There won't be a post this week (sorry, am finishing up a commission atm, should be done soon though), but I did make this Chinese history timeline in advance:
I realized that some dynasty names could be mixed up due to their pinyin being very similar (ex: Qin and Qing dynasty) and some time periods might be confusing because too many things were happening at once, so I thought it would be nice to give a timeline, and everyone could refer to it if needed.
(this timeline is translated from a nice visual I found online)
A clear and engaging timeline that shows the different Chinese dynasties througout history. It's nice to have a visual overview of these different dynasties and their respective time frame. I'm eager to learn how these dynasties shaped China's history over time.
I was curious about the Shang and Zhou dinasty. What kind of hanfu they had? I have to draw some character from that dynasties and I couldn't find a lot (maybe cuz they're like 3000 years old xd).
You have a really nice blog, very useful :)
(For anyone unfamiliar with Chinese history, here're some dates:
Shang Dynasty 1300 BC - 1046 BC
Zhou Dynasty 1046 BC - 256 BC)
Hi :D
Currently, the earliest full Hanfu garment that has been unearthed is from the Ma Wang Dui tomb, which dates to early West Han Dynasty (206 BC - 8 AD).
Tombs dating back to Shang and Zhou only contain pieces of garments that have decomposed, so we have to rely on statues/figures, and text records of what sort of clothing might've been worn.
For the Shang Dynasty, the writing system in China hadn't been full developed yet. The first Chinese characters appeared as pictographs carved onto animal bones and shells, called Oracle Bone Script (甲骨文), and these documented things like battles that took place, prophecies about harvest, etc., so there was little information about clothing.
From unearthed artefacts, it's possible that the garments from back then looked something like this:
(Images by 史小煮 on Weibo)
By the Zhou Dynasty Chinese characters had become more fully developed which allowed more robust records to be documented.
In the books Zhouli, Liji, and Yili (周礼, 礼记, 仪礼) it documents information about the types of clothing people should wear to conform to their appropriate stations (the Zhou Dynasty really set the foundation for a lot of the etiquette of Chinese culture, and also the governing system. Which person in what station should be responsible for, what they were permitted to wear, how many horses to a carriage the person in this station, etc. was all recorded in these books).
For example, it even documents the hat (冕/mian) that the Emperor (not yet called an Emperor back then, but I'll use that term to make it easier to understand) wore to different occasions:
I won't (can't) translate in detail but essentially it's listing out at what occasion the Emperor is supposed to wear which hat (ex. when worshipping the Heavens, when worshipping his ancestors, when attending court, etc.)
(This is written as classical Chinese (文言文), like...the Chinese version of Shakespearean English. Translating is a pain and my Chinese isn't great to begin with T__T)
The Song Dynasty artist, Nie Chongyi drew this using the text above:
We can also look at some statues/figures unearthed from the Zhou Dynasty for an idea of the clothing types during this period (keep in mind that theZhou Dynasty lasted about 800 years, split into West Zhou then East Zhou, so more than likely clothing also evolved during this period):
And just to finish up, I'll put a few pics from Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 207 BC) artefacts here to compare. We can see from the Qin artefacts the clothing starts resembling the Hanfu outfits found in the Ma Wang Dui tomb for early Han Dynasty:
[id: a young shepherd boy with brown skin and blond hair runs down a steep incline. he is surrounded by a herd of large white mountain goats. he is carrying a shepherd’s crook in one hand and a staff with a bell on it in the other. /end id]
Colorful Circuit Cities Built From Motherboards, Processors, and Microchips. Hellwig built these cityscapes last year using the guts of old MacBooks, IBMs, and even PlayStations that he scavenged from eBay and friends' basements.
Is someone gonna talk about the use of signage in yesterday's episode? Do I have to be the one to talk about the use of signage in yesterday's episode?
I know we all saw the billboard beside Choso displaying the abilities of his technique in tandem with the narrator, but there were so many more great uses of the signs in the background to convey information.
The first sign (and also one of the first shots) that we see in the episode is a Pedestrian Do Not Cross sign overlaid by the sound of Yuuji running, followed by Yuuji's shadow itself taking up the position of the pedestrian on the sign. You can read this as the sign telling Yuuji not to proceed to where he's going or as an indication of how the upcoming fight will end for the viewer.
The next sign that we get is one telling us to Go Left, which doesn't really seem important, but I promise you, it is. We'll see a lot of arrows pointing left throughout the episode and every single one of them is pointing away from danger. Go Left to avoid danger, essentially.
These two signs are arguably the most important in the episode, but they aren't the coolest use of visual symbolism that we got, so lets keep going.
The third sign that we see focused on in the episode is a No Running sign that Yuuji passes that says "Do Not Rush. It Is Dangerous." Yuuji, of course, runs past it on his way toward the escalators that lead (for him) to Gojo and (for the viewer) to Choso.
Once he does get to the bottom of the escalators, Yuuji is attacked by Choso immediately and Choso's opening move (Convergence), once Yuuji moves his arms up and away from his face, slices up through the subway cieling and the road above to cut the Pedestrian Do Not Cross sign that we saw at the beginning of the episode in half.
We also get out first big Left Arrow, placed immediately in the foreground of the shot and pointing toward the aforementioned sign that's been cut in half (this will be important later), but in a another view, it also points away from station itself. Again, go left to avoid danger.
Our next Left Arrow is on the ceiling between Yuuji, indicating that he should go away from Choso. Interestingly enough, it also points toward the bathrooms that Yuuji will go into later once his fight with Choso in the hallway becomes too dangerous.
That same arrow falls to the floor between them once Choso gets mad after Yuuji tells him about Eso and Kechizu crying, this time pointing directly away from Choso.
Another Left Arrow, this time in a more urgent red. We see this once Yuuji realizes that he's in serious danger, that he'll loose if he continues to fight Choso in the hallway. It's also pointing away from the bathrooms and toward the escalators from Yuuji's point of view beside the bathrooms, indicating that he needs to leave the area entirely.
The previous arrow pointing toward the bathrooms as a safe option has been destroyed and Yuuji has taken some serious damage by the time he moves toward them. The bathrooms are no longer safe. Yuuji needs to leave.
This is followed up by the only Right Arrows that we see focused on in the epsiode, but unlike the Left Arrows, they aren't used to convey how to get away from danger, but rather what is dangerous. Not only do these arrows all point toward Choso outside of the shot, they also have each of his techniques displayed below them.
Once the bathroom fight is over and Yuuji is on death's door, we get a zoomed out shot of his body framed by (two) people cut in half. This sign is shown right before Sukuna makes his only appearance in the episode, where we hear the sound of electricity flickering.
We heard this exact sound earlier from the Left Arrow telling Yuuji to get away from Choso at the beginning of the fight, but I like to interpret it as an audio indicator of Yuuji's life and/or control of Sukuna flickering in and out, becoming weaker.
Side Note: In the previous shot of Yuuji that we get before this one, we see a blade of light cutting Yuuji in half, the same way Convergence cut the Pedestrian Do Not Cross sign in half earlier in the episode. This will come into play later in the post, but keep it in mind.
The next time we see these bisected bathroom signs is when Mimiko and Nanako approach Yuuji to awaken Sukuna. Two people framing Yuuji/Sukuna that have been cut, while those same signs are whole in the hallway to the left. Go left to avoid danger applies to the girls here as well.
Our next important set of signs are actually the same sign, a large green arrow in the foreground that points away from where Yuuji's body is. While Choso stumbles away from it (away from Yuuji/Sukuna) the girls walk toward it.
This is also the first Left Arrow that we see point toward Choso, unlike the one pointing away from him at the beginning of his and Yuuji's fight. Choso, at this moment and onward, is no longer a source of danger to Yuuji or to us, the viewer.
And finally, the final shot of the entire episode, our old friend, the Pedestrian Do Not Cross sign. Yuuji has lost to Choso, the girls have found him to awaken Sukuna, and we get a focus shot of the Pedestrian that previously represented Yuuji cut in half and covered in blood.
I mentioned earlier that we get another shot of Yuuji cut in half by a ray of light in the bathroom.
Here is that shot, and the way that I interpret it is as a reminder that Yuuji shares his body. Yuuji's control of his body has been cut off in the same way that the Pedestrian representing Yuuji has had part of it cut away. What's left is the part that Yuuji can't control, the Pedestrian covered in blood.
Additionally, repeated use of a sign showing pedestrians cut in half and bloody can also represent the civilians in Shibuya, especially now that Yuuji no longer has control of his body.
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