House Jiang’s Lost Founder - Jiang Chi - Lost canon detail from the novel - Wen and Jiang, how their names foreshadow their fates
Did you know the man who founded House Jiang is named Jiang Chi 江迟?
This name is not included in any materials from the official novel, the Donghua and its character data sheets, or even the live-action drama Chenqingling.
The name Jiang Chi was mentioned only once in chapter 56, Sandu 12, The Three Poisons - 12, of the original web novel version of Modaozushi before it underwent rewriting and editing in 2016. Here is the full passage in which it was mentioned:
Lit: The ancestor and founder of House Jiang, Jiang Chi, came from a knight errand (traveling hero) background. His House philosophy revered open-mindedness, earnestness, purity of heart, fairness in dealing with people of all castes and backgrounds, and unrestrained by rules. Yu Furen's personality is in direct contrast with his House philosophy. Jiang Cheng had a similar personality as his mother and was naturally not a favorite of his father. Regardless of how much he was taught from a young age, he still couldn't understand this (the House Philosophy). This was the reason why Jiang Fengmian's behavior seemed to suggest a lack of favor.
I. The Wen and Jiang founder’s names and how they foreshadow their historical positions and final fates:
Wen starts things. Jiang ends them.
The Wen founder is named Wen Mao 温卯. Mao 卯 is an ancient word specifying the 4th shih (double hours) of the day, from 5-7 am in our modern time. Mao is also the time when court officials started their working days in ancient times. The royal court began with Mao.
In other words, Wen Mao’s name foreshadows the fact that he’s the one to end one era (the era of the cultivation sect) and begin another era (the era of the cultivation house/nobility). This was in the novel during Wei Ying’s first class in Cloud Recess. Lan Qiren asked Wei Wuxian who was the person that ended the cultivation sect era and began the cultivation house era.
On the other hand, the Chi in Jiang Chi 江迟 means late, slow, outdated, behind in era.
This name foreshadows Jiang Chi’s place as the “last of the herd” and “reluctant follower” in Wen Mao’s cultivation house era. Wen Mao started the rise of the house system and the ending of the sect system. Yet House Jiang, despite being called Jiang Shi like its historical peers (Wen Shi, Lan Shi, Jin Shi, and Nie Shi) had the system of a sect and not a house.
Because of how Jiang Shi was created and its system rooted in the sect system, House Jiang continuously prevaricated between being a sect (in all but name) and a house in the novel under Jiang Fengmian’s reign.
House Wen massacred House Jiang. The eradication of the original Jiang Shi is the spark that ignited the Sunshot War.
Wei Ying, the last member of House Jiang who still holds Jiang Chi’s philosophy, is key to making the defeat of House Wen possible.
Jiang Cheng, the last biological Jiang, headed the Burial Mound Siege and slaughtered the last of biological Wens, with the only surviving Wen child becoming a Lan.
II. The difference between a sect and a house:
There are overlapping areas between a sect / zongmen 宗門 and a house / shijia 世家. So it’s easy to mix up these two concepts. However, the novel highlights the key difference between these two systems itself.
Sects prioritize the inheritance of their philosophy and teaching.
Houses, on the other hand, prioritize direct bloodline hereditary.
This is crucial in things like deciding who the next generation leader will be, as well as the policy in treating their members.
Under the sect system, barring unforgivable mistakes or heinous crimes, the eldest disciple inherits the title of sect heir and next-generation leader.
Under the house system, the previous house leader’s son inherits the title of heir and the position of next-generation leader.
For example: under the sect system, Wei Ying is the heir and will inherit the leadership. Under the house system, Jiang Cheng is the heir and will inherit the leadership.
Similarly, sects place far less importance on a person’s caste and background and have fewer and less restrictive rankings. Sects are meritocratic.
Houses, because of their nature and the heredity that is central to their concept, have extensive and incredibly strict rankings of their members. Houses are nepotistic.
For example: Wei Changzhe was Jiang Fengmian’s sect brother under Jiang Fengmian’s father’s time. In the book, Jiang Fengmian called Wei Changzheng his sect brother. Wei Changzhe also accompanied Jiang Fengmian to Cloud Recess to study and met Cangse Sanren there. These are privileges not allowed to house servants. But from Jiang Fengmian’s time forward, because of Yu Furen’s influence, he was called a house servant.
In the novel, Yunmeng Jiangshi was a house undergoing a crisis of identity. It has the name of the house, the trapping of a sect, and constant chaos and confusion as to where it was going, the ranking and positions of its members (with Wei Ying holding the title of eldest disciple and still treated like a servant being the most glaring part), and who its next-generation leader would be.
Well, until the death of Jiang Fengmian and the eradication of the original Yunmeng Jiang Shi put a stop to that confusion. Jiang Shi under Jiang Cheng’s reign is a house through and through and completely disconnected from Jiang Chi’s House Philosophy.
this is so random but you always uploaded gifs li ziqi, do you by any chance know why she stopped uploading? to youtube at least
oh man i hadn't realized it had been that long, but apparently she got into a dispute and she sued her content network. they settled in dec 2022 and people thought she'd return to making content but i can't find any explanation for her continued hiatus :( hope she returns soon!
no one could replace li ziqi but i also enjoy 小芊枫 XiaoQianFeng's channel if you haven't seen it yet! she does cool stuff like making the cat bus from totoro out of reused waste
当然我所谓的认真读肯定还是粗略的,就像截至目前我读《乞力马扎罗的雪》一样。但因为有你在,有你的指导和解惑,我读起来肯定会比我自己两眼一抹黑地读要减少更多的粗略。我必须充分利用着你这个专家,I got to take full advantage of such an expert like you,哈。
It was evening now and he had been asleep. The sun was gone behind the hill and there was a shadow all across the plain and the small animals were feeding close to camp; quick dropping heads and switching tails, he watched them keeping well out away from the bush now. The birds no longer waited on the ground. They were all perched heavily in a tree. There were many more of them. His personal boy was sitting by the bed.
It was morning and had been morning for some time and he heard the plane. It showed very tiny and then made a wide circle and the boys ran out and lit the fires, using kerosene, and piled on grass so there were two big smudges at each end of the level place and the morning breeze blew them toward the camp and the plane circled twice more, low this time, and then glided down and levelled off and landed smoothly and, coming walking toward him, was old Compton in slacks, a tweed jacket and a brown felt hat.
A Chinese scholar on Herodotus and the origins of the ancient Greek poietike
Liu, Xiaofeng. 2019. "Herodotus and the Origins of Ancient Greek Poiētikē." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 39, (1): pp.113-123. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol39/iss1/6
Abstract
The fact that the extant ancient Greek literature, the use of poiētēs and poiēsis first appeared in Herodotus' Histories is no accident. Although the Histories has not touched upon the issue of "poetics", it has demonstrated the historical background of the birth of ancient Greek poiētikē. Before scholars begin to investigate in-depth the semantic issue of the word poiētikē, we have to look into the reason why the differences between the nature of poetry-making and that of other making techniques happen to become a problem during the democratic period of Athens. To have a proper and accurate understanding of the original problem confronting ancient Greek poiētikē, we must delve into the problems that Athenian democracy has faced. The question of whether Herodotus is a so-called empirical historian or a poet adept in "poetry-making" still remains open. Nevertheless, that Herodotus' Histories is a chronicled poetry-making coming into being as a reflection of the democratic era of Athens and its problems is an undisputable textual fact.
The whole article (in Chinese) can be found on https://tsla.researchcommons.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1469&context=journal
Liu Xiaofeng (born 1956; Chinese: 刘小枫) is a contemporary Chinese scholar and political philosopher, professor and director of Classical Culture Studies Centre at Renmin University of China.
Внезапный пейринг персонажем Лю Хаожаня с Су Мэнчженем. Всеплохо все умерли. Психоделично, красиво... И музыка нравится)
С Небесами. ЯньЧэнь.
HE. Почти без сюжета. Начинается с секса
Начиналось все с защиты со стороны Смч и невинной влюбленности, закончилось шантажом, дабконом и смертью смч( Но красиво и хорошо внятно передан сюжет
Любовный треугольник перешедший в тройничок. Он забавный и хэ. И вообще, мне кажется, это очень трогательно, что Лин Буи нашел целых 2 человек которые считают его шутки смешными!