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rongzhi · 2 years

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Any good Chinese LGBT drama/ movie recommendations? And where to watch it?

Hmmm I thought I would have a lengthy list of recommendations but limited to just Chinese-language films/dramas, and ones that I would actually recommend, I realise that my list is a lot shorter 😅.

These are pretty much all going to be gay (mlm). Sorry for the lack of diversity 😔. Summaries are taken from Letterboxd for the most part.

Film Recs

(in chronological order)

霸王别姬 || Farewell My Concubine (1993) - China (mainland), Hong Kong - dir. Chen Kaige

Personal rating: 4/5 || [HQ link, EN subs]

Abandoned by his prostitute mother in 1920, Douzi was raised by a theater troupe. There he meets Shitou and over the following years the two develop an act entitled “Farewell My Concubine” that brings them fame and fortune. When Shitou marries Juxian, Douzi becomes jealous, the beginnings of the acting duo’s explosive breakup and tragic fall take root.

东宫西宫 || East Palace, West Palace (1996) - China (mainland) - dir. Zhang Yuan

Personal rating: 4/5

A heterosexual Beijing policeman and a young homosexual challenge each other’s sexuality.

春光乍洩 || Happy Together (1997) - Hong Kong - dir. Wong Kar-wai

Personal rating: 4/5 || [link, EN subs]

A couple take a trip to Argentina in search of a new beginning, but instead find themselves drifting ever further apart.

自梳 || Intimates (1997) - Hong Kong - dir. Jacob Cheung

Personal rating: 4/5 || [link, ZH subs]

Set in Hong Kong and China in the early 1900s, an older Wan and Wai travel through China in search of Foon, Wan's true love. Wai, whose on-and-off status with her boyfriend leads her into a struggle with self-identity, slowly learns about the life of the aging Wan. Through flashbacks, we learn about Wan in her early days and Foon, who move in and out of each other's lives.

美少年之恋 || Bishonen (1998) - Hong Kong - dir. Yonfan

Personal rating: 3/5 ~ 3.5/5 (I flipflop on this lol)

Jet is a gay hustler who one night spots a young man walking with a woman, and falls for him instantly. He does some research, and discovers that the man is called Sam, and is an apparently straight policeman.

蓝宇 || Lan Yu (2001) - China (mainland) - dir. Stanley Kwan

Personal rating: 5/5 || [HQ Link EN subs] [HQ link, ZH subs] - Bear in mind these are both the cut version of the movie. There are about 4 scenes cut from this version, which is unfortunately the most easily found.

A love story between a country boy in Beijing to study and a wealthy businessman set against the backdrop of the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident.

春风沉醉的夜晚 || Spring Fever (2009) - China (mainland) - dir. Lou Ye

Personal rating: 3/5

Hired to spy on a philandering husband, Luo Haitao soon becomes entangled in a clandestine affair with the other man. Along with Luo’s girlfriend, they succumb to the delirium of drunken nights, but how long can their tryst last?

谁先爱上他的 || Dear Ex (2018) - Taiwan - dir. Mag Hsu, Chih-yen Hsu

Personal rating: 4/5 || [HD link, EN sub]

When Sanlian’s ex-husband passes away, she discovers he has altered his insurance policy, cutting out their son in favor of a stranger named Jay.

叔・叔 || Twilight’s Kiss (2019) - Hong Kong - dir. Ray Leung

Personal rating: 3.5/5 || [HD link, EN subs]

One day Pak, a taxi driver who refuses to retire, meets Hoi, a retired single father, in a park. Although both are secretly gay, they are proud of the families they have created through hard work and determination. Yet in that brief initial encounter, something is unleashed in them which had been suppressed for so many years. As both men recount and recall their personal histories, they also contemplate a possible future together.

刻在你心底的名字 || Your Name Engraved Herein (2020) - Taiwan - dir. Liu Kuang-hui

Personal rating: 3.5/5

In 1987, as martial law ends in Taiwan, Jia-han and Birdy fall in love amid family pressure, homophobia and social stigma.

Extra mentions (haven't watched these ones yet but they have decent reviews):

夜奔 || Fleeing by Night (2000) - China (mainland)

Saving Face (2004) - U.S.A

盛夏光年 || Eternal Summer (2006) - Taiwan

Drama Recs

Most of the LGBT dramas I've watched are trash or censored, sorry to say, and I tend to watch movies over dramas, so what's left for me to recommend is just from the HIStory (Linked: wiki with summaries) Taiwanese webdrama anthology:

HIStory1: My Hero (PR: 3/5)

HIStory1: Obsession (PR: 3/5)

History2: Crossing the Line (PR: 3.5/5)

History3: Trapped (PR: 3.5/5)

#text #answered ask #movie recs #long post #all the movies i recced are dramas basically #there are a few movies out there (that i've seen) that are more lighthearted but also.... not good lol #personally i don't think a movie has to be 'good' but this is a rec list so...#unrelated but i ended up rewatching farewell my concubine for the first time in a while yesterday and one of the top letterboxd reviews #is a terrible take lmao #shoutout to sally on letterboxd you uncultured swine lol #but that's what happens to most chinese movies on letterboxd -u-'#either barely anyone has logged it #or it's popular to the point of there being a bunch of white film bros writing reviews where they manage to add something #offhandedly sinophobic #or otherwise add how they think the director became a sellout later uwu but THIS film is pure bc blah blah (yes this is about zhang yimou)#(white film bros - speaking broadly)#anyway. lol.#my letterboxd rant no one asked for.#i just think we should be allowed to downvote reviews on there that's all

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fuckyeahchinesefashion · 2 years

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liu yifei in chinese drama menghualu梦华录/a dream of splendor

#china #chinese drama #cdrama #dramafashion #chinese fashion #menghualu #a dream of splendor #indeed she is tianxian天仙 #the ceiling of guzhuang hhh #i feel like this drama is so popular everyone around me is watching it #liu yifei

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xinyuehui · 2 years

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Xiao Wudi's fever dream (⚆_⚆)

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whatisthisautumnsorcery · 4 months

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Favourite Dramas of 2023!

Happy New Year everyone! I thought that I would do a Favourite Dramas of 2023 list just for fun! (I actually tried to do one last year but I got sick and by the time I was well enough to write it up it felt a bit too late to post it). I know that this list is very short and some of these dramas are less well known but I really enjoyed them so I hope other people might enjoy them too! **WARNING: SPOILERS**

Provoke - Such an amazing Republican revenge drama that was so beautifully filmed (the director was Zeng Qing Jie so of course it looked beautiful).

Good story, no filler, great acting, just a really enjoyable drama!

Back From The Brink - The only long drama that I watched this year. I really miss watching long dramas but I just don’t seem to be able to get into them for one reason or another. I think that’s why I enjoyed Back From The Brink so much because I liked all the actors and the characters and the whole plot.

I liked the lead’s chemistry too even though this drama wasn’t really romance heavy and was actually more of a “family drama”.

It was just a fun adventure drama that was also really funny XD

The tragic saga of Yan Hui's bald spot:

Baby Dragon Tian Yao:

Love For Two Lives - This drama actually aired in 2022 but I wasn’t really aware of it until recently.

This was just a really funny and silly short drama that I really enjoyed. The romance didn’t play a big role but the whole drama was so enjoyable and funny that I didn’t mind!

Nine Times Time Travel - I haven’t seen the original Korean drama that this drama is based off so I can’t compare the two but I definitely loved this Chinese version. It was so twisty-turny and there was no filler, plus I don’t think that I’ve watched a time travel show like this before.

I’m glad that I didn’t binge watch this and instead watched it in small episode batches because there was so much going on in each episode!

Love Strikes Back - I really loved this drama, it was equal parts romance and revenge and had the funniest villains!

The villains busy plotting and getting on each other's nerves:

I think I also liked this drama so much because the plot actually reminded me of my favourite drama The Legends: FL “dies”/falls into a coma for a few years and then reawakens and is hell bent on revenge and eventually realises that the ML has been in love with her the whole time and has been secretly guarding her!

Please Don't Be Moved - This drama was basically a condensed one hour drama that included so many of my favourite things: badass FL, villain ML, ROMANTICAL ROMANCE, lots of angst, beautiful cinemaography and the “FL falls into a novel” storyline!

This drama really flew under the radar, they didn't even release a proper poster for this drama and out of all the 2 min ep dramas I watched this year this one was by far my favourite!

And that's all of them! I'm looking forward to what's going to be released in 2024, hopefully a lot of the MANY dramas that are currently on my unaired-plan-to-watch list because that list is getting very long now XD

#cdrama #chinese drama #back from the brink #love strikes back #c drama #I haven't posted anything in such a long time #the post editor is so much more fancy now!#idk why I seem to prefer the more obscure dramas than the popular ones???#I can't even get into kdramas these days either which is why there is none on this list #also all these pictures are from my instagram because I was too lazy to do gifs lol #autumn's stuff #love for two lives #nine times time travel #please don't be moved #provoke

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don-dake · 2 years

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《花木蘭》 | 《A Tough Side of a Lady》 (TVB, 1998)

邊個會估到喎？「花木蘭」竟然可以用一個滑稽嘅角度嚟造出一齣喜劇！(^^) 頭先聽緊呢齣劇嘅主題曲，葉倩文嘅《揚眉女子》，就一瞬之間覺得懷舊，便上網搵下關於本劇嘅資料。一搵就搜出呢幾張截圖出嚟…呢啲截圖，相信而家係屬於一些稀少罕見嘅圖像啦罷！即刻保管喺tumblr呢邊！(笑)

新詞：滑稽 (waat6 kai1)

後記：可惜啦！tumblr唔容許我上傳《揚眉女子》嘅音頻文件…否則我可以喺呢度介紹亦分享一下呢首歌。葉倩文嘅老歌…仲係廣東話歌添…相信後生啲嘅朋友應該未聽過罷？(笑) 無所謂啦…真有興趣嘅話，人哋會知道自己去搵啩？(笑)

Because I'm feeling assiduous, and on the off chance anyone (who doesn't know Cantonese) actually cares to read my rubbish ramblings, have an English translation this time! Heh!:

Who would have thought? The legend of 花木蘭 (Hua Mulan) could actually work as a farce/comical series? Was just listening to the themesong (揚眉女子 by Sally Yeh, 葉倩文) from this series and was hit with a wave of nostalgia, casually looked up some stuff on this and found these (by now rather rare) pics! Saving to tumblr immediately! (Heh!)

P.S.: Pity tumblr didn't allow me to upload the song file. Would have liked to introduce and share it here. Sally Yeh's old song…and a Cantonese one at that, don't think many younger folks here would have heard of it? (Heh!) No matter…if someone's really interested, they would know how to look it up for themselves won't they? (Heh!)

#Dake Rambles #And I remember the talk #Surrounding this by fans of #TVB #People were wondering if this was released in response to and a dig at Disney's Mulan at that time?#Because outside of North America at least #Disney's Mulan wasn't that popular #Chinese audiences in the Asian region especially weren't too impressed with Disney's spin #Anyway who needs Disney when there's this and other better adaptations out there? Heh!#A Tough Side of a Lady #HK Drama #Mariane Chan #Wong Hei #Gigi Fu #Cantonese #Canto Practise #Canto I learn?#Chinese Language #Language

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leatherbookmark · 1 year

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my favourite thing abt tumblr mass-finding out about the origins of the “poor little meow meow” phrase is a couple of people in the tags, who listen to things like, i assume, punk or rap, going “oh so THIS is what people got so emotional over? wow they wouldn’t last a day over here” or “ah, this, yeah a couple of guys from our side did it too”. refreshing

#i feel like it would also benefit people to realize that like. the fact that kpop is FULL of random phrases and more and more groups promote #overseas to the point of having the hour of their comeback be convenient for the US rather than just korea... absolutely DOES NOT!!!#DOES NOT!!! mean they all speak perfect (or even reliably passable) english and are knowledgeable about the things english-speaking #internet cares about. every once in a while there's a new twt storm because some idol says or does something insensitive and hurtful to a #group of their fans and its like. well yeah it's a horrible feeling but i cannot overstate how many of these idols just Don't Know Shit #like. idk. black people. i'd say most kpop idols -- who are just some guys and not tumblr/twitter users -- associate black people with like #music artists. rappers. they're cool and they have those cool braids! i'm doing a rap song and i want to be cool like them! lemme put on #those braid extensions! yahoo! <-- everyone hated that.#this is not to say that koreans are wee little babies who shouldn't be held accountable or that they're all stupid #but even despite kpop's insane worldwide popularity i doubt any of those idols are getting worldwide-flavoured sensitivity training #they're all perfect at saying cloyingly sweet bullshit to their fans -- i will love you all for the rest of my life! bro WHO would believe #that it's so embarrassing just sing your fucking songs -- but that's it! hell the younger groups are even bad at knowing how to act in thei #OWN country; with older idols complaining that the newbies talk to them casually (not using the polite language like you should) or even #flat out ignore/don't saw hello or bow to them. twt people are like 'korea has the fastest internet in the world' aye and they use it for #games and teenage internet stuff; not educating themselves on things they know nothing about #the sermon was 100% unintelligible to myg and he just picked it because it had a Tone that must have fit the image of the song in his mind #it's like all those people getting 'chinese' tattoos that say stupid shit like pork belly or baka gaijin or a bunch of misspelled character #tilted by 90 degrees #like i myself didn't know about the cult leader until the sample drama. so #some kp/op fans are absolutely rabid though. especially on twt #shrimp thoughts

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nomorerww · 10 months

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someone on Twitter bought a life-size BJD doll of some Chinese drama man.

nvm I did not look at the background and thought that this person had actually bought like a mannequin of a Chinese guy 😑

#this trend is insane #I know from watching those plastic surgery videos that historical Chinese dramas have been very popular like for a long time #but they were not popular among asiaboos until like the last few years

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6ebe · 1 year

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my uni degree has rly made me detach from all my hobbies bc I’ve been so busy but man I’m healing and I’m doing better and I need better things to end my day with than getting annoyed on tumblr

#now that my braces off I should start playing trumpet again #not that I can do that at 10pm.. lol #I used to draw and scrapbook and bullet journal a lot that would be fun to get back into…#I still think books are a difficult one bc all i do ALL DAY is read #I still have my mubi subscription god I need to make myself watch more films ..#start watching Chinese dramas again?#tbf the possibilities are endless and anything is better than this snshdjdjdkf #like my life is so cute and productive atm every day I see friends im popular I’m working well on my thesis..#I’m getting back into training again after my break bc of my health .. I go to therapy every week and it helps ..

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indigostudies · 3 months

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very silly post but i wanted to unwind a bit so i thought i would rate chinese endearments!

宝贝：classic, casual endearment. i call my cats this, has a similar feel to "babe" for me. 4/5, one point deducted because it's pretty basic.

宝宝：like a cutesier version of 宝贝, i would never call a romantic partner this, but it's great for pets and children. 3.5/5, points deducted because it can sound kind of trite or cringey.

亲爱的：much more formal, has a similar feel to "beloved" or "darling" to me. arguably my favourite endearment because it literally means "[one] who is an intimate love". 5/5 if an s/o called me this i would melt.

老[姓名]：this can come off as overtly lovey-dovey at times but it's also really common among married or long-term couples. it doesn't really have an english comparison but personally i think it's very sweet. it can also be used teasingly which i enjoy. 4.5/5 with 0.5 points taken off because it can sound kind of old-fashioned.

老婆/老公：an even more married version of the above; this feels much more teasing to me, though. 4/5 with one point deducted because unfortunately 老公 can also mean eunuch (oops).

(老)狐狸(精)：i've only ever heard this in dramas as a reference to a man, but it's meant to call someone sly or cunning. can be admonishing, but can also be an affectionate reproval. can also be used for women, but then to me it comes off as a bit more judgemental, so 4/5.

小哥：technically a descriptor of a young man, but i'm personally attached to this as a term of endearment, and if someone called me this i would be smitten. i think it has been gaining some popularity among chinese sapphics, especially butch lesbians/T's? but unfortunately i don't.............really use social media so i can't confirm this.

姐姐/哥哥：these are technically originally terms for older brothers/sisters, but they're also used for people of the same generation who are older than you, and can be used in a flirty way. 4/5 only because non-chinese english speakers can get kind of weird about them.

阿-/小-：personally i prefer the 阿- suffix over 小- because 小- sounds like you're talking to a child to me, but i'm aware this is very regional. not overly romantic, but can be very sweet, so i'm giving it a 3.5/5.

those are all the ones i can think of off the top of my head, but if you have any others you can think of, let me know!

#汉语 #very silly post but i hope it's interesting at least #indigo ink

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vixen-academia · 9 months

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Free MIT online courses that sound interesting

Arts & Literature

Introduction to World Music

Reading Fiction

Literary Interpretation: Virginia Woolf's Shakespeare

Introduction to Photography

Foundations of Western Culture II: Renaissance to Modernity

Studies in Poetry - Briths Poetry and the Sciences of the Mind

Studies in Literary History: Modernism: From Nietzsche to Fellini

Screen Women: Body Narratives in Popular American Film

Studies in Poetry: "What's the Use of Beauty"

Queer Cinema and Visual Culture

Monteverdi to Mozart: 1600 - 1800

Writing and Experience: Reading and Writing Autobiography

Advanced Topics in Hispanic Literature and Film: The Films of Luis Buñel

Major Authors: Rewriting Genesis: "Paradise Lost" and Twentieth-Century Fantasy

Arthurian Literature and Celtic Colonization

Contemporary Literature: Britsh Novel Now

Studies in Poetry: 20th Century Irish Poetry: The Shadow of W. B. Yeats

Writing About Literature: Writing About Love

Introduction to European and Latin American Fiction: Great Books On The Page and On The Screen

Popular Culture and Narrative: Use and Abuse of the Fairy Tale

Victorian Literature and Culture

Reading Poetry

English Renaissance Drama: Theatre and Society in the Age of Shakespeare

Introduction to Fiction

International Woman's Voice

Major Authors: Oscar Wilde and the "90's"

Prizewinners: Nobelistas

American Authors: American Women Authors

Shakespeare, Film and Media

Japanese Literature and Cinema

Woman's Novels: A Weekly Book Club

Classics of Chinese Literature

Major English Novels

Topics in South Asia Literature and Culture

Introduction to Literary Theory

History & Social Studies

American Classics

The Middle East in the 20th Century

Africa and the Politics of Knowledge

The Rise of Modern Science

European Imperialism in the 19th and 20th Century

Philosophy of Love

Human Rights: At Home and Abroad

The Nature of Creativity

Introduction to Comparative Politics

Riots, Rebellions, Revolutions

Introduction to the History of Technology

Ancient Philosophy

Youth Political Participation

#studyblr #study resources #dark academia #light academia #chaotic academia #romantic academia #adhd academia #studyblr brazil #literature #art academia #mit #free courses #study #collegeblr #studyblr college

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muffinlance · 3 months

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Wait, what’s going on with Embers???? That fic has been on my read later list since 2021, what’s happened with it???

Brief overview, then I'm likely never touching this topic again, because this is not a Drama Blog:

Context: Embers is a super old AtLA fic that was written during the early fandom days, read widely at the time, and was the origin of the widely-used fanon name of "Wani" for Zuko's ship (kind of by default that it was one of the first popular fics to give his ship a name, I think?), even though most fic writers don't seem to realize it's from there anymore.

"What's Going On": I used to include a link in all my stories to it, because I believe in crediting other writers for borrowed elements, and I was using "Wani" in all my fics. But BOY did I not want to be sending readers that way anymore, so I've adopted a new name for Zuko's ship, and removed all Embers links.

None of the criticisms about Embers itself are new; I'm assuming they date back to when the fic was being written, because this isn't an "it aged badly" thing, this is an "actually yeah this gets worse the longer you think about it and I shouldn't have ignored my bad feelings just because some of the worldbuilding was interesting" thing.

An Incomplete List of Why I Made the Change:

I don't actually like the story that much anymore, and don't want to rec it

I tried to re-read it recently to see if some things were as bad as I remembered and it turns out they were So Much Worse Oh Yikes. More specifically, the treatment of Katara and Aang and their respective cultures has... rather a lot going on. One example: The Fire Nation and Air Nomads are both given multiple backstory elements in an attempt to make the average Fire Nation soldier's participation in the genocide/war in large part the fault of the Avatar and the Air Nomads themselves, and also fully justified from the Fire Nation perspective. And I do mean fully. One of its core tenants is "People from the Fire Nation (and only people from the Fire Nation) who don't follow orders Literally Die, therefore murdering pacifists and babies and continuing the war (and their regularly scheduled war crimes) is the only thing it is physically possible for them to do". I cannot emphasize enough how literal that is.

Also the name "Wani" means "Alligator" and is... objectively a pretty lame name for Zuko's ship? Where's the personality, where's the deeper meaning, where's the resonance with Zuko's themes? @tuktukpodfics initially thought I was calling the ship "Wanyi", and that's what I've switched to, because it is Objectively So Much Better. In their words: “Wànyī (萬一): Literally ‘one in ten thousand,’ ‘perchance.’ Used grammatically in Chinese to mean ‘what if’ or ‘just in case.’ I think a ship called ‘The Perchance’ is perfect for a boy clinging to false hope.”

TL:DR; I don't rec Embers anymore, because I don't actually like the story anymore, and there are things about it that get worse the more I think on them. I've removed links to it and renamed Zuko's ship to "Wanyi" ("The Perchance") because our boy deserves a ship name that reflects his character arc.

#for the record if you ever find something kind of rancid in my fics #do please let me know #EX: I've rewritten scenes to be better Actual Blind Rep for Toph based on blind reader feedback #and I'm debating how hard it would be to ignore/re-write the canon issues of Water Tribe sexism (for the Southern Tribe at the least)#because that is a common complaint I see from the people who's RL cultures the Water Tribes was based on #probably I can do more interesting things with that going forward #in other words justice for Hama and Hahn #at least the show itself made Hama excellently complex #anyways back to doing actual writing #please no follow up questions #though I will say anyone who wants to update their own fics to use Wanyi (or any other name): go for it!#all you need to do is plop your chapters in a word editor and find/replace the ship name! it took about 40 minutes to do literally #all of my fics and I had some other editing to do besides! it'll be even quicker for you!#let's sink the Wani #avatar the last airbender #atla #Zuko

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welcometothejianghu · 5 months

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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 琅琊榜/Nirvana in Fire.

Nirvana in Fire is a 2015 historical series best described as either a complicated succession drama set in the premodern Chinese imperial palace, or the story of a man who didn't die a decade ago and has decided to make it everyone else's problem.

And really, I almost feel silly giving my glib little summary, because Nirvana in Fire is so well-known of a property. It's a classic for a reason, and that reason is that it's legitimately very good. This show is what happens when you adapt a solid story, get a bunch of very talented actors, and throw a huge amount of money at it. It's incredibly popular and highly acclaimed, and it earned all of the hype.

Still, while I bet there are few people adjacent to c-drama stuff who've never heard of Nirvana in Fire, I'm sure there are plenty who haven't watched it. After all, it looks like one of those slow, serious shows with a lot of ponderous talking and no joy. If that's the impression you've been given, I could imagine looking at the 54-episode commitment and saying, I don't need that in my life.

I am here to tell you you're wrong. It is a banger of a show. It's tense. It's funny. It's heartbreaking. It’s exceptionally clever. It’s jaw-droppingly stupid. It’s romantic. It’s tragic. It has smart plots and bizarre subplots. And that's not even touching the thing with the yeti.

So in case you're one of those people who's heard of Nirvana in Fire, but has put off watching it for one reason or another, I'm here with five reasons I think you should try it.

1. Epic Shit

Did you like the Lord of the Rings? More specifically, did you really like the second Peter Jackson film? Great, then you're all set for this.

I guess I could have called this Game of Thrones without the dragons, but that's not actually the vibe at all. Game of Thrones is much more sensational and salacious, with all the blood and butts and what-not. The Tolkien comparison is more apt, I think, because Nirvana in Fire is equally about as wholesome as you can get in a property where dudes are still getting stabbed all the time.

This is a show about vengeance. And yeah, justice for the fallen, sure, that's fine too. But mostly it's about a bunch of good people joining forces to make sure the bastards who did wrong pay, with their lives as necesary.

The problem, though, is that these bastards are incredibly powerful, which means that a pure brute-force approach isn't going to work. Accordingly, this quickly becomes a story about the power of smart teamwork to exact retribution on some people who can (and did!) legally get away with murder -- and our heroes are some of the people with their necks most on the line if anything goes wrong.

Don't let the Middle Earth comparison fool you into thinking this is all epic swordfights. It's not. (I mean, for one thing, as well-funded as this project is, it doesn't have Peter Jackson Money.) The vast majority of the tension in the show comes from dialogue and slow, terrible realizations. The fight scenes are almost a relief from the nail-biting intensity of intimate conversations about getting a letter from somebody's ex-wife or returning a book.

All told, the show has that incredible almost-RPG vibe of going through all the little subquests and cutscenes you find along the way to defeat the final boss. The plot carefully unravels a multi-tendriled mystery told to you by people in incredible costumes. It doesn't get much more epic than that.

(Nirvana in Fire is also a cautionary tale about how you should be very careful with who gets invited to your birthday party.)

2. A chronically ill protagonist

Okay, right in the first episode, it is established that the main character has three whole completely different names and an old nickname. I'm going to call him Mei Changsu for the duration of this rec post, but let the record show that I could just have easily gone with one of the other three.

What you learn in that same first episode is that Mei Changsu used to be a palace insider, the cocky son of a noble family, only now nearly everyone he used to know thinks he's dead. Also, he's not far off from being actually dead -- he has an unspecified terminal condition that's mostly managed, provided he stays in his little mountain hideaway with his handsome doctor bestie and doesn't return to his old stomping ground and start kicking over hornets' nests.

So guess what he's about to do.

I have to make a note of how brilliant the casting is here: Hu Ge is an action actor! He is a kickpuncher of a man! And I think it's great that you can sort of see his frustration, as well as Mei Changsu's, at having to spend the whole series wrapped in countless layers of fabric and/or lying in bed while everyone around him gets to be the badass action heroes.

Mei Changsu's not faking it, either -- he's actually dying. He expends his energy where he thinks it's necessary, and sometimes that means he has to spend the following week in bed. He's constantly frustrated with himself for what he can't do anymore. He's racing a clock, and that clock is his own failing body. If he dies, the only hope anyone here has for justice dies with him.

He gets two love interests that the show treats pretty much equally. One's a lady general who wasn't even a love interest in the book. The other's the handsome prince who was initially going to be his textual romantic partner in same book, until the author hopped genres from danmei to general historical drama. I can't even call this a love triangle, because there's no competition. He just gets a wife and a husband -- in that he gets neither, because circumstances and his own illness keep him distant from them. He lies to both of then about his condition (among other things). He wants to be with them both and knows he can't be with either. And they in turn have to learn to accept what of him they can and can't have.

(Also, Nihuang (her) and Jingyan (him) are both incredibly gorgeous, which is exactly what bisexual genius Mei Changsu deserves.)

Obviously this isn't a perfect representation of life with chronic illness, largely because Mei Changsu is an incredily wealthy man who lives in a universe with what's basically magic medicine. However, I've seen the story's treatment of him and his condition resonate with a lot of chronically ill viewers, so even with the fantasy layer on it, there's definitely something there.

3. Dave

I have already told the story of how Meng Zhi became "Dave," but long story short, he's such a Dave that I legitimately forget his character's real name. He embodies Daveness. He's The Ultimate Dave.

Dave is an excellent fighter, a loyal friend -- and a terrible liar. He's possbly the only straightforward character in the entire show. When he's asked to be duplicitous, he's comically bad at it. Dave will never do a heel turn. I was misled at first by his semi-evil facial hair, but I have seen the error of my ways. Dave is pure lawful good.

And the reason I list Dave as such a selling point is that having a Dave means you always know what's going on. This is because Dave never knows what's going on, and he has no ego about that, so he asks questions, and other characters have to explain to him what just happened, and that is how you figure out what's going on.

It's an incredibly smart move on the drama's part, because some of the (very fun) schemes are so complicated that there's no way for you, the viewer, to understand them just by watching. Without the internal monologues and omniscent narration of a book, the machinations are opaque. You need things explained -- but why would the schemers explain their schemes? Well, Dave needs some exposition, so here you go.

So if you're worried that you might be left feeling stupid by a show where so many sneaky people are hatching so many complex plans, worry not! Like the good man he is, Dave has your back.

4. A Million Amazing Antagonists

If you like bad guys, this is a show for you. This show has brilliant bad guys all the way down. It has bad guys at every turn. It has bad guys for every taste. Welcome to Big Liang's Big Bad Guy Emporium, where we guarantee you'll walk out of here with a bad guy you like, or your money back!

(And yes, this set of pictures is also to say that their costume budget was entirely well-spent.)

Without getting too far into spoilers, I will say that the basic situation underlying the whole series is this: The emperor has done a lot of bad things, and he has enlisted a bunch of people's help in hiding those bad things, so much so that many of those other people have done even more bad things the emperor didn't even know about -- and then everyone has gone to great lengths to cover those up as well. Our protagonists spend the whole series unraveling this colossal shitshow and bringing people to task for their crimes.

So really, if you're going to spend 54 episodes taking down the baddies, they've got to be baddies you love to see taken down. And these are -- in part because all of them have crystal-clear, rock-solid motivations for their actions. Nobody here is a moustache-twirling comic-book-villain baddie. They're all bad for reasons that are very understandable in their individual contexts. And not a single one of them is going to go down without a fight.

5. World's Best Mom

(Sidebar: The fact that four out of five of my reasons to watch the show are individual or groups of characters should be your strongest indicator that this is an intensely character-driven story.)

This is not a Dead Mom Show. Okay, some moms are dead, but mostly this is a Moms Are Alive And Often Cause Problems Show, which is a lot of what makes the palace drama so delicious. But there is one Good Mom who stands out above all the rest: Consort Jing.

Played with perfect grace and devastating politeness by the stunning Liu Mintao, Consort Jing is a skilled doctor and excellent baker who starts the show with a low-level status among the women of the palace. She swallows down all kinds of mistreatment because she's not in a place to oppose it -- and when she can retaliate, it must only be through soft power. She loves her jock son with all her heart, but because of both their relatively poor positions in the hierarchy, she doesn't get to see him all that much. She wants to be an asset to him, while all the time she has to fear becoming a liability.

She is also the smartest person in any room that she's in, unless she's in a room with Mei Changsu, and even then it may be a tie.

There are lots of great characters in the show that I could have highlighted here, and plenty of them are women, but Consort Jing in particular never ceases to impress me. She is trapped in a gilded cage, married to a man who [lengthy list of spoilers that are traumatic to her in particular], and held hostage by how every time she even looks like she's out of line, it puts both her and her boy in danger. She's the most vulnerable of any of our good guys. Kind of like Wang Zhi, she's got to be clever or she's dead.

Consort Jing is not part of Mei Changsu's original plan. She figures out his plan and makes herself part of it -- and entirely remotely, as she and he aren't even in the same room until episode 40 or so. She puts herself in great danger to make sure he succeeds, not because it will necessarily do her any good, but because Jingyan needs him. This woman has been captain of the Mei Changsu/Jingyan ship for like twenty years already.

Oh, and did I mention her outfits?

I love you, Consort Mom.

Are you ready to watch it yet?

Get it on Viki! Get it on YouTube! Get it on YouTube but in a different playlist! (And also maybe get it on Amazon? Not in my region, but maybe in yours.)

I will warn you that it does take off running -- I think I saw someone say it introduces nineteen characters in the first episode? I was worried that I'd be too innundated by situations and flashbacks and names to be able to follow. By the second or third episode, though, I was rolling with it. So if you feel like you're struggling at the beginning, stick with it a bit. See if you don't feel it start to click.

...Man, reading over this post has left me going, oh, but I missed that! and that! and that guy! And yeah, the truth is that there are just so many great things about the show that limiting myself to only five (and being limited to only thirty images) was tough. I'm sure that people reblogging will add their own must-see elements.

Truly, this is a show that deserves its reputation. It may not be for everyone, but if this is the kind of thing that you like, it is a shining example of that thing.

Besides, you have to love a production where everyone was clearly having just a whole lot of fun being big ol' costumed dorks.

#nirvana in fire #lang ya bang #琅琊榜 #i made this #rec post

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ziseviolet · 1 year

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Please can you explain the difference of meaning between hanfu and huafu ? Sorry if you already got the question

Hi, thanks for the question, and sorry for taking ages to reply! (hanfu photo via)

The term “hanfu” (traditional Chinese: 漢服, simplified Chinese: 汉服) literally means “Han clothing”, and refers to the traditional clothing of the Han Chinese people. “Han” (漢/汉) here refers to the Han Chinese ethnic group (not the Han dynasty), and “fu” (服) means “clothing”. As I explained in this post, the modern meaning of “hanfu” is defined by the hanfu revival movement and community. As such, there is a lot of gatekeeping by the community around what is or isn’t hanfu (based on historical circumstances, cultural influences, tailoring & construction, etc). This isn’t a bad thing - in fact, I think gatekeeping to a certain extent is helpful and necessary when it comes to reviving and defining historical/traditional clothing. However, this also led to the need for a similarly short, catchy term that would include all Chinese clothing that didn’t fit the modern definition of hanfu -- enter huafu.

The term “huafu” (traditional Chinese: 華服, simplified Chinese: 华服) as it is used today has a broader definition than hanfu. “Hua” (華/华) refers to the Chinese people (中华民族/zhonghua minzu), and again “fu” (服) means “clothing”. It is an umbrella term for all clothing that is related to Chinese history and/or culture. Thus all hanfu is huafu, but not all huafu is hanfu. Below are examples of Chinese clothing that are generally not considered hanfu by the hanfu community for various reasons, but are considered huafu:

1. Most fashions that originated during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), especially late Qing, including the Qing aoqun & aoku for women, and the Qing changshan and magua for men. I wrote about whether Qing dynasty clothing can be considered hanfu here. Tangzhuang, which is an updated form of the Qing magua popularized in 2001, can also fit into this category. Below - garments in the style of Han women’s clothing during the Qing dynasty (清汉女装) from 秦綿衣莊 (1, 2).

2. Fashions that originated during the Republican era/minguo (1912-1949), including the minguo aoqun & aoku and qipao/cheongsam for women, and the minguo changshan for men (the male equivalent of the women’s qipao). I wrote about why qipao isn’t considered hanfu here. Below - minguo aoqun (left) & qipao (right) from 嬉姷.

Below - Xiangsheng (crosstalk) performers Zhang Yunlei (left) & Guo Qilin (right) in minguo-style men’s changshan (x). Changshan is also known as changpao and dagua.

3. Qungua/裙褂 and xiuhefu/秀禾服, two types of Chinese wedding garments for brides that are commonly worn today. Qungua originated in the 18th century during the Qing dynasty, and xiuhefu is a modern recreation of Qing wedding dress popularized in 2001 (x). Below - left: qungua (x), right: xiuhefu (x).

4. Modified hanfu (改良汉服/gailiang hanfu) and hanyuansu/汉元素 (hanfu-inspired fashion), which do not fit in the orthodox view of hanfu. Hanfu mixed with sartorial elements of other cultures also fit into this category (e.g. hanfu lolita). From the very start of the hanfu movement, there’s been debate between hanfu “traditionalists” and “reformists”, with most members being somewhere in the middle, and this discussion continues today. Below - hanyuansu outfits from 川黛 (left) and 远山乔 (right).

5. Performance costumes, such as Chinese opera costumes (戏服/xifu) and Chinese dance costumes. These costumes may or may not be considered hanfu depending on the specific style. Dance costumes, in particular, may have non-traditional alterations to make the garment easier to dance in. Dunhuang-style feitian (apsara) costumes, which I wrote about here, can also fit into this category. Below - left: Chinese opera costume (x), right: Chinese dance costume (x).

6. Period drama costumes and fantasy costumes in popular media (live-action & animation, games, etc.), commonly referred to as guzhuang/古装 (lit. “ancient costumes”). Chinese period drama costumes are of course based on hanfu, and may be considered hanfu if they are historically accurate enough. However, as I wrote about here, a lot of the time there are stylistic inaccuracies (some accidental, some intentional) that have become popularized and standardized over time (though this does seem to be improving in recent years). This is especially prevalent in the wuxia and xianxia genres. Similarly, animated shows & games often have characters dressed in “fantasy hanfu” that are essentially hanfu with stylistic modifications. Below - left: Princess Taiping in historical cdrama 大明宫词/Palace of Desire (x), right: Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji in wuxia/xianxia cdrama 陈情令/The Untamed (x).

7. Any clothing in general that purposefully utilizes Chinese style elements (embroidery, fabrics, patterns, motifs, etc). Chinese fashion brand Heaven Gaia is a well-known example of this. Below - Chinese-inspired designs by Heaven Gaia (x).

8. Technically, the clothing of China’s ethnic minorities also fit under the broad definition of huafu, but it’s rarely ever used in this way.

From personal observation, the term “huafu” is mainly used in the following situations:

1. Some large-scale events to promote Chinese clothing, such as the annual “华服日/Huafu Day”, will use “huafu” in their name for inclusivity.

2. For the same reason as above, Chinese clothing including hanfu will often be referred to as “huafu” on network television programs (ex: variety shows).

3. A few Chinese clothing shops on Taobao use “huafu” in their shop name. Two examples:

明镜华服/Mingjing Huafu - sells hanfu & hanyuansu.

花神妙华服/Huashenmiao Huafu - sells Qing dynasty-style clothing.

With the exception of the above, “huafu” is still very rarely used, especially compared to “hanfu”. It has such a broad definition that it’s just not needed in situations for which a more precise term already exists. However, I do think it’s useful as a short catch-all term for Chinese clothing that isn’t limited to the currently accepted definition of hanfu.

If anyone wants to add on or correct something, please feel free to do so! ^^

Hope this helps!

#happy 2023!#hanfu #huafu #terminology #language #hanfu movement #history #reference #ask #reply #>1000 #chinese fashion #chinese culture #china

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spirit-lanterns · 4 months

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I just love everything about the celebrity au AAAA

How do you think reader met most of the celebrities and what started their interest in us? I'm most interested in how we first met serval and ruan mei but also how kafka and himeko started falling for us

Ooooo okay! It’s LOREEEE TIME 💕

Since you only asked for Serval, Ruan Mei, Kafka and Himeko, I will only be going over how you met them and how they fell for you. If you’re curious about the other characters, feel free to ask again in my inbox :D

sfw under the cut

Serval: You both met at a gala. Your careers don’t often intertwine (as Serval is a musician and you are an actor) but since the event was one that all celebrities were attending, you met Serval through there. She fell for you because of how much you genuinely enjoyed her music and how sweet you were in comparison to her other “fans” as you didn’t overwhelm her and treated her like a normal person. You also didn’t bring up her recent breakup with Cocolia, as everyone was dying to know the tea on that since it was so new.

Ruan Mei: You both met on the set of a Chinese historical drama that was super popular among fans. Ruan Mei played as the female lead, while you were playing as her handmaiden. Your chemistry together popped off, as people shipped Ruan Mei’s character with you (the servant) rather than the male lead who was supposed to end up with her. She fell for you because of how intimate you made the scenes with her as her “handmaiden” and admired your charming personality.

Kafka: You both met on the set of a super intense action movie. You were only a rookie actor when you first met Kafka (having only starred in small roles and commercials) but Kafka took you under her wing and pretty much introduced you to every big shot actor in the business. She fell for you when you managed to pave your way to the top, blooming from just a rookie actor, to a woman with one of the largest fanbases in the industry. She really admired how determined and hard working you were, which lead to her falling for you.

Himeko: You both met after Kafka introduced you to her during the filming of a romantic thriller. You admired Himeko greatly (both as a person and an actor) and Himeko could see just how giddy you were when you first met her (it was really easy to see your excitement). She fell for you when you managed to nail a particularly sexy scene despite how cute you were, and that switch up practically turned the poor woman into a crushing schoolgirl!

#🕯️ghostly whispers #celebrity au #hsr women x reader #star rail women x reader

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