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And now I figure out where to hang my mermen and unicorn-man…

WHEN SANITY IS NOT HOME

Starring: DaGe, Director Nie, ErGe, and Yaomei.

Sorry, I can't breathe👻

Hey, I saw a post in which you said that if we had the means we should support MXTX through legal means. I'm a white American who only found out that danmei was a thing through CQL and then MDZS. How would I go about supporting MXTX? Are there places I've been missing where I can give money in exchange for my enjoyment of her world or something? I keep looking for a DVD of CQL or a print book of MDZS in English, but no dice. Have I been overlooking another way to support her?

Hi there! :D I don’t blame you, it’s pretty hard to find stuff in english, but I have a few masterposts for you (*´▽`*)

Alas for any print editions of MDZS in english, they don’t exist (yet). AFAIK, no english publisher has the rights to it, but if you’re interested in the traditional Taiwan print edition, I have a masterpost with links here

@the-social-recluse‘s pinned post (here) is a fantastic resource on different places to stream/purchase MDZS’s various forms legally as well as sources to scanlations and fansubs etc. (there’s a buying guide for the audio drama, which I highly recommend :DDDDD)

if you are interested in the audio drama, I have a masterpost here (first link is just to an outdated version of post 2) that includes a link to a tipping guide for the audio drama team and also a link to my episode guide lol

most official merch is on taobao stores, so you can either purchase directly (though i will readily admit that navigating through it can be a Whole Ordeal + you need to be cognizant of what is/isn’t possible for them to send directly to the states -- I uh, mostly learned through trial and error RIP -- but there are guides online to help you do it!) or use an agent (I use Superbuy for certain items that can’t be sent directly). Shipping direct using their consolidation function costs around ~15USD/lb, so it can get hefty, but agent shipping is definitely more expensive. ;A; still! agents are relatively painless to use and they speak english, so, you know. ANYWAYS, if you’re interested on that front:

KAZE makes beautiful MDZS stationery items! mostly washi tapes. also sometimes stuff like mousepads, enamel pins, candles, etc. :3 do note: sealing wax, candles, pens with ink are not able to be consolidated, as I have Learned haha

Official CQL Taobao store. bit of a grab bag of CQL merch lol. please note, you can’t ship any makeup, wax, liquid etc. directly, so you’d have to use an agent for that (and I’m not sure it’s guaranteed??)

Official Donghua Merch (aimon). exactly what it says on the tin lol. keychains, plushies, knicknacks etc.

another official merch store (assortment??) this collects some items from a bunch of other official stores, including KAZE and aimon, but also has listings i haven’t seen elsewhere! there’s some really pretty jewelry (not... sure if you can send that directly, i sort of doubt it rip)

this.... is maybe a lot ahaha. if the taobao stuff is too intimidating to deal with, you can also find resellers on ebay pretty often as well. there’s also always stuff like group orders (i’ve pretty much only used OnlyDream and @shandian-go, both of whom were very good!!).

anyways!! hope you found this somewhat helpful!!

hey there!! hoping to get your input on this: ive seen plenty of fics where characters across the cql board will say just very openly "i love you." i don't know if this is a common way of expressing romantic love in ancient china? i could be wrong, but the FEELING i get is that it's more common to use gestures, or allude metaphorically to some poem/story instead of being so direct? i think theres an old-fashioned jpn phrase like "i'll make soup for u every day" to confess, anything similar here?

oof, so I’m going to go ahead and start by saying that I don’t know nearly enough to be make generalized statements about how romantic love is expressed in ancient/dynastic China or even in modern-day, because I’m just not widely-read/steeped in the culture enough. And even if I were, I still don’t know if I could make definitive statements on what can be considered a “common way of expressing love” because there are as many ways to express love as there are people and permutations of relationships on this planet. 

The renditions of love that tend to linger in our minds, however, tend to be defined by action: 梁山伯与祝英台 Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the butterfly lovers inseparable by death; 牛郎织女 Niu Lang and Zhi Nv, a mortal man and celestial maiden, crossing to each other over a bridge over the Milky Way made of magpies; 孟姜女 Meng Qiangnv breaking open the Great Wall with the force of her tears. Just gonna... put that out there.

I did include a brief discussion of the character 爱 ai in this post, which is the character that’s pretty much translates to ‘love’ (and many of its complicated English valences) in modern Mandarin. Given an earlier reading of 爱 not as ‘love,’ but as ‘begrudging, cherishing’ makes the possibility of saying 我爱你 woaini rather...unlikely in ancient China (especially when you consider that 我 wo and 你 ni were different pronouns back then, too... what I’m trying to say is that a simple ctext search hasn’t been helping me here).

I am, however, willing to bet that writing/reciting poetry for your lover was a Thing, and it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t seize every possible opportunity to add gratuitous poetry to a post:

《上邪》/ Shangye

上邪！/ High Heaven!

我欲与君相知，/ I want for us both to know each other

长命无绝衰。/ as long as life, with no decline or end

山无陵，江水为竭，/ When mountains lose their peaks, when river waters dry up,

冬雷震震，夏雨雪 ，/ when thunder rumbles in winter; when rain and snow fall in summer

天地合，乃敢与君绝！/ when sky and earth seal back together, only then will I dare end things with you!

One of the shortest pieces in the Hanyuefu, which I mentioned briefly in this post, 《上邪》 is an incredibly powerful declaration of love, loyalty, and devotion without using any of the above words (it does, however, use 知 zhi / knowing). 

Oh! Both 《上邪》and《卜算子》use 君 jun, which you might recognize from ‘Hanguang-jun’ or ‘Zewu-jun.’ In addition to being an honorific, 君 also appears often in poetry as a respectful second-person pronoun. Again, it’s technically gender-neutral, though most of the time it’s assumed to refer to a man.

《卜算子》李之仪， Busuanzi by Li Zhiyi (Northern Song Dynasty)

我住长江头，君住长江尾。/ I live at the head of the Yangtze; you live at the tail of the Yangtze,

日日思君不见君，共饮长江水。/ Day after day, I think of you but do not see you; we drink from the same river’s waters

此水几时休，此恨何时已。/ When will these waters rest? When will these feelings stop?

只愿君心似我心，定不负相思意。/ I only hope that your heart is similar to mine; I would not let down the intent of our mutual love.*

*note: this entire last line is rough, but I spent more time than I’d like banging my head against 相思, which I translated as ‘mutual love.’ It’s glossed in Pleco as ‘pining, lovesickness’ but literally means ‘mutual thought.’ 

The language of thought, of mutual thought, of the sentiment behind the phrase thinking of you, is something that goes way, way back. It’s in 《饮马长城窟行》, from the poetry post I linked earlier; it’s also referenced in the last line of 《楚辞·山鬼》Mountain Ghost from the Songs of the South: 思公子兮徒离忧 / only in thinking of you can I depart from sorrows.

Oh! Here’s a classic declaration of love -- literally, from the 《诗经》 Shijing / Classic of Poetry: 

[...]

执子之手，与子偕老 / I’ll hold your hand, and with you grow old...

[...]

It’s the most famous line from 《国风·邶风·击鼓》which I think is actually a... war poem? So a poem that’s primarily all about that Mutual Loyalty and Manly Camaraderie, but one that has had its most iconic line co-opted for the sheer romance of it all.

I’m not going to translate《击鼓》 fully because trying to read the 《诗经》is one of my personal nightmares, but you can find it here on ctext with the James Legge translation, which, admittedly, takes some liberties with the text.

One last poem, because the last line is peak pining:

《越人歌》 Yuerenge

今夕何夕兮 搴洲中流，/ What evening is this evening? Drifting in the river current.*

今日何日兮 得与王子同舟。/ What day is today? That I can travel in the same boat as you, prince

蒙羞被好兮 不訾诟耻，/ I hide my shyness, cover my fondness; there will be no slander or gossip or shame*

心几烦而不绝兮 得知王子。/ My heart is troubled, unending -- to come to know you, prince

山有木兮木有枝，心说君兮君不知。/ On mountains, there are trees; on trees, there are branches -- my heart delights in you, and you do not know.

*leaning heavily on the baidu-baike glosses

The story I’ve always been told about 《越人歌》 is that a prince of Chu, fleeing political strife in his state, crosses a river in a boat poled by a young woman of the state of Yue. She recognizes the fleeing prince and sings this song to him as she poles across the river. The catch is that she sings it in the language of the state of Yue, so he has absolutely no idea that she’s confessing her admiration and love for him.

This story, according to my Google searches, is inaccurate, but OH WELL, the last line is still peak pining regardless.

Stars of Chaos 杀破狼 Vol 1, Notes 7

By Priest, English translation by 7 Seas

Pages 415 - end. (Last 3 little notes!)

Last two under the cut.

殃及池鱼 is the idiom she’s building on. Priest is so funny.

皇叔 = 😁😍🥰。

王国舅 = …well, he’s not Gu Yun.

Stars of Chaos - All The Notes List

All The Seven Seas Books Masterlist

Astronomy I-

Saturday, August 7, 2021. That’s the release date for Mo Dao Zu Shi season 3!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!

Excuse me while I go schedule my Season 1 and 2 marathon so that my memories will be perfectly fresh and ready for Season 3 on August 7!!!!!!!!!

(Sources: https://youtu.be/YzvNsFSw0RY and https://www.yualexius.com/2021/01/mo-dao-zu-shi-season-3.html. I really really hope that they’re right!!!!!!)

Yu Alexius

Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation / Mo Dao Zu Shi Season 3 Release And Updates | Yu Alexius

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are coming back in 2021 for Mo Dao Zu Shi Season 3 and I am sure that I am not the only one who is excited to see

the last unicorn lived in a lilac wood,                  and she lived all alone

Wei Wuxian | Ep. 11

for @/the-lady-of-the-blue

A co-worker the other day commented on how he had heard that the Chinese government was trying to crack down on femininity in men in the media, and I went crazy trying to find that awesome video of Wang Yibo wearing Chanel runway looks. Women’s Chanel runway looks. And I was blathering on and on (while still trying to stay professional and not-weird-obsessed) about how Wang Yibo can just DO that, and I can’t imagine anyone being able to stop him, or even slow him down, just because he likes wearing dangly earrings and orange eyeshadow. And women’s jackets.

I couldn’t find the video again on tumblr, but I had some success on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/hIAOXIf9Alw

Enjoy!