#tv: zhen hun

[avaantares]

Wait, Zhao Yunlan's gun is actually a...?!

(I've never claimed production meta for @guardianbingo before, but after the amount of time and research I put in on this, I feel like I've earned the "Zhao Yunlan's Gun or Whip" square, haha)

SO. GUYS.

Maybe this is something fandom as a whole figured out back in 2018, but I, who didn't hear of Guardian until 2020, did not realize until now and I need to share the knowledge because when I finally noticed, I made an unholy sound.

I've tracked down where Zhao Yunlan's gun came from -- or at least, what it most likely started as. Not the in-universe dark-energy-maybe-uses-bullets-maybe-doesn't-device-that's-best-not-thought-about-too-long, but rather the actual fake-steampunk-revolver-that-is-best-not-looked-at-too-long-because-it's-awful prop.

Y'know, this disaster:

I was actually working on a different Guardian Bingo fill and needed to look something up for continuity, so I'd flipped through a couple of episodes at super high speed trying to find a scene. As luck would have it, one of my skips forward happened to land on the scene I screencapped above, when ZYL confronts Zhang Shi.

Normally we don't get this clear (or this stationary) a shot of the godawful gun prop. I'd assumed all along they had just taken a plastic gun, glued some extra bits and bobs on it to make it look fancy, and hit it with some dry brushing (fun fact: you can watch the paint flake throughout the series; check out the top of the barrel and the side of the cylinder in the above screenshot!) to make it look #steampunk like the abandoned aesthetic of 25% of the show (as I've said before, I have theories about what happened in preproduction, but that's another post). This sort of thing is exactly what I've done for cheap cosplay weapons or background props for film work that aren't going to be seen at HD detail range.

Anyway, since the detail showed up better here than in other shots, I paused the video to look at the random screws and hex bolts (why??) they'd glued on it, since I recalled that I had the aforementioned gun/whip bingo square to fill.

That's when I noticed a detail that had eluded me before: An inverted V shape at the bottom of the grip.

Only looking more closely, that's not an inverted V. It's a symbol that I've seen a whole series of variations of over the past 15+ years... every time there's a new installment of the Assassin's Creed video game series:

So I started hunting. The principal weapons in each game turned up no matches, but eventually I found a gun that looks almost exactly like ZYL's:

It's not a perfect replica, but the details are certainly all there: The stylized logo; the leaves and swirls on the grip; the feathers up the back; even the Victorian scrollwork beneath the barrel.

Now, what's really interesting is that this gun isn't actually from the AC game series. It's part of an elaborate fan project by artist David Paget that started as a class assignment back in 2014. Even though it gathered a bit of steam in the AC fandom and generated a couple of forum role-play groups, OCs and the like, nothing about this artwork was ever connected to a real Assassin's Creed title. So why would there be a physical version of a gun that was only someone's fanart?

This is where the smoking gun (*rimshot*) goes missing, because I can't prove any of this, and it's been long enough that digging through the archives of the internet to find answers is going to take way more time than I can afford to spend on a project I'm not getting paid for. But there are two likely possibilities:

Scenario A: Some employee in a toy factory somewhere in China got told, "This Assassin's Creed franchise is really big, so we need to be producing replicas from those games to sell. Work up some designs." So the employee Googles "assassin's creed gun," finds David Paget's very professional-looking art, and whips up a replica to mass-injection-mold without realizing it's not actually from a game. Later, someone on the cash-strapped Guardian production team needs a gun to mod, and finds a cheap toy revolver on clearance after several years of sitting in storage because there was little demand for a replica of a gun that was never in a game. They buy several, glue hex bolts on the cylinder for reasons unknown, and poof! Instant pseudo-steampunk!

Scenario B: Other fans were involved in the design. Someone did build a 3D model of David Paget's design that's still available on Sketchfab (screenshot below), and it's not unreasonable to assume that other fans could have thought it looked cool and built 3D printable models. Later, someone on the cash-strapped Guardian production team needs a gun to mod, and acquires the 3D print file of one of those models from the interwebs. They mod the file a bit, print some, glue hex bolts on the cylinder for reasons unknown, and poof! Instant pseudo-steampunk!

Personally, I find Scenario A far more likely than Scenario B, for two reasons: First, the hero prop looks more injection molded than 3D printed, especially given the technical state of 3D printing back in 2017-8. And second... Budget-challenged dramas do have a history of picking up bulk video game replicas and using them as cheap props. I made a post back in 2019 about the WoW Horde shields we spotted in a different drama...

Anyway, no firm answers about the source of the hero prop -- the world may never know! -- but we have now confirmed that in some alternate universe (possibly one of the first eighty?), Zhao Yunlan and/or Zhao Xinci is an Assassin.

Wait, wait, wait... *recalls mechanics of how the whole Assassin's Creed frame story is supposed to work* Uh... so... who wants to write a genetic memory explanation for the whole Kunlun -> [lots of lifetimes] -> Zhao Yunlan thing?

.

(I did actually check the catalogue of a friend of mine who makes replicas of props from various media franchises to see if he'd done a commission of the David Paget design, since a surprising number of his custom pieces actually do end up on film and television, but while he has a gorgeous replica of a revolver that actually appears in an AC game, it appears he has not done the Zhao Yunlan gun. I didn't really think it likely, since he's in the U.S., but you never know.)

#guardian #zhen hun #c-drama #guardian bingo #assassin's creed #tv props #it's always fun when my various hats end up stacked on top of one another

[fandomtrumpshate]

FTH 2024 Unlisted Fandom Challenge!

All right, there was a peek at the leaderboard in yesterday's numbers post. Today we're giving you the whole thing. The list below contains all 84 write-in fandoms. The majority of them have only one offer —so far. One more signup for them will jump them onto the leaderboard. Two more signups will put them in a tie for second place. Any fandom that gets an additional 4 signups will challenge for the lead ...

And we've had fandoms in years past that went from not on the list at all, to nearly the top of the leaderboard in the time between numbers updates. Will that be your fandom this year?

Signups are OPEN!

One quick request - when writing in your fandoms, please avoid using the ' | ' character. It gives google sheets (and your mods) a headache.

And now, on to the numbers! At not quite 48 hours of signups, this is the complete list of write-in fandoms -

5 YuYu Hakusho 3 Ace Attorney 3 Bungou Stray Dogs 3 Dragon Ball 3 For All Mankind 3 Realm of the Elderlings - Robin Hobb 3 The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison 2 Ancient Greece Religion and Lore 2 Buffyverse 2 Detective Conan 2 Dune 2 Guardian/Zhen Hun 2 HBO War 2 Imperial Radch Series 2 Tortall 1 Among Us 1 BBC Ghosts 1 Blue Beetle 1 Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment RPF 1 Cherry Magic 1 Chronicles of Narnia 1 Cobra Kai 1 Criminal Minds 1 Danny Phantom 1 Death Note 1 Dice Punks (podcast) 1 Digimon 1 Donten ni Warau / Laughing Under the Clouds 1 Dungeons and Daddies (podcast) 1 Endeavour/Morseverse/Inspector Morse (ITV/Dexter) 1 Falsettos 1 Farscape 1 Fire Emblem (4-10, 13, 14, 16) 1 Five Nights at Freddy's 1 Formula 1 RPF 1 Glee 1 Grantchester 1 Greek Mythology 1 Grey's Anatomy 1 Gundam 1 Hawaii 5.0 1 Honkai Star Rail 1 Jeff Satur - music videos 1 Law and Order 1 Legend of the Galactic Heroes 1 London Spy 1 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic 1 Magnificent Seven 1 Mob Psycho 100 1 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury 1 Mrs. Davis 1 My Little Pony 1 Narcos (TV) 1 Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint 1 Omori 1 Orphan Black 1 Pacific Rim 1 Professional Wrestling - New Japan Pro Wrestling 1 Professional Wrestling: All Elite Wrestling 1 Re-Animator 1 Riverdale 1 Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab 1 Simon Snow Series 1 Slam Dunk 1 Slow Horses (TV Show) 1 Super Sentai 1 Sweeney Todd 1 Ted Lasso 1 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension 1 The Adventures of Tintin 1 The Bear (TV) 1 The Empyrean Series - Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing) 1 The Good Place 1 The Last Kingdom 1 The Lunar Chronicles 1 The Mummy (1999 franchise) 1 The Pairing (Casey McQuiston) 1 The Radiant Emperor Series 1 The Saint of Steel 1 The Stanley Parable 1 Voltron: Legendary Defender 1 Wayfarers (Becky Chambers) 1 Wolf Pack 1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

#fth 2024 #fandom trumps hate #fanworks charity auction #unlisted fandoms #long post

[to-fanartists-with-love]

Below are the main tags by medium and under the link to the tags, all the fandoms I've posted about in alphabetic order. The fandom and the characters that appear are tagged too but you're gonna have to look into my blog search function. You can also search the tags by canon art, gif, collage or doujinshi (for fancomics).

anime (aka. all animation bc I'm too lazy to modify the tag with the proper name)

blue eyed samurai, code geass, castlevania, link click, mawaru penguindrum, puella magi madoka magica, shojo kakumei utena, trigun stampede, yuuri on ice

book

all for the game, all of us villains, a song of fire and ice, bartimaeus trilogy, edas, greenwing and dart, kane chronicles, kingkiller chronicle, kusuriya no hitorigoto, les miserables, nine worlds, omniscient reader's viewpoint, percy jackson universe, silmarillion, the scholomance, the folk of the air, the locked tomb, the vampire chronicles, villains series, wheel of time

comic

dc universe

danmei

bing an ben, erha he ta de bai mao shizun, golden terrace, liu yao: the revitalization of fuyao sect, modao zushi, mo du, tian guan ci fu, tian ya ke, qiang jin jiu, qian qiu, scum villain self saving system, yuwu, zhen hun

film

dune 2021, star wars, the handmaiden

manga

akatsuki no yona, banana fish, berserk, bleach, blue period, boku no hero academia, bungou stray dogs, cardcaptor sakura, death note, detective conan, d.gray man, dungeon meshi, eroica yori ai wo komete, fullmetal alchemist, hetalia, hikaru ga shinda natsu, hikaru no go, hunter x hunter, jibaku shonen hanako-kun, jujutsu kaisen, kaze to ki no uta, kuroshitsuji, magic kaito, naruto, one piece, pandora hearts, ranma 1/2, rg veda, shaman king, showa genroku rakugo shinjuu, spy x family, soul eater, tsubasa reservoir chronicle, uruwashi no yoi no tsuki, vampire knight, vanitas no shuki, witch hat atelier, xxxholic, x/1999, yugioh, yu yu hakusho

original art

tv show

interview with a vampire, nirvana in fire, the untamed, wheel of time, word of honor

video game

genshin impact, persona 5

webcomic

girl genius, homestuck

Enjoy! And remember it's always nice to like, reblog or comment if you loved the art!

[eohachu]

[id: three gifs. 1st gif: a scene from the cdrama “guardian” from episode 23. a shot of zhao yunlan and a shot of shen wei are blended together. yunlan’s expression is shocked and confused. shen wei’s eyes are glassy and red from crying. he looks at yunlan, looking into his eyes, then to his lips, then to his eyes again. there’s a simple text in white caps in the middle reading “you are worth it”. the same phrase is spelt out in the background in hanzi. 2nd gif: the jinlintai scene from the cdrama “the untamed” from episode 42. also two shots blended together, this time of lan wangji and wei wuxian. the look at each other, both smiling lovingly. wuxian also first looks into wangji’s eyes, and then at his lips. simple text in white caps in the middle reading “lan zhan ah lan zhan”. the same phrase is spelt out in the background in hanzi. 3rd gif: a scene from the cdrama “word of honor” from episode 32. the scene at the cliff. it starts with only wen kexing in the frame. zhou zishu walks towards him and stops right in front of him. they look at each other with deep affection. simple text in white caps in the middle reading “you are mine”. the same phrase is spelt out in the background in hanzi. /end id]

– Do you have any weapons on you?

– I have a longing that’s killing me.

— Mahmoud Darwish, from Memory for Forgetfulness: August, Beirut, 1982. (tr. Ibrahim Muhawi)

镇魂 Guardian ep. 23 陈情令 The Untamed ep. 42 山河令 Word of Honor ep. 32

insp.

#priestnet #mdzsnet #镇魂 guardian #theuntamededit #wordofhonoredit #guardianedit #word of honor #the untamed #shan he ling #shledit #wohdaily #weilan #wangxian #wenzhou #[so i had to do this or else i'd explode] #[alternative caption: top 3 bl cdrama scenes that Take Me Out every single time] #zh ep23 #cql ep42 #woh ep32 #tv. zhen hun #otp. wangxian #tv. chen qing ling #otp. wenzhou #tv. shan he ling #r.gfx #*mine #*mine:cql #*mine:zh #*mine:shl

[featherfur]

The truth behind Shen Wei having waited 10,000 years for Zhao Yunlan is incredibly touching but man it would have been hilarious if Shen Wei really just was some normal professor and all of it was coincidences/ Shen Wei having a huge crush on the hot officer who keeps showing up and wanders into all these dangerous situations without realizing it

Just

ZYL: I know you’re the Black Robed Envoy

SW who’s been zoned out for ten minutes thinking about ZYL on his motorcycle: uh sure

ZYL: you can’t hide it

SW trying not to just say “why don’t you come over to my place and search me”:… I will… try not to…?

ZYL: I don’t know why you won’t tell me the truth

SW: like the truth about how I’m gay and single or that I gave Da Qing extra fish when you told me not too?

ZYL: about who you are- wait- that fat ass cat…

#镇魂 guardian #guardian #zhen hun #zhao yunlan #shen wei #weilan #black robe envoy #da Qing #tv show Shen Wei isnt so thirsty but fucking Novel Shen Wei wants to jump Zhao Yunlan’s bones the moment their eyes meet #so I hold too it that a human Shen Wei has eyes ans also wants to get with the sexiest disaster Bisexual in dragon city

[basket-of-loquats]

oh my god theyre so in love im weak

#weilan #guardian #zhen hun #shen wei #zhao yunlan #this is so fucking messy im so sorry #im like not good today #but i have emotions and require validation so #yeah #also posting twice in one day? #its more likely than you think #because i have literally zero self control #guardian tv #kunlun #shen wei/zhao yunlan #shen wei x zhao yunlan #my art #*loqdraws

[weeguttersnipe]

Such stubbornness!

Guardian (Chinese tv series, 2018)

#guardian #zhen hun #镇魂 #zhu yilong #zhu yi long #chinese tv #chinese drama #cdrama #c-drama #gif #mandarin #rain gif #rain on film

[hesselives]

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Chǔ Shùzhī/Guō Chángchéng Characters: Chǔ Shùzhī, Guō Chángchéng, Zhào Yúnlán, Zhù Hóng, Lín Jìng, Shěn Wēi, Dà Qìng Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Police, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, probably contains all the tropes, Age Difference, (sort of), officer chu shuzhi, intern guo changcheng, meddling colleagues, a bit of the canon-typical supernatural, a smidgen of plot, barely a case fic, in no way does this accurately represent police stations or law enforcement of any kind, because all i know is what i've seen on tv (and i've been told that that is not how things work), does it count as dating if you're dreaming, who knows (not i) Summary:

Chu Shuzhi had never needed protection. And certainly not by a doe-eyed intern.

#guardian tv #guardian 2018 #zhen hun #chuguo #chu shuzhi #guo changcheng #guardian fic #zhen hun fic #hesselives #guardian week 2020 #not officially signed up for gw2020 but hopefully it’s ok anyway #镇魂 #镇魂 guardian

[berry-muffin]

Part 2 of the plan to get Da Qing to lose some weight is to better manage his feeding schedule (which has gotten way more difficult since he learned how to change into a human).

[insp.]

#guardian #镇魂 #chuguo #zhen hun #guo changcheng #chu shuzhi #guardian fanart #my stuff #mine: guardian #this is set in the novel ‘verse #but i’m using the tv ‘verse character designs because i like them #also i fucked up #changcheng is not that short #will fix next time #cdrama

[miragesbian]

DA QING NO

#guardian lb #zhen hun #tv: guardian #jskskf #photo tag

[fandomtrumpshate]

Unlisted Fandom Challenge

Two days ago, at our last Unlisted Fandom Challenge update, we had a 3-way tie for first. Today? One of those fandoms has taken the lead AND a new fandom that hadn't had even a single signup before has jumped all the way into a 4-way tie for second. Your fandom could do the same, in the hours still left before signups close!

At present, our leaderboard looks like this:

7 Danny Phantom

5 Carmen Sandiego (2019) 5 For All Mankind 5 Tortall 5 Yu Yu Hakusho

4 Ace Attorney 4 Alan Wake/Remedyverse 4 Formula 1 RPF 4 Ted Lasso 4 The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison 4 The Stanley Parable

3 Greek Mythology/Religion 3 Buffyverse 3 Bungo Stray Dogs 3 Call of Duty 3 Detective Conan 3 Dragon Ball 3 HBO War 3 Kingdom Hearts 3 Persona Series: 3-5 3 Professional Wrestling 3 Realm of the Elderlings - Robin Hobb 3 Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab 3 The Mummy films 1999-2008 3 Undertale

Given the way Carmen Sandiego came from *nowhere* to tie for 2nd place, a single signup really can shake things up! And for the next few hours, signups are STILL OPEN! Do the thing!

The rest of our unlisted write-in fandoms under the cut for length -

2 Ghosts (TV) 2 Black Sails 2 Cosmere 2 CSI 2 Cyberpunk 2077 2 Dead Friend Forever 2 Death Stranding 2 Dice Punks (podcast) 2 Dimension 20 2 Donten ni Warau / Laughing Under the Clouds 2 Dracula 2 Dune 2 Firefly 2 Glee 2 Guardian/Zhen Hun 2 Hermitcraft/The Life Series SMP 2 Imperial Radch Series 2 Inception 2 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 2 Mob Psycho 100 2 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury 2 Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint 2 Ordem Paranormal Quarentena 2 QSMP / Quackity SMP 2 Riverdale 2 Saw 2 Slow Horses (TV Show) 2 South Park 2 Stormlight Archive 2 The Bear (TV) 2 The Empyrean - Rebecca Yarros 2 The Folk of the Air (Holly Black) 2 The Radiant Emperor Series 2 Venture Bros 2 Voltron 2 Wolf Pack 1 1670 1 A Court of Fey & Flowers 1 a league of their own (TV series) 1 A Plague Tale (Videogame Series) 1 American Gods 1 Among Us 1 Bandom RPF (Bad Omens) 1 Bandom RPF (Lorna Shore) 1 Bandom RPF (Motionless In White) 1 Beastars 1 Bendy (and The Ink Machine/Dark Revival) 1 Horror 1 Bioshock 1&2 1 Blue Beetle 1 Blue Eye Samurai 1 Books of the Raksura 1 Boondock Saints 1 Breakfast With Scot 1 Bunny - Mona Awad 1 Buzzfeed Unsolved/Watcher Entertainment RPF 1 Cabin Pressure 1 Cats the musical 1 Charlie's Angels (2019) 1 Cherry Magic 1 Chronicles of Narnia 1 Cobra Kai 1 Coffee Talk (Video Game) 1 Criminal Minds 1 Death Note 1 Devil May Cry 1 Dexter 1 Digimon 1 Discworld - Terry Pratchett 1 Disney Theatrical Animated Universe 1 Divergent 1 DMBJ (Grave Robber's Chronicles) - Xu Lei 1 Dream SMP 1 Dungeons and Daddies (podcast) 1 Endeavour/Morseverse/Inspector Morse (ITV/Dexter) 1 Ensemble Stars!! 1 Fallout Video Game (Bethesda) 1 Falsettos 1 Fargo FX 1 Farscape 1 Fire Emblem (4-10, 13, 14, 16) 1 Five Nights at Freddy's 1 Friends at the Table 1 Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid 1 Grantchester 1 Green Creek 1 Grey's Anatomy 1 Grimm 1 Gundam (see below for details) 1 Hatchetfield 1 Hawaii 5.0 1 Hello From The Hallowoods 1 High School Musical 1 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni 1 Hollow Knight 1 Honkai Star Rail 1 Horizon Zero Dawn 1 Infinity Train 1 IT (Movies - Muschietti) 1 Jeff Satur - music videos 1 Julie and the Phantoms 1 Kushiel's Legacy 1 Law and Order 1 Legend of the Galactic Heroes 1 Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4) 1 London Spy 1 Lovecraft Mythos 1 Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic 1 Magnificent Seven 1 Mary Grant Bruce's Billabong series 1 Mrs. Davis 1 My Little Pony 1 Nancy Drew (CW Series) 1 Narcos (TV) 1 Nine Worlds Series - Victoria Goddard 1 NU: Carnival 1 Omori 1 One Direction 1 Orphan Black 1 Outlast 1 Paranatural 1 Phantomarine 1 Re-Animator 1 Resident Evil/Biohazard 1 Sex Education (TV) 1 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 1 Simon Snow Series 1 Skins (UK) 1 Slam Dunk 1 Starry Musical 1 Succession 1 Sunless Sea 1 Super Sentai 1 Sweeney Todd 1 Team Starkid 1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 The Adventure Zone: Balance 1 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension 1 The Adventures of Tintin 1 The Artful Dodger 1 The Good Place 1 The Greenhollow Series - Emily Tesh 1 The Hollows - Kim Harrison 1 The Last Kingdom 1 The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - Garth Nix 1 The Lunar Chronicles 1 The Mechanisms 1 The Pairing (Casey McQuiston) 1 The Saint of Steel 1 The Shadow Campaigns - Django Wexler 1 The Terror (TV 2018) 1 Three of Hearts 1 Tin Can Bros 1 Tower of God 1 True Detective 1 Twilight 1 Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold 1 Wayfarers (Becky Chambers) 1 Weak Hero Class 1 1 Westworld (TV) 1 Yellowjackets 1 Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

#fth 2024 #fandom trumps hate #fanworks charity auction #unlisted fandom challenge #signups are STILL OPEN! #do the thing!

[chiefprofessor]

𝙶𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚗•𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚏•𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚘𝚛

Zhao Yunlan x Shen Wei

#guardian #hers #imvu edits #cdrama #guardian 2018 #zhu yilong #zhen hun #bai yu #shen wei #weilan #guardian tv #guardian drama #zhao yunlan #Guardian/镇魂 #zhao yun lan

[kat9994]

#guardian #镇魂 #zhenhun #zhen hun #TV series #Cdrama #CDrama gif #my gifs #ep 1 #zhao yun lan #shen wei #handshake #bai yu #Bai White #zhu yi long #白宇 #朱一龙 #china #chinese #boys love #novel #me like

[alexisnoir]

This is what I’m watching tonight. So far, there is 34 episodes available. All with English subtitles, only 3 with Polish subtitles. The rest has various other subtitles. 

Here you have the full playlist 

I am at the 4th episode and I love it! Seriously you must watch it. 

#guardian #TV show #chinese drama #guardian Chinese drama #zhen hun #must watch #yoyo television series

[2rico-g]

New chinese drama

I'm watching Guardian (Zhen Hun) a new supernatural chinese drama with a dose of bl.. I mean, BROMANCE. The 2 male lead are handsome. Love the show! I recommend it!

Shen Wei & Zhao Yu bromance!!!! ❤❤❤ (actor Zhu Yilong and Yu Bai)

#guardian #chinese drama #zhen hun #2018 tv drama #tv series

[hunxi-after-hours]

Hunxi how do BL dramas even get made? I don't believe that censors are just being tricked into letting things go. All they would have to do is type the name of the novel being used into google and it would immediately come back as "a BL novel." Why aren't the stores banned wholesale? Unsurprisingly US sources have nothing useful to say about it when I've tried to find answers.

so there's a distinction between a "BL drama" and a "drama based on a BL novel," one that we tend to collapse in English but is much more distinct in Chinese. BL novels are called 耽美 danmei, and adaptations of BL novels (e.g. 《镇魂》 Zhen Hun / Guardian，《陈情令》 Chen Qing Ling / The Untamed， 《山河令》 Shan He Ling / Word of Honor) are what would more accurately be called 耽改 dangai -- "adapted from" or "changed from danmei."

the problem isn't that the source novel is danmei; the censorship board has zero problems with the original source being gay as hell (well, not zero). what the censorship board has problems with is if the adaptation is explicitly queer.

generally speaking, the audience for a TV show is going to be many, many times that of the audience for a webnovel, so if you're a homophobic authoritarian regime, you're going to crack down on the adaptations that are getting billions of views first before making your way back to the source. Over the past few years, increasingly severe restrictions have been placed on what webnovels can explicitly write about, to the point where MDZS and SVSSS have been locked on JJWXC (i.e. you can't even buy them anymore, they're functionally banned). If you ever see someone making a comment about "nothing below the neck," that is a reference to some of the restrictions put in place by censorship (i.e. authors cannot write about any sexy things below the neck)

I think Anglophone fandom has a tendency to make light of censorship in China, which is... well, I don't think people really understand how sophisticated and all-encompassing it is. The censorship board aren't composed solely of dumb machines that need to be tricked with a quick 'no homo'--there are many more factors at play, from the Chinese history and culture of homosociality (Anglophone viewers thought CQL was undeniably queer; a great deal of Chinese viewers were completely sold on the bromance. and because CQL is dangai, not danmei, you can't say that those viewers are wrong--that is absolutely a legitimate interpretation of CQL), to state-sanctioned queerbaiting (I feel like someone out there must be writing a dissertation about about 炒CP as a marketing tool).

it's not as simple as "this is danmei, and therefore must be banned." there is gray area and room for negotiation; there is an insidious amount of nuance and intelligence involved in the particular kind of homophobic censorship enacted by the authoritarian regime (e.g. if you keep your gays, you have to bury them by the end of the show). there is an unquestionable and undeniable amount of money being exchanged in the process, both under and over the table

tl;dr Chinese censorship is not a joke, even if Anglophone fandom tries to make it out to be

#if I ever go undercover in the Chinese censorship bureau #I'll be sure to let you know more anon