the blog formerly known as secondoldestteenagegirlon.tumblr.com golgafrincham's sideblog for fleeting obsessions: 85% Luo Yunxi 15% other since 2019. Everyone's drunk spinster metalhead auntie. Not a bl blog, I just like Luo Yunxi.
Poetic allusions and cultural references in 雨霖铃 Zhan Zhao Adventures
A really fun aspect of developing lots of feelings for a piece of media is when one of those feelings is curiosity. With cdramas, there's always a language barrier, where I'm shaking the bars my own ignorance has placed between myself and so much knowledge.
I'm lucky to watch together with my husband, who grew up speaking Mandarin, and can at least point out the most egregious translation fail going on in the subtitles. (As for me, I've done random self-study over ten years, plus a single 100 hanzi university course. So I understand a bit? But I'm still functionally illiterate.)
But I was obviously not raised with any sort of connection to Chinese culture, and so lack all the context. This led me down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out what various things in ZZA reference, starting with the title itself. These are some of the things I managed to dig up, mostly using DuckDuckGo (it can be helpful to set the custom date to before 2022 to avoid oodles of slop!), Pleco, and Google Translate. It's literally fangirl internet research, but I figured it might be interesting to others who've had a good time watching the show and might be curious about names and stuff.
雨霖鈴
yǔ lín líng
The Chinese title of the show
A Northern Song Dynasty poem by Liu Yong 柳永
Published translations: "Bells Ringing in the Rain" - Jiaosheng Wang
"Rain Hits a Bell" - Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping
"Bells in the Rains" - Wai-lim Yip
"Rain Bells" - Yunte Huang
[x]
"Rain-soaked Bell", full poem translation by Xiaoyao Xingzhe:
https://thefatmonk.net/2016/06/26/to-the-tune-rain-soaked-bell/
小楼一夜听花语
xiǎo lóu yīyè tīng huāyǔ
Viki subs: "Silent World Within Earshot" (Linglong Manor's listening skill)
Reference to a line in a Southern Song Dynasty poem by Lu You 陆游:
Translation by Wang, L., Cao , H., Cao, Q., Chu, J., & Shi, Z.: https://doi.org/10.54097/qmgm0216
"a four-character Chinese idiom that likens a fleeting moment of beauty to a startled swan taking flight", it is a reference to the classic poem 洛神赋 (Tale of the Goddess of Luo River). [x][x]
延陵
yánlíng
Zhan Zhao's sword
From the 史記 Historical Records, it's a reference to a story about keeping promises after death. Ji Zha, lord of Yanling, made an unspoken promise to give his beautiful sword to the King of Xu, who died before he could do so. Instead of keeping it, Ji Zha hung it on a tree branch over the king's grave. [x], [x]
长相思
chang xiàng sī
Viki subs: Love Longing (a Hanshui Palace weapon)
The title of a Sui-Tang Dynasty poem by Li Bai 李白
Published translations:
"Eternally Thinking of Each Other" - Amy Lowell and Florence Ayscough
"Thoughts of You Unending" - David Hinton
"Yearning" - Stephen Owen
"Endless longing for you" - Peter Harris
"Endless Yearning" - Witter Bynner
[x]
一見如故
yījiànrúgù
Viki subs: Old Souls First Glance (a Xiuluo poison)
(simile) to be familiar at first sight; to hit it off [x]
get on like a house on fire (phrase, informal)
If two people get on like a house on fire, they like each other very much and become friends very quickly. [x]
鶴沖天
hè chōngtiān
Viki subs: Heavenward Crane Strike (Ding family martial arts move)
The title of a Northern Song Dynasty poem by Liu Yong 柳永
"Crane Soaring in the Sky" - Full poem translation by Qian Jia:
https://sourcebook.stanford.edu/text/liu_yong_golden_title_board/index.html (I highly recommend this entire page if you want to know more about the guy behind the title "雨霖铃". For example, the "Crane Soaring in the Sky" poem in question is how Liu Yong started beefing with the Emperor (!!!) after failing the Imperial exam. Truly a wild choice!)
修羅
xiūluó
Xiuluo Cult
A being in Buddhist cosmology: Asura. The asura are a class of who are power-seeking and jealous, and direct their hostility towards the more benevolent devas. [x][x]
夜摩天
yèmótiān
a poison
A concept in Buddhist cosmology: Yāma, the third of six heavenly worlds of the desire realm. This world is variously translated as "wonderful times", "virtuous", "excellent times", "of the hours" or "free from strife or combat" (because devas in Yāma live in the sky, safely away from the asuras who dwell on the slopes of Mount Meru). [x][x]
夜叉
yèchā
Yaksha
A creature in Buddhist & Hindu mythology: Yakṣa. A class of nature-spirits that are usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious. With their dual personality, there's a darker version of the yaksha which lives in the wilderness and hunts travelers. In Buddhist literature, the yakṣa are the attendants of a beneficent god who protects the righteous. They have often been reborn into ugly ogre forms for sins they committed in their past (human) lives. [x]
It had been far too long since I watched a show that made me have that oh moment when I realize that not only am I invested in the plot and the characters, but I have feelings for them. You know the feeling - when they're not just "the characters" anymore, but blorbos from my show! And then I started watching 雨霖铃 | Zhan Zhao Adventures. I enjoyed myself immensely, and then around episode 19 of 37 I realized
oh
when I made this gif:
The three main characters sit around a small table, drinking. To the left, Bai Yu Tang faceplants while holding a turquoise bottle. His friends Zhan Zhao and Hou Ling Long look at him, and then each other, smiling fondly.
And yeah. Here I am. With feelings, and an attempt at a short and non-spoilery rec! (With footnotes. Because I can't actually shut up about this show right now, only redirect myself.) (If you'd rather skip the text and watch a trailer with spoilers, this one is rather excellent.)
Right: Zhan Zhao Adventures¹ (雨霖铃²) is a 37 episode Chinese wuxia series that dropped in May 2026. The adventures in question are a fun mix of overarching quest (there is a plot against the emperor afoot!), side quests (of course our main characters will help a nice young scholar look for his missing sister), and Jianghu hijinks (one sect stole a McGuffin from a second sect, which a third sect now wants to steal from them!).
The cinematography is lovely, and the fight choreography is super fun and dynamic - the kind of stuff that makes you go yes! and gasp at the skill on display by the actors and stunt performers. One of my favorite things about it, though, is that some of the absolutely coolest fights belong to the female character, who early on fights off over a dozen attackers while defending a small child and also the main character. It's really good stuff.³
And the characters - oh. Well. This is the short version, so: The entire trio are youxia (current or former). Zhan Zhao⁴ (played by Yang Yang) is a government official on a dangerous mission. Huo Ling Long (Zhang Rounan) is the daughter of a Jianghu sect leader, out experiencing the world for herself instead of accepting an arranged marriage⁵. And Bai Yu Tang⁶ (Fang Yilun) wants to know who is the better fighter, him or Zhan Zhao, so is wandering around causing trouble while trying to find and challenge this man he's never met before.
The relationship that almost immediately develops between the three is... a lot. As in. They care so much about each other. They will do anything to protect each other. So when the plot takes those side quests and hijinks and deftly weaves them into something very personal, the stakes feel incredibly high. The characters have to deal with old wounds being reopened while questioning what they know of their own pasts. And through this, the show's focus stays on how that angst affects the trio's dynamic, and what they can do to heal from old and new hurts alike.
There is no romance storyline - no official couple. This leaves the three of them free to all be equally affectionate with each other, without any two sidelining the third. This is obviously fantastic canonical gen! It also makes for the most satisfying OT3 dynamic possible.⁷
I would also be remiss if I did not mention that the show has a truly staggering amount of hurt/comfort and whump. As in: Zhan Zhao starts the series with something like 10% of his life bar left, and promptly proceeds to lose even more. If you like beautiful men collapsing in pain, this is the show for you!⁸ Here's where things are at in episode 5:
Zhan Zhao's limp body is resting on Huo Ling Long's shoulder. She gently moves him to lean against the corner of the carriage they are in, while Bai Yu Tang helps hold his arm. To settle him as comfortably as possible Huo Ling Long cradles his face in her hands and tilts his head against the wall.
Now, if you're anything like me, one of your very reasonable questions about a new cdrama will be: But what about the ending? To answer your question, click "Keep reading" or scroll to the bottom (which will spoil you).
The last episode comes with a bonus post-credit scene, so make sure you don't miss it!
I haven't seen a list of content warnings anywhere, so please let me know if there's anything in particular you want to know about. I've put a non-exhaustive list of general warnings at the bottom of the post.
Depending on where you are, Zhan Zhao Adventures is currently available on Viki⁹, Apple TV, YouTube or Viu.
Footnotes
[1] The show is based on a novel by author minifish. She in turn based the novel on 七俠五義 | The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, a late 19th century novel that collects the oral performances of famous storyteller Shi Yukun. So it's transformative works all the way down!
[2] The original title of the book and show, "雨霖铃" (Yǔlínlíng), is itself the title of a Song Dynasty tune set to poetry. In other words: minifish used a song title for her book that is a fanfic of a Qing Dynasty story. Gotta love it! The poem itself has been translated a lot, and my favorite rendering of the meaning in English is "Bells Ringing in the Rain".
[3] For a glimpse of Huo Ling Long in action, see my gif set here from episode 23. (I was immediately compelled to make this, because I just love the way she fights. She doesn't float serenely, not a hair out of place - she fights, and gets injured, and gets angry.)
[4] Zhan Zhao is one of the original Seven Heroes from the novel mentioned in footnote 1. He works for Justice Bao, a character who appears to be as ubiquitous in Chinese popular culture (see this list of related works!) as someone like Robin Hood is in the Anglo world.
[5] For those who aren't familiar enough with Chinese costume drama tropes to tell from the hair and robes, we first meet Huo Ling Long disguised as a young man. She introduces herself as "Xiao Di", which literally means "little brother".
[6] Bai Yu Tang is one of the original Five Gallants from The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants. The five are sworn brothers all nicknamed [Adjective] [Rat/Mouse] (Chinese uses the same word for both animals). His beef with Zhan Zhao (who he has never met) is that the Emperor officially designated Zhan Zhao the "Imperial Cat", and this irks him as "the Jinmao Rat". So he decides that they are Rivals, and shows up in the story hoping to beat Zhan Zhao in a fair fight. Unfortunately for him, when they finally meet Zhan Zhao couldn't win a fair fight with a literal mouse, so he sticks around.
[7] Trying to keep this a short rec without spoilers means not spamming with too many images, but that really is doing this very pretty show and very beautiful actors a disservice. For those curious about the OT3 in particular, look at how the show films them (from episode 30)! When it comes to their dynamics, here's happens when the plot tries to separate them. I also made one (extremely spoilery) set showing how the h/c too goes three ways.
[8] This show could easily get a H/C bingo. I don't wanna go too deep into spoilers, but if you're curious check the below the "Keep reading"
[9] I've used the Viki subs' styling of writing the character names "Ling Long" and "Yu Tang", but fandom seems to prefer "Linglong" and Yutang".
SPOILERS IF YOU CLICK (if you see a Keep reading, otherwise if you scroll)
YOU HAVE ENTERED SPOILER SPACE
Here you will find:
Dots
Fun, non-exhaustive list of h/c tropes
Content warnings
The Ending
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Fun, non-exhaustive list of h/c tropes
"Who hurt you?!"
Hallucinations causing a character to fight a friend
Character giving themselves up to protect the others
Character collapsing and needing to be carried
Freeing an injured character from captivity
Taking an injury to protect a friend
Content warnings
Suicide
Off-screen child abuse
Off-screen rape (there is an entire story arc about trafficked and murdered women)
Torture (by bad guys)
Drugs of the hallucinations/mind control type deployed by bad guys
The ending
The main trio all live, but there is a very sad secondary character death. The show could have spent longer wrapping up various plot threads, but it is a proper happy ending, and every character gets a satisfying story arc. I was very pleased!
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