 (2001) A Step Into The Past (w) (y) - THE Timetravel back to ancient times drama, based on the novel of the same name

九五至尊 (2003) King of Yesterday and Tomorrow (w) (y) - Yongzhen Emperor goes forward in time with his would-be assassin, another fav!

隔世追兇 (2004) To Get Unstuck in Time (w) (y) - Crime solving across time! (technically no time travelling though) I found this one again when I watched the kdrama Signal and was like !!!!!!!! apparently they were inspired by the same movie.

Historical

洗冤录 (1999) Witness to a Prosecution (w) (y) - My coroner-led crime investigation competence kink had to have come from somewhere right?

酒是故乡醇  (2001) Country Spirit (w) (y) - This drama is its title. There will always be a space for it in my heart. Perfect encapsulation in the Eng title too! (Though it may not be obvious in first glance)

金枝欲孽 (2004) War and Beauty (w) (y) - The Empress Dowager of palace drama, I see shadows of it in so many others of this genre. Only noticed the cool wordplay in the original title after I got re-interested in Chinese things and shoutout to the genius who thought of combining 金枝玉叶 (people of nobility or delicate natures) + 欲 (desire) + 孽 (sin)

Modern

妙手仁心 (1998) Healing Hands (w) (y) - simply iconic

勇探实录 (2001) Law Enforcers (w) (y) - Got distracted watching a bit of this while digging it up (theme song unforgettable!!!!), and it is so weird but I still feel comfortable with this style of acting and script.

争分夺秒 (2004) Split Second (w) (y) - Police vs. Triads & moles on both sides. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense that the character who has stayed rent free in my head for nearly 20 years is... (friends who know my taste can probably guess lmao)

法证先锋 (2006) Forensic Heroes (w) (y) - Probably just as iconic as Healing Hands xD

Taiwanese Dramas

Fantasy

第8号当铺 (2003) The Pawnshop NO.8 (w) (y) - Absolute top fav of all time. What a concept. Excellent execution.

Period

小宝与康熙 (2000) Duke of Mount Deer (w) (y)

Modern

情定愛琴海 (2004) Love of the Aegean Sea (w) (y) - Original tragic fav. My mom was obsessed. I think we watched it at least 4 times. ~ ni shi wo de yi di lei ~

綠光森林 (2005) Green Forest, My Home (w) (y) - I remember watching this because at certain angles, the male lead looked like Ming Dao. Bad time to have this realization, but Huang Xuan has elevated Ming Dao vibes !!!!!! ...Is this why I like him???? LMAO.

白色巨塔 (2006) The Hospital (w) (y) - I'm not sure how well recieved this drama was, but when I think of hospital drama... it's this one. (And maybe the Korean Good Doctor xD)

愛情魔髮師 (2006) The Magicians of Love (w) (y) - On a lighter note... this is a super fun childhood fav. Hairstylist shenanigans with good acting and a lighthearted script.

Mainland Chinese Drama

Adaptations of Jinyong's Novels

倚天屠龙记 2003 The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (w) (y)

天龙八部 (2003) Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (w) (y) - I don't need to say anything. This version is iconic enough! (Also featuring Liu Tao as A'Zhu xD)

射雕英雄传 (2003) The Legend of the Condor Heroes (w) (y)

神雕侠侣 (2006) The Return of the Condor Heroes (w) (y) - by the same director… gods, Liu Yifei is just so iconic in this era of Jinyong adaptations T_T

射雕英雄传 (2008) The Legend of the Condor Heroes (w) (y) - I would say this one is the most idol drama-y out of all of them, but gosh am I soft for this version.

鹿鼎记 (2008) Royal Tramp (w) (y) - I was once dubious, but this production won me over. The ending song OMG.

Period Fantasy / Supernatural / Mythology

赤子乘龙 (2005) The Dragon Heroes (w) (b)

天外飞仙 (2006) The Little Fairy (w) (y) - Led by Hu Ge and Ariel Lin! Two years later, they co-stared again in a Condor Heroes adaptation. Iconic opening song!

聊斋奇女子 (2007) The Fairies of Liaozhai (w) (y) - Beautifully made. I'm thinking of rewatching now that I do know my way around poetry a little better haha.

Of course Chinese Paladin as Ponz mentioned deserves a place here!

Historical

These are the ones I remember:

Princess Returning Pearl ofc also as mentioned by Ponz

少年包青天II (2000) Young Justice Bao (w) (y) 少年包青天II (2001) Young Justice Bao 2 (w) (y) - I finally solved the mystery of why he seemed to have two different faces LMAO there were multiple seasons!!!!

大汉天子 (2005) The Emperor in Han Dynasty (w) (y) - ending song that makes me cry.

刁蛮公主 (2005) My Bratty Princess (w) (y) - not based on real history, but quite cute xD

清宫风云 (2006) Heroic Legend of the Chin Dynasty (w) (y) - LOVE the opening song

Announcing the Langya Kink List

Langya hall is the most mysterious place in the world but as long as one is willing to pay in silver, they may find the answers they seek. However, this time, the young master of Langya is looking for something different from silver. (No one has asked if the master of Langya hall is rather perverse, but that might be a question, soon enough everyone will know the answer to.) This year, for the first time ever, Langya hall introduces a new list - a list of kink prompts. For a week, Langya hall will accept it as payment if you add anything to its library - pleasure or pain, joy or shame. There is no taboo here as we invite scholars, poets, artists, musicians and all kinds of masters from around the world to join us in this festival of kinks from May 13 to May 21!