Concept Arts And Sample Insert Illustrations By Marina Privalova (@Baoshan_Karo) For Sha Po Lang Russian

Article on Fan Culture in China

This newly published Vox article is one of the most accessible, most comprehensive overviews I've seen on fandom culture and the increasing government restrictions in China.

Will be of particular interest to new fans who are still trying to get their heads around these concepts, but also worth reading for those who are more familiar with these topics.

I am new to DMBJ fandom and I want to ask a favour. Would you introduce me to some dmbj tumblr blogs, active or on hiatus. No pressure though.

Hello anon!! I have no idea when you sent this to me, and honestly huge apologies since I've been on hiatus for , like , literal months. Yikes. At this point you've probably found all the blogs you'd like to find, but I'll include a few that come to mind under the cut anyway! 

Please keep in mind that I've been on hiatus for several months, so there could be super ✨hot✨ and ✨fresh✨ new blogs I am not aware of, and/or some of these folks may have drifted out of the fandom, and/or my memory may have failed me!

Best of luck anon, and welcome! :D

DMemeBJers (A-Z)

@cross-d-a​ - crossy baby has been on hiatus for awhile but I think about her tits post literally every day. If anyone has a link please sent it to me. Please. I’m begging. 

@ghostyshades - a Meme Queen (gender neutral), tho I’m not sure if Sasha is still posting DMBJ?

@nope4ever - the absolute funniest DMemeBJ person alive

@psychic-waffles - Jack owns my entire ass and I would die for him, you’ve seen his sketches and you don’t even know, I love him

DMBJ Fan Artists / Gif Makers (A-Z)

@ashenwren / art blog @ashenlights - wonderful artist and all around good person! Multi-fandom but has some great DMBJ stuff :)

@creeds-eagle - Wonderful gifs across a variety of DMBJ shows!

@dmbjartreblogs, run by @unforth - thanks for the addition, Foxy!!! :)

@keichin - an incredible artist!! last I checked, mostly draws HeiHua + misc. from TLT3

@rose-nebulijia - does beautiful edits as well as incredible fic, is also my heart, love, and life. You may also see her referred to as Vishie!

@tianzhens - this is someone I just recently started following!

@wu-xie - makes gorgeous gifsets, though they may also be on hiatus??

DMBJ Fic Writers (A-Z)

@achray1 - multi-fandom blog and one of the absolute best fanfic writers I have had the pleasure to read

@amidalogicdive - very kind, great writer, and super involved in fandom projects!!

@chirpybirdy - I haven’t talked to them much, but I know they have a bunch of DMBJ fic? I’m not sure how frequently they post DMBJ

@dmbjexchange - a great place to start if you wanna get in on fic!

@eirenical - very horny for Zhu Yilong, which is relatable and sexy of them

@epicwalrus - a gem of a writer, person, and being. 10/10 good vibes

@foxofninetales​ - FOXY BABY is an absolute gem, a star, a great author and all around joy to be around, I really have no idea if she is still posting DMBJ but I think so and for that I include her

@hils79 - quite literally the nicest person on this hellsite, also a DMBJ legend @humanlighthouse​ - an absolute legend, PingXie fic queen, also has a very soft aesthetic that will make your dash ~glow~

@kholran - is any DMBJ rec list complete without the RiSang pool noodle? Signs point to no

@laireshi - incredible author with equally incredible feelings about Xiaoge and I think that’s very fun, flirty, and sexy of them

@mejomonster - multi-fandom, but can always be counted on for EXTENSIVE and HEART-RENDING DMBJ tags

@merinnan - multifandom and multi-interest blog; prolific writer in DMBJ + very involved in DMBJ fan events and such!

@pissmeoffanddie - not DMBJ exclusive but YES genuinely the most wonderful

@s1utspeare​ - an absolute fucking legend, mostly posting M9, Fo/FuBa, and other fandoms now, but still a great DMBJ source!!

@thosch3i - not on tumblr a whole lot but when they are I am almost guaranteed to peel at my yellow wallpaper about it

@traineecryptid - great writer and very fun dash energy!

@undyingsunshine - if you like crying about Li Cu, have I got the blog for you!!!!

Good Vibes and DMBJ Content (A-Z)

@dmbjaddict and @theyareinlovecanttellmeotherwise are great blogs if you want lots of DMBJ / PingXie content on your feed!!

@canary3d-obsessed - actually not sure how much she posts DMBJ consistently, but her DMBJ fashion posts literally ascended me to the heavenly realm  

@jaecomments - the literal love of my life, professional hype beast

@justpostsyeet - always down for a good head canon discussion, especially about our fave bitchy ex ;)

@greymouser13 - I have no idea if they are still posting DMBJ but I do know that they bring me joy, and thus here they are

@kolachess - super interesting posts, head canons, and translation discussion! (multi-fandom)

@mythochondrion - bonk, go to horny jail

@ninbayphua - Ninby posts loads of fandoms, incl. DMBJ! Also has a writing blog that you can find here: @ninbayphua-moyan

@uschickens - great head canons and DMBJ discussion, same good vibes as @momosandlemonsoda

@xcziel - follow for the tags, stay for the incredible loving energy 

@xiaobaibai - a great place to find fanart and general good vibes :)

@xia-xueyi - not DMBJ exclusive but has a really cute turtle and really nice energy so.... 🐢

Mystic Nine Specific, & We Love That For Them (A-Z)

@elletromil - every day I think about how talented Elle is, and every day I weep. These are related events.

@gaiahenshin - immediately after weeping about Elle, I think about how kind and lovely Gaia is, and then the weeping recommences. These are related events. 

I’m sure there are loads I missed, and others I mis-labelled! Please feel free to add corrections and additions in the reblogs or notes. :)

Here is Part 2 of my annotations of First Edition MDZS, Volume 1, pages 87 - 147.

MDZS Volume 4 Annotations

Part 9, pages 293 - 309

Here begin The Edits.

My understanding, gleaned almost exclusively from reading tumblr, is that there are at least 3 versions of MDZS:

1) Original serialized story, published as it was written.

2) Cleaned-up story after the story was all done.

(I think this is the version that got published in Taiwan.)

3) Censored version, the only one that you can easily find online these days.

(This is the version that the ♥️Audio Drama♥️ is based on!)

While it’s awesome that Seven Seas didn’t censor MDZS, it’s also very sad that they didn’t incorporate all the sweet extra little scenes and adorable lines that MXTX added when she had to brutally cut out all the blatant physical intimacy (😢 that must have hurt 😢).

Here’s what to add back in, folks!

⭐️ 1)

WWX: “What do you want to do next?” He just barely restrained himself from saying “Whose house are you going to wreck next?”

LWJ furrowed his brow slightly and corrected WWX: “We.”

WWX: “Ok, ok. We.” (As in, “What will we do next, together.”)

LWJ nodded his head, and he even gave WWX the jujubes again. WWX wiped them on his clothes and took a few bites, thinking about how, in the middle of the night, Hanguang Jun wants Yiling Laozu to disturb the peace and make mischief with him.

If word of this got out, it would be disastrous.

Much more below the cut:

⭐️ 2)

After a moment, he tilted his head and asked, “How is it?”

WWX: “Hmm? What? How is it? … Good! Very good. I gladly bow down to your superiority!”

These were true statements. Even though he was drunk, Hanguang Jun’s handwriting was, as usual, exceedingly proper; WWX was ashamed at his own inferiority (re: handwriting) (handwriting is a big thing in Chinese culture).

LWJ nodded his head, and passed Bichen to WWX.

WWX: “…?…”

LWJ again tried to pass Bichen to him, and WWX accepted. He looked at the wall and noticed how there was a lot of space after the words “Lan Wangji,” then understood.

LWJ was waiting for him to write his own name up there!

LWJ stared at WWX unrelentingly, and WWX finally couldn’t take it anymore, saying “Ok, ok, ok. I’m writing. I’m writing.”

Resigned to this action (this fate), in the space after “Gusu LWJ,” he wrote “Yunmeng WWX.” Now, both of their names were side by side on the wall.

“Gusu LWJ, Yunmeng WWX, travelled here!”

⭐️ 3)

The sect rules of Gusu Lan were so strict, there was no way LWJ had ever had so much wild, crazy fun when he was little.

⭐️ 4) (an entire scene of Drunk LWJ exerting his dominance over a dog for the sake of WWX)

“Woof woof woof arf arf arf!”

Suddenly, an torrent of barking exploded like firecrackers in WWX’s ears. He screamed and instinctively jumped on top of LWJ: “Lan Zhan, save me!”

This household raised dogs?

In actuality, in the middle of this quiet night, WWX’s awful hollering and howling was much more terrifying than any dog’s barking. He was scared out of his wits, but LWJ’s expression did not change, and with one hand he held WWX and patted him soothingly, with the other hand he held his sword, then leapt lightly to the top of the wall; and from that position of superior height he looked down upon the wicked dog, and with a cold expression seemed to engage in a confrontation with it.

WWX had all 4 limbs wrapped around LWJ and his face buried in LWJ’s neck. His whole body was stiff, paralyzed. He screamed, “Don’t confront it! Go! Let’s go! Lan Zhan, get me away from here! Aughghghgh!!!”

While WWX was madly crying, the dog, upon seeing LWJ, had tucked its tail between its legs, extended its tongue, lowered its head, and was splayed on the ground crying; it didn’t dare bark anymore.

LWJ saw that he had achieved complete victory, then gently patted WWX twice more, held him tightly, then leapt down from the wall.

They had walked quite a ways away and didn’t hear a single bark; only then did WWX peel himself off of LWJ’s body. His eyes stared straight forward and his legs still trembled. LWJ patted his shoulder, expression focused on WWX as if asking if he was ok. WWX hadn’t fully calmed down yet, and with some effort took a deep breath, casually praising LWJ as he did so: “Hanguang Jun, you really are extraordinarily brave. Unparalleled!”

Hearing this, LWJ seemed to smile.

The moment was fleeting, and WWX thought that perhaps he was just seeing things. He was stunned.

A moment later, he sighed, rubbed his chin, and smiled. “Lan Zhan, now you know to regret not going to Lianhua Wu with me back then, right? Wait! Where are you going?! Don’t just run off!”

⭐️ 5)

WWX couldn’t help but tug on LWJ’s forehead ribbon. “You even order me around now?”

⭐️ 6)

WWX despaired. He gritted his teeth and pretended like everything was fine: “I’ll just help you pour over the bath water, ok? And the rest you can do yourself.” As he spoke, he made to dodge away from LWJ; suddenly, LWJ reached out and ripped off his sash.

⭐️ 7)

Seeing him this way, WWX’s heart inexplicably softened; he also felt it to be funny (Chinese doesn’t require subjects in sentences, so I’m not sure if WWX finds LWJ funny or the situation laughable or both). This person really has been this way since he was little — the things he wants, he would never say in words, but he would fiercely pursue with his actions. So, then, WWX dragged LWJ back to the tub, saying “Ok, I’ll help you bathe. Come here.” In his heart, he thought, “I’ve lost. I admit defeat. Ok, I’ll help him scrub a little — nothing more.”

⭐️ Alright!!

From here, pages 298 - 310, the edits were so many but also so subtle that I can’t just write them in. Instead, I highly highly recommend that you read the translation done by @boat-full-of-lotus-pods :

I just replaced my computer because it was at 100% disk usage 90% of the time 😫

windows 10 is garbage so every time i boot up the computer i have to run command prompt and enter

net.exe stop “Windows Search”

so that the shitty goddamned search/cortana feature that i never fucking use stops running in the background taking up all my fucking disk space

WangXian Kisses! 💖

by  도세 @DOSAE_ANIMATION (YT / IG / TWITTER / WEIBO) ※Permission to post this was given by the artist (©). Please do not repost, edit or remove credits. 

Still reading 病案本 Bing An Ben (Case File Compendium). I’m on chapter 106 (out of 254) now. And I can totally see why Meatbun needs another 148 chapters. I have no idea how she is going to resolve the basic romance, much less the mafia murder mystery treachery conspiracy thing.

Instead of thinking of this book in terms of Plot Arcs, I’m thinking of it in terms on Intractable Relationship Arcs.

(Minor spoilers under the cut.)

So, ch 1 - 51: Xie QingCheng and He Yu hate each other. They get thrown in every romance trope imaginable, but they both hate each other. It’s cute. I’m enjoying it.

Ch 52: oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. I don’t see how they are going to come back from this. Oh no.

Ch 54 - 87: So… I guess this is… something? I mean, at least one of them is appreciating the other one now. There’s a lot of sugar to read. And bitter. Ugh. This is not healthy.

Ch 88 - 101: Finally, some mutual respect. Sort of.

Ch 102: 23,730 words. This scene was 23,730 words. I’m physically and emotionally exhausted just reading this chapter. I think I Really Like It. And now they like each other! Yay!

Ch 103: Wait — Xie QingCheng doesn’t want to continue with liking each other? But… we read 101 chapters just to finally get to a mutually consenting kiss! And then another 23,730 words of consensual kissing ☺️ (kinda 😏).

Ch 104 - ?: It’s great that He Yu is finally self-aware, but how in the world is He Yu going to get Xie QingChen to ever Talk to him again?!?!

This is why there is a mafia murder mystery, isn’t it? Because without fresh corpses and the threat of imminent death, there is no way to move their relationship forward. Or sideways. Or any way at all.

Man. This story is such a roller coaster. I’m pulling my hair out.

Do you all know 杨可爱Yang Ke’ai yet?

She does lots of popular covers and mash-ups and “how to memorize 5-50 Chinese poems via music” songs in a Classical Chinese style (chinoiserie?) with a UKULELE. If you’re not watching her beautiful videos of her singing and playing music in full hanfu, you’d think she was playing a Pipa or a Guzheng or even a Guqin, but, no — that’s a Ukulele.

Anyway, have you all heard her Mo Dao Zu Shi mashup yet? 14 songs from Audio Drama, Donghua, and Fan Music (a lot of the creators of which were also part of the Audio Drama and Donghua).

It’s awesome and deserves many many views. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/plf5KFqvUhg

So, in Chinese, idioms are often allusions to historical events or short metaphors to vividly describe a situation. They pack a ton of meaning and imagery into 4 little words. They’re awesome. They add color and depth to the language, and show that the speaker/writer is highly educated.

So, in Chinese, using idioms makes you sound very smart.

In English, using idioms does not make you sound very smart. It may make you sound cute and funny and colloquial, and in the right context it can work very well, but when you hear, say, “let the cat out of the bag,” you don’t think “Wow. That person is such an intellectual.”

Admittedly, some idioms are relatively culture-neutral, like “call it a day” or “read the room” or “see the light.” I’d say that those are fine to use in translations. They don’t evoke cowboys or baseball players or midwestern farmers or anything else unique to English-speaking culture like that.

However, I feel that culture-heavy English/American idioms should be avoided in translations, especially of Chinese wuxia/xianxia novels. No one in XianXia-land knows American boxing — why the heck would someone be “down for the count?” Sword Cultivators don’t hang out a lot with fowl farmers — where would they have picked up the usage of “gander” as slang for “to look?”

Idioms are hard. Be careful.

MDZS Vol 5 Annotations 2

Part 2 of 6, pages 53 - 131

More annotations to help reading-flow! And another useless comment about another beautiful illustration.

JC is being disrespectful again, referring to LWJ as something akin to “that Lan guy.”

He is not talking to LWJ, but is instead complaining at Jin Ling.

More under the cut.

(Really? A GRE-vocab word here, where everything else is common-usage words?)

Yah… JGY isn’t supposed to have a right hand anymore by the time of this illustration…

As if LWJ would ever “call out” to anyone under less-than dire circumstances.

MDZS Masterlist.

All the Books I'm Annotating Masterlist.