nothing will ever measure up to lan xichen recognising nie mingjue without a head or nie mingjue recognising lan xichen just by the sound of him playing
⚖️ Lan Xichen made so many sacrifices and concessions for Lan Wangji because he loved him unconditionally and above all else
⚖️ This is a Huge Deal™️, and here’s why
⚖️ Spoilers ahead!
Some disclaimers before we begin:
I’ll be analyzing and explaining Lan Xichen’s actions against a socio-cultural backdrop
I’ll be referencing both novel and CQL canon in this analysis
Again, if this is your first foray into cultural meta, you may find my opinions jarring
This is a companion meta to my previous one on Shuoyue and Liebing
Ok so! I was recently talking to some friends about Lan Xichen, and about how he struggled to temper his love for Lan Wangji with his filial duty to his clan.
While Lan Xichen largely remains an immensely popular character in fandom, I’ve seen him labeled as “weak” and “spineless”, namely for:
Not standing at Lan Wangji’s side during the first siege of Burial Mounds, and taking 33 elders with him to “confront” his brother
Passively allowing Lan Wangji to endure 33 strokes of the discipline whip
If we strip this arc of its cultural context and situational relevance, and look at it solely from a modern, individualistic perspective, it would be easy for us to arrive at such conclusions.
However, just like any other story or media we consume, we would do well to consider it against the backdrop of:
Lan Xichen’s position as a clan leader, and his corresponding duty to his family and people
Lan Xichen’s position as a elder brother, and his own personal values
The collectivistic norms of martial/pugilistic environments, which largely drove how (a) misdeeds are traditionally defined, (b) punishments are usually meted out, and (c) love between family members is typically expressed
Lan Xichen the clan leader
As clan leader, Lan Xichen’s filial duty is first and foremost to his uncle, who is an elder, and by extension, to the clan and disciples under his care. The clan represents his ancestral heritage: it is his father’s legacy, passed on to him as the oldest son and heir. It is Lan Xichen’s lifeblood, and his duty. If he fails, the rest of the clan fails along with him.
Let’s examine Lan Xichen’s relationship to the concept of chiping 持平, in the context of being a clan leader.
What is 持平? I’d loosely translate it to “fairness” and “impartiality”, which are important values for a clan leader to have. I’ve written a little about 持平 here, in my analysis of Shuoyue and Liebing.
Lan Xichen embodies 持平 throughout the story. At many points, we find him stepping into a mediating role, attempting to find the middle ground and maintain the balance between the various agents and events in his life:
He frequently mediated between his brother and uncle, and served as a confidante for both
He acted as a go-between for his sworn brothers, and did his best to ease the friction between them
To many people who already know the full story of mdzs, 持平 may look a lot like passivity and weakness, especially in hindsight. However, given Lan Xichen’s position as a prominent clan leader in a guzhuang context, I’d argue it’s actually a strength, a mark of wisdom. It’s an imperative to stay moderate and reserve judgement based on personal feelings, in order to ensure the best possible outcome for family, clan, and society.
Why 持平?
For the broader context, let’s look at the example of Justice Bao 包青天. Justice Bao was a magistrate during the Song Dynasty who was famous for his embodiment of fairness and honesty. He did not show favoritism to close associates and family. He disdained corruption, even sentencing his own uncle and people from many powerful families in the name of justice.
Many Chinese people who are leaders, ancient and modern alike, strive to the ideal of Justice Bao. Lan Xichen was no exception. In his capacity as a clan leader, he had always intended to be fair to everyone, in taking his time to investigate carefully, and ultimately, judging with impartiality.
I cover this a little in my speech patterns meta, where he discusses the allegations against Jin Guangyao with Lan Wangji (refer to the section on Lan Xichen).
Also, on a deeply personal level, Lan Xichen had witnessed firsthand the effects of his own father’s selfish individualism against the wider collective. His father had neglected his duties as a leader and single-handedly ruined a host of lives and relationships. If not for Lan Qiren’s steady guiding presence at the helm, Gusu Lan would have fallen to ruin in the years following Lan Xichen’s birth.
I elaborate about this in my 3zun meta (see section on Lan Xichen’s personal reasons for wanting to join in brotherhood with Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao), in the context of him playing the role of peacemaker for his sworn brothers.
This is precisely why 持平 was so important to Lan Xichen — it was his calling to help his clan avoid the mistakes of the past by keeping things in orderly balance. He saw it as instrumental in preserving the longevity, stability, and good reputation of the clan.
Lan Xichen the elder sibling
Now, let’s look at Lan Xichen as a brother.
By right, Lan Xichen should never have let his love or partiality towards his brother affect any decisions related to the clan. Hierarchically speaking, Lan Wangji’s position was much less important than Lan Xichen’s. As a filial younger sibling and a loyal subordinate, it was expected of Lan Wangji to wholeheartedly serve his brother in his governance.
As we know, Lan Xichen’s personal values included giving his loved ones the benefit of the doubt, and weighing current actions against what he knew of their past intentions.
Did he take it too far with Lan Wangji, and also much later, with Jin Guangyao?
Objectively speaking, he most definitely did.
Here’s where Lan Xichen had one of his greatest struggles with 持平. Even given the severity of Lan Wangji’s crimes at Burial Mounds, Lan Xichen still tried his best to be fair. He looked at Lan Wangji and judged him based on what he knew of him in the twenty or so years they had been siblings. In doing so, he allowed his personal feelings to interfere with the course of justice.
At this point, Lan Xichen’s values as a clan leader came into conflict with his personal values, and 持平 devolved into maodun 矛盾.
矛盾, very loosely speaking, represents a spear 矛 striking against a shield 盾: an impasse, a clash of ideals, neither element overpowering the other and giving way for a clear victory. More abstractly speaking, it refers to a contradiction of the heart and mind, and a convergence of conflicting intentions. 矛盾 generally has a negative connotation — it implies an inner struggle at the most fundamental level.
For reference, let’s recap this exchange in CQL episode 21 (paras 227 and 228).
And again, in CQL episode 43 (para 450).
We see him readily acknowledge in the conversations above that there are nuances between good and bad, and that it’s not often easy to make a good decision, judgement-wise.
In the face of 矛盾, Lan Xichen ended up compromising on both his clan’s values and his personal ones, in particular where the discipline whip was concerned. More on this later!
The norms of the cultivation jianghu
Let’s now go into what was typical in the cultivation jianghu given the setting of the story and the time period.
How misdeeds are traditionally defined
The fabric of jianghu society was largely a collectivistic one. The needs of the many would usually always outweigh the needs of the one. People, places, and events existed in a delicate, harmonious balance, upheld only by a fragile latticework of unwritten moral codes.
I’ve previously written a little about crime and punishment in the jianghu here.
Family units and cultivation/martial sects/clans were therefore the building blocks of duty and loyalty. Anyone found to be breaking the rules of their cultivation clan or martial sect would be seen as disrupting the norm, and creating a ripple effect on the rest of society. In a collective sense, all it means that actions have repercussions, and this reflects not only on the failings of the individual, but also on the elders of the clan and the family name. To this end, fundamental rule-breaking was regarded as unfilial, an ultimate act of ingratitude and betrayal.
Lan Wangji’s actions at Burial Mounds (and by association, Wei Wuxian’s) ran parallel to all societal and familial expectations. As fans of the story, we know that Wei Wuxian had a very good reason for taking up demonic cultivation, and that Lan Wangji, correspondingly, had very good reasons for staying at his side.
But the upshot of it is this — to Lan Xichen (and to Lan Qiren, and to almost everyone else), Lan Wangji was acting with extreme callousness and disdain for his clan’s values and teachings. To them, it appeared that he was placing only romantic love, which was considered a particularly selfish and individualistic sort of love, above his reverence and filial duty to Gusu Lan.
In a Confucian context, this is a particularly serious transgression. It is the very embodiment of 忘恩负义, or, loosely, “ingratitude”, i.e. turning one’s back on all morality or teachings.
How punishments are usually meted out
Traditionally, for a crime as severe as Lan Wangji’s (betrayal in wounding his elders and refusing to stand with his clan against Wei Wuxian), the punishment had to be commensurate with the misdeed. In an wuxia context, it would definitely have involved one or both of the following:
Banishment or disownment: if meted out to Lan Wangji, this would have been devastating in the extreme. The stripping of titles and family name would have effectively severed his ancestral ties to the clan, forcing him to lead the rest of his life as an outcast and a nobody. Being cast out of the collective is a terrifying prospect for many Chinese people, even in modern times. It represents the threat of losing one’s identity, legacy, and connection to history.
Removal of spiritual/martial abilities: in wuxia, this normally involves the sealing of meridians by a senior master to prevent the culprit from causing harm to others ever again. With one stroke, they would lose all abilities and become an ordinary person. In the context of xianxia, and especially in the world of mdzs, I’d imagine it as equivalent to a golden core removal, or a permanent sealing of spiritual energy. Had Lan Wangji received this punishment, he would never have been able to fight, ride on his sword, or perform musical cultivation ever again.
Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren loved Lan Wangji far too much to subject him to either of these two punishments. As such, they compromised, by settling on the discipline whip instead.
So, why the discipline whip 戒鞭?
First, let’s look at what the discipline whip represents. 戒 is a term that has its roots in Buddhism. It refers to “rules” or, more abstractly, moral commandments. Every clan has its own rules, and the discipline whip serves the purpose of punishing the disciples who break them 破戒. Wounds from a discipline whip can last a lifetime.
I’ve previously written a little about 戒鞭 in my critique of CQL episode 17 (para 178).
Each stroke of the discipline whip represents failure, and a reflection of it. In Lan Wangji’s case, it represented his failure to learn and thoroughly internalize his clan’s rules and values.
In Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren’s case, it represented their failure, as his elders, to instruct him. There is a saying in the 三字经 “Three Character Classic” which many Chinese children learn in school:
养不教，父之过。教不严，师之惰。
“To raise without teaching is the father’s oversight. To teach without strictness is the master’s laziness.”
(translation by me)
From Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren’s perspective, they had done Lan Wangji a great disservice by failing to instill proper values in him. Against the natural order of things, they had selfishly let their love for him take precedence over the necessary — severity and discipline.
And even then! Even against tradition, and knowing the hand they had to play in this, they still chose their own love for Lan Wangji above all else. This is the compromise I spoke of earlier: the breaking of their own family rules and the subverting of jianghu norms, all to keep Lan Wangji whole and close to the family.
Lan Wangji’s whipping was also an opportunity for Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren to reflect on their own mistakes and shortcomings. Each blow that landed on Lan Wangji’s body was equivalent to a blow on their own — they shared his pain, all while understanding that it was absolutely necessary for all three of them.
In other words, whipping Lan Wangji hurt their hearts as much as it hurt him. After all, he was their own flesh and blood.
One other advantage of using the discipline whip was the extent of the scars it would eventually leave behind. The scars represented transgressions and the burden of memory. Lan Xichen would always look at his brother’s scars as a cautionary tale; a reminder of his own failure as a brother and as an elder. In a similar vein, because he loved Lan Wangji, he also hoped that he would look to them as a lesson to carry forward into the future.
Finally, there is an added layer here, of punishment in the context of love. The choice of the discipline whip over disownment or disablement meant that Lan Wangji was not completely irredeemable in Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren’s eyes. The prospect of condemning him as a lost cause was absolutely abhorrent to them. This was the extent of their love — that no matter what he had done, they still accepted him, and absolutely wanted to continue believing in him.
How love is typically expressed between family members
Compared to some of the other sibling pairs in the story, Lan Xichen’s love for Lan Wangji is expressed very differently. We don’t see him rushing to take a blade for Lan Wangji in combat (even though we all know he absolutely would), or ditching the trappings of his lofty position to physically stand by Lan Wangji’s side at Burial Mounds. However, this doesn’t mean that he loves Lan Wangji any less.
Lan Xichen made concession after concession for Lan Wangji. He broke the central ideal of 持平 and let his personal feelings dominate when making decisions about his brother. He put his reputation on the line for Lan Wangji many times in the story.
Some might argue that reputation and personal values are intangible, and that their sacrifice pales in comparison to grandiose gestures such as the golden core transplant.
But, as explained earlier, the magnitude of Lan Xichen’s sacrifices for Lan Wangji had the potential to negatively impact both Gusu Lan and the wider society at large, owing to his position.
What do I mean by this? Here are some examples.
Instead of leading a general charge to Burial Mounds to apprehend Lan Wangji, as would be expected of someone in a high-ranking, impartial position, Lan Xichen went against the grain and personally handpicked 33 elders who held Lan Wangji in high regard. He was hoping for a personal conversation and a peaceful negotiation between respected equals, and not bloodshed. Note that had he indeed intended to forcefully subdue Lan Wangji, he would not have bothered to handpick anyone. Lan Wangji was already wounded and low on spiritual energy, and a large contingent comprising the best cultivators across all clans would have been adequate to overpower him. Lan Xichen feared the impact on Lan Wangji’s reputation, more so than even his own. That was why he chose only people from his own clan, and invited no one else. It was a risky operation — if anyone from outside the Lan clan had discovered that Lan Xichen had acted with such partiality, it would have been disastrous for the name of Gusu Lan. Lan Xichen would have been harshly judged for his favoritism. He would have been branded a war criminal and a traitor alongside his brother and Wei Wuxian, and the name of Gusu Lan would have been irreparably sullied for generations to come.
Even after Lan Wangji wounded the elders, Lan Xichen still opted for the discipline whip punishment. This allowed him to contain the matter within his household and handle it as domestically and as privately as possible. If someone like Nie Mingjue, for example, had happened to find out the truth, that person would probably have made it a collective problem by publicly demanding Lan Wangji’s disownment or execution, for aiding and abetting Wei Wuxian. This was yet another sacrifice Lan Xichen made for Lan Wangji: in a symbolic sense, he stood in a defensive position between Lan Wangji and the rest of the cultivation world.
Post-Jinlintai, in a highly unorthodox move, Lan Xichen allowed Wei Wuxian to remain at Cloud Recesses. Despite Lan Wangji’s past actions at Buyetian and his distrust of Jin Guangyao following the events in the Jins’ treasure room, Lan Xichen still respected his brother’s judgement and kept him in high regard. This was how Lan Xichen expressed one of the highest forms of love — in his gracefulness and openness towards Lan Wangji, and in his willingness to keep faith in him, even in the trickiest and most confusing of circumstances. Once again, he was putting his own reputation on the line. Everyone in Jinlintai had been baying for Wei Wuxian’s blood, and had Lan Xichen been discovered to be harboring Wei Wuxian at his ancestral home, Gusu Lan would have had to contend with severe backlash from the rest of the cultivation world.
Final thoughts
While Lan Xichen certainly had his flaws and errors in judgement in the story, it’s not an altogether straightforward matter to declare him as “weak” and “spineless”. Like many of the other older siblings in the story, Lan Xichen loved his brother and was equally, if not more, prepared to face backlash on his behalf. However, he appears to have had an easier time of it, and that’s only because he was fortunate that his cover-ups were not discovered by anyone outside of his immediate family.
孰正孰邪 孰黑孰白 (“who is good and who is evil / who is black and who is white”), as expressed in CQL, is an important and critical question to ponder when evaluating a character’s motivation — not just for mdzs, but for any literature or media we consume. We would always do well to consider the broader picture behind the dichotomy of right and wrong, and account for nuances and what is known to each character at the time.
And, for Lan Xichen in particular, the best way to do him justice is to judge his actions fully within his socio-cultural context, and be wary of using an overly modern or individualistic lens.
Nie Mingjue: I’m a moderate, peaceful man.
Lan Xichen: Just yesterday, you threw a chair at A-Yao.
Nie Mingjue: That was a moderate, peaceful compromise from the table I was going to throw at him.
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