Seven Seas Chinese Danmei novels, Notes Masterlist
Some of my favorite books, especially, The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, The Husky and His White Cat Shizun, Stars of Chaos, and Guardian, are now officially in English! Thank you, Seven Seas.
These notes are here to help friends who may not speak Chinese or have enough Chinese cultural background to understand the nuances presented in these works, or are just getting confused with all the different terms of address.
Please forgive me if I have missed anything, and dm or comment if you have anything to add!
魔道祖师 Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
by MXTX
二哈和他的白猫师尊 The Husky and His White Cat ShiZun
by Meatbun 肉包不吃肉 (Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou)
Usage of the word "Master" vs "Teacher"
How to pronounce people's names (bc it does NOT follow the rules of English pronunciation)
And I don't just mean "oh, my little work mistake is actually nothing compared to a fiery crash that kills people," either. The reason commercial flight is so many orders of magnitude safer than any other form of transportation is because after every accident and incident, an independent regulatory body investigated it with the express goal of figuring out exactly what happened, why, and how to prevent the same thing from ever happening again—not to root out which person deserved the blame or the liability.
It's a simple, shockingly effective idea. It's also worlds away from how most people approach their own mistakes and the mistakes of others.
Because it’s never just one person’s fault. And even when it is, it still isn’t.
The sharpest, best-trained pilots make worse decisions when they're tired or sick or stressed out, so there's two of them. The most dedicated and experienced air traffic controllers garble an instruction over the radio sometimes, so pilots are trained to always repeat clearances back to catch misunderstandings quickly. The best and brightest maintenance mechanic still overlooks a screw or misconnects a wire once or twice in her career, so aircraft systems are built with two or three or four layers of redundancy, and pilots are exhaustively trained to deal with failures safely.
Everyone eventually has a bad day. Every component breaks down. Every computer gets a bad a Windows update and spirals into a reboot doom loop. If it’s possible for one person’s mistake to domino into a mushroom cloud of a fuckup, then that task is too critical to be one person's sole responsibility. The accident sequence starts with the design of the system—so how do you improve the system to keep it from happening again?
oh yeah. The “modern commercial aviation is the safest form of transport” thing only applies to planes, btw. A helicopter is a beautiful metal horse that wants to break its legs and die so so so badly
“If it’s possible for one person’s mistake to domino into a mushroom cloud of a fuckup, then that task is too critical to be one person's sole responsibility.”
a deviation from my normal TL style! for reasons i will get into below ^^
楼台/Butterfly Lovers is really queer. stating that off the bat. it’s one of mine and @dezsignpazsion’s favourite zs duets and i said that i would translate it ✋ then i looked through the lyrics more closely and realised i’d been had (sob) played for a fool (sob) like the clown i am (sob)....... this song! not easy. a lot of extra reading. and i knew immediately that at the very least i should read 梁山伯与祝英台/Butterfly Lovers before starting, so my first step was to do so. you can find it here as well! in this post, i’ll also be going through the novel/poetry/etc references that you can find in the lyrics + offering some of my notes on the song.
楼台 (‘pavilion’) references chapter 14 of the novel, 楼台会 (Meeting at the Pavilion); in the chapter, Zhu Yingtai and Liang Shanbo reunite some time after he had sent her off from their school in Hangzhou. Liang Shanbo, having realised that she was a girl, arrives at the Zhu residence with the intention of proposing; Zhu Yingtai faces him, in female dress for the first time, with the news that her parents have betrothed her to Ma Wencai.
Liang Shanbo is not quite as chill about the pavilion gender reveal in 楼台. he, having fallen in love with the male Zhu Yingtai, cannot consolidate the man he knew with the woman she is— Zhu Yingtai becomes increasingly desperate to get through to him as the song progresses.
当年结拜 羞涩的神采
that year, we swore brotherhood / a bashful, sprouting bud
今日楼台 看你红妆粉黛
and today, in the pavilion / in a woman’s dress you stood
约定去未来 翩翩少年如雪白
the future, wherever, we said we’d go / two young men like fresh white snow
你写意山水蓬莱 我琴声飘云外
you freehand Penglai, right and good / and the clouds hear my qin from below
-> 蓬莱 (peng2lai2): fabled abode of immortals (wiki / baidu)
痴痴情爱（痴痴情爱）
madly in love (madly in love)
我心如松柏（痴痴等你来）
my heart, evergreen (madly awaiting you)
曾经沧海（朝暮三载）
unstirred by but one flower (morning, evening, three whole years)
任林中百花开（冬雷夏雨雪）
however many bloom between (winters thunder, summers snow)
我心如松柏 (my heart, evergreen) @ 《子夜四时歌·渊冰厚三尺》(南北朝佚名创作的作品 / an anonymous work from the Southern and Northern Dynasties, baidu):
渊冰厚三尺，素雪覆千里。我心如松柏，君情复何似？
The pool’s ice has frozen a metre thick and white snow blankets all around. My heart is evergreen, but what is yours?
冬雷夏雨雪 (winters thunder, summers snow) @《上邪》 (汉代乐府民歌 / a yuefu (wiki) from the Han dynasty, baidu):
山无陵，江水为竭。冬雷震震，夏雨雪。天地合，乃敢与君绝 。
Only if the mountains flatten, if the oceans dry— if the winters thunder, if the summers snow— only if the sky and earth unite, will I let go of my feelings for you.
while Liang Shanbo of the studying arc dreams of a singular flower, Zhu Yingtai insists on the strength of her love. zs affects a pleading tone to a discordant effect: there is a disconnect between Liang Shanbo’s tentative daydream and Zhu Yingtai’s desperation, emphasising the disconnect that is Liang Shanbo venerating their past (and the ‘man’ he knew) while Zhu Yingtai worries about their present.
你是祝英台
you are Zhu Yingtai
偏偏要改了穿戴（偏偏我改了穿戴）
you’ve but changed from pants to gown (i’ve but changed from pants to gown)
那个缠绵的男孩
that dewey-eyed young man
换成凤冠裙摆（不爱凤冠裙摆）
dons a graceful bridal crown (hates this graceful bridal crown)
-> 凤冠 (feng2guan1): phoenix coronet [...] used formerly as a bride’s headdress (wiki / baidu)
我不知 竟不知（我不是）
i didn’t know / somehow, i didn’t know (i am not)
你是深闺中的女子（藏在深闺中的女子）
that you were a boudoir-bound woman (some boudoir-bound woman)
满屋诗 空胭脂（观音祠 樵夫痴）
our room of books / your rogueless face (Guanyin temple / woodcutter’s way)
娥眉淡淡藏心事（我苦苦暗示）
hiding your worries from attention (my every hint and pun)
深闺中的女子 (boudoir-bound woman) @ 《别亲》（越剧《梁山伯与祝英台》第一场 / the first act of the Butterfly Lovers Shaoxing opera):
祝公远：她是祝府千金女，应该是描龙绣凤在闺门。
Zhu Gongyuan: She is the Zhu household’s only daughter, and should carry out her work in the boudoir.
i think Liang Shanbo’s echoing of Zhu Gongyuan (Zhu Yingtai’s father)’s words is uhhh really interesting!! because she was quite obviously not a boudoir-bound woman of any sort… if Liang Shanbo can’t accept that the man he loved was actually a woman to the point of mischaracterising her entirely, you can really understand her frustration with my every hint and pun.
观音祠 樵夫痴 (Guanyin temple / woodcutter’s way) @ 《十八相送》 (越剧《梁山伯与祝英台》经典唱段 / a famous aria from the Butterfly Lovers Shaoxing opera, wiki / baidu):
祝英台唱道：出了城，过了关，但只见山上的樵夫把柴担。
梁山伯：起早落夜多辛苦，打柴度日也艰难。
祝英台：梁兄啊！他为何人把柴担？你为哪个送下山？
梁山伯：他为妻儿把柴担，我为你贤弟送下山。
[...]
梁山伯：离了井，又一堂，前面到了观音堂，观音堂，观音堂，送子观音坐上方。
祝英台：观音大士媒来做，我与你梁兄来拜堂。
梁山伯：贤弟越说越荒唐，两个男子怎拜堂？
Zhu Yingtai: We’ve gone out of the city and through the gates, but I’ve only seen one man— hauling firewood up on the mountain..
Liang Shanbo: Toiling dawn to dusk, gathering firewood. Such a hard life!
Zhu Yingtai: Liang-xiong! Who does he gather firewood for? And who are you bringing down the mountain?
Liang Shanbo: He gathers firewood for his wife. And I, I’m bringing you down the mountain.
[...]
Liang Shanbo: Past the well, just a bit further— Guanyin temple!
Zhu Yingtai: You can get married there— Liang-xiong, let’s go!
Liang Shanbo: Nonsense! Two men, getting married?
+ Chapter 9 of the novel (十八里长亭相送 / Eighteen-li Sendoff):
祝英台指着卖柴的道：“哦！他是为家小出来奔走的。梁兄，这奔走和你一样呀。”
梁山伯摇摇头道：“不一样，不一样！挑柴的为了家中有妻子，要吃要穿，我是为贤弟送行呀！”
Zhu Yingtai pointed at the man selling firewood and said: “Oh! He’s out working for his wife and child. Just like you, Liang-xiong!”
Liang Shanbo shook his head. “No way! Not the same! He’s out selling firewood to support his family, but I’m here sending you home.”
Zhu Yingtai isn’t exaggerating; she dropped every hint/made every pun she could. it was in equal parts funny and exasperating to read. in the novel, Liang Shanbo’s obstinance was a product of his kind nature; in 楼台’s context, it can be read as a product of him having fallen in love with the male Zhu Yingtai— not the female one. personally, i like Zhu Yingtai’s use of 痴 (chi1, idiotic or crazy abt someone) here! it breaks my heart a little haha because as much as Liang Shanbo loved her (‘him’), she loved him back as much if not more.
你不是 你不是（我如何不是）
you are not / you are not (how could i not be?)
三年同窗明月修辞（难道光阴虚掷）
my classmate of three years’ moonlit learning (was it all for nothing?)
从此窗棂檐角相思（我夜夜相思）
from now on, the eaves sigh lovesick (every night, i’m lovesick)
他已消失 不留一字（山伯未迟 错订盟誓）
for he’s already gone / without warning (not your fault for being late / but mine for promising)
@ Chapter 9 of the novel (十八里长亭相送 / Eighteen-li Sendoff), Zhu Yingtai tells Liang Shanbo that ‘he’ has a sister, Jiu-mei (九妹), and promises to introduce them so they can marry. in 楼台, i think this promise only added insult to injury when the truth was revealed 😅
当年结拜（当年结拜）
that year, we swore brotherhood (that year, we swore brotherhood)
我心如松柏（羞涩的神采）
my heart, evergreen (a bashful, sprouting bud)
今日楼台（今日楼台）
and today, in the pavilion (and today, in the pavilion)
看你红妆粉黛（天地沉入海）
in a woman’s dress you stood (the sky and earth, one)
天地沉入海 (the sky and earth, one) @ 《上邪》, once again! what was once Zhu Yingtai’s insistence on the strength of her love is now a sign of her suffocating despair; with the sky and earth having united, will she give up her feelings? her and Liang Shanbo’s division is represented structurally by zs and zq singing in canon, contrasting the first stanza of the song which this stanza is supposed to mirror. in terms of rhyme scheme, i still had this stanza match the first one (AABA CCBC) as it’s the start of the second verse.
你是祝英台
you are Zhu Yingtai
翩翩少年如雪白（哪来少年如雪白）
a young man like fresh white snow (what young man like fresh white snow?)
我不曾退隐蓬莱（你不曾退隐蓬莱）
i won’t retire to Penglai (you won’t retire to Penglai)
你却换凤冠裙摆（我不换凤冠裙摆）
and still, you don a graceful bridal crown (i won’t don this graceful bridal crown)
我不知 竟不知（我是）
i didn’t know / somehow, i didn’t know (i am)
你是深闺中的女子（藏在深闺中的女子）
that you were a boudoir-bound woman (some boudoir-bound woman)
满屋诗 空胭脂（鹊桥织 鸳鸯池）
our room of books / your rogueless face (magpie bridge / lovebird pond)
娥眉淡淡藏心事（我苦苦暗示）
hiding your worries from attention (my every hint and pun)
鹊桥织 鸳鸯池 (magpie bridge / lovebird pond) @ 《楼台会》 (越剧《梁山伯与祝英台》第八场 / the fourth act of the Butterfly Lovers Shaoxing opera):
祝英台：可记得比作鸳鸯成双对，可记得牛郎织女把鹊桥会。
Zhu Yingtai: Remember that we were like a pair of mandarin ducks, remember that the cowherd and weaver girl reunited on a magpie bridge.
mandarin ducks (鸳鸯; yuan1yang) figuratively refer to an affectionate couple (lovebirds) (more on this later!). both in the play and song, she pleads with Liang Shanbo to remember their love.
interestingly, among Zhu Yingtai’s possessions is a bowl-shaped steel statue of a pair of male and female mandarin ducks; she leaves it to Liang Shanbo when she is summoned home from Hangzhou by her parents. Chapter 8 (师母为冰人 / Shi-mu Plays Matchmaker):
祝英台用手摸摸那鸳鸯的扁嘴，摇摇他的翎毛，两只鸳鸯的形势，差不多挤到一处去。她又用一只手，在两只鸳鸯背上盖着。便道：“不，这鸳鸯的形势，有点像兄的境遇，弟若去后，将这对鸳鸯天天抚摸，也许抚摸得出所以然来。”
Zhu Yingtai stroked one mandarin duck’s beak, shaking its plumes. The two ducks’ shapes were so close together that they were almost one. She then used a hand to cover their backs, and said: “No, the ducks’ situation is sort of like ours. Once I’ve gone, stroke them often— maybe you’ll find out why.”
Liang Shanbo accepts the gift, but admits that he has no idea what she’s talking about otherwise; by bringing up the ducks, 楼台’s Zhu Yingtai reminds Liang Shanbo that not only did she try to tell him that she was a girl, but also that the male and female versions of her were not as different as he was making them out to be. simultaneously, she worries for herself: with the prospect of a happy marriage retreating further and further away, she wonders who will weave a Magpie bridge for her.
Zhu Yingtai refers to herself as a ‘weak, boudoir-bound girl (深闺弱女)’ exactly once in the book. Chapter 19 (忽然坐船可以走 / Sudden Agreement to Marriage):
祝公远还是摇摇摆摆在房里踱慢步。一回头看见祝英台，便带了笑容道：“恭喜我儿，贺喜我儿！”
祝英台就站定了，问道：“儿一深闺弱女，有何喜可贺？”
Zhu Gongyuan swaggered slowly around the room. Looking back at Zhu Yingtai, he smiled: "Congratulations, my daughter, congratulations!”
Zhu Yingtai paused. She asked, “Your daughter is a weak, boudoir-bound girl. What’s there to congratulate?”
Zhu Gongyuan (Zhu Yingtai’s father) is congratulating Zhu Yingtai on her marriage into the Ma family, which he arranged against her will. Zhu Yingtai’s statement of her boudoir-bound status, although spiteful, is also true of her behaviour: by chapter 19, Liang Shanbo has already died and the grief-stricken Zhu Yingtai has spent the last few months holed up in her study.
with the change of Zhu Yingtai’s line from 不是 in the first chorus to 是 in the second, you could say that Zhu Yingtai’s POV takes place after Liang Shanbo’s death, beyond the grave as they wait for the moment of their reincarnation into butterflies.
你不是 你不是（我如何不是）
you are not / you are not (how could i not be?)
三年同窗明月修辞（难道光阴虚掷）
my classmate of three years’ moonlit learning (was it all for nothing?)
从此窗棂檐角相思（我夜夜相思）
from now on, the eaves sigh lovesick (every night, i’m lovesick)
他已消失 不留一字（错订盟誓）
and he’s already gone / without warning (my fault for promising)
我不知 竟不知（春去冬至）
i didn't know / somehow, i didn’t know (spring's gone, snow's here)
你愿化蝶轻言生死（蝴蝶几日生死）
you want wings / saying life and death all easy (butterflies live only a short whirl)
早与迟 虚与实（既相识 又相知）
too soon, too late / the real and fake (from acquainted / to intimate)
无关谁家贵公子（何必辨雄雌）
whoever your husband may soon be (why quarrel boy or girl?)
你不是 你不是（我如何不是）
you are not / you are not (how could i not be?)
十八里路绵绵情丝（伴你蒲苇磐石）
he of that send-off’s gentle yearning (i’d be a rock, pampas grass waving)
从此窗棂檐角相思（我夜夜相思）
from now on, the eaves sigh lovesick (every night, i’m lovesick)
他已消失 不留一字（山伯未迟 蝶已展翅）
for he’s already gone / without warning (not your fault for being late / but our wings are spreading)
伴你蒲苇磐石 (i’d be a rock, pampas grass waving) @ 《孔雀东南飞》 (汉代乐府诗作 / The Peacock Flies Southeast, a yuefu from the Han dynasty, wiki / baidu):
君当作磐石，妾当作蒲苇，蒲苇纫如丝，磐石无转移。
You are a rock and I am pampas grass; untiring pampas grass, an unmoving rock.
《孔雀东南飞》 (The Peacock Flies Southeast) is the tragic romance of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing, ending in the fulfilment of their suicide pact and their subsequent reincarnation as mandarin ducks. the parallels between them and liangzhu are pretty plain ^^ what i like about the line, though, is how zs sings it. that's despair babey.. Zhu Yingtai can no longer see a future where they can be happy together as they are! and their only option for a happy ending is the one they chose— reincarnation.
从此蝴蝶忘了旧事（忘了旧事）
for now, the butterflies have forgotten what’s long over (what’s long over)
传奇故事
as for the legend…
各执一词
to each their own
so 楼台 ends with liangzhu’s only option, and the story’s only end. have they resolved any of their issues? i like to think the reincarnation meant that they loved each other, despite everything, but that’s because their relationship means a lot to me after reading Butterfly Lovers itself. i would love to hear what everyone thinks!!!
楼台 is a very unique song of the zs catalogue; as an older one (8 years old this year!), i don’t see him performing it again anytime soon 😓😓 maybe if it got really popular on dy like 云裳羽衣曲 did (and 瞳 seems to be doing)? zs did sing it a couple times during 深空间, though! here’s one with zq and here’s a solo (!!).
this TL was a lot of work on every front, so it means a lot to me. thanks for reading!!!!
I just watched the Accented Cinema video essay on Butterfly Lovers. I feel like listeners ought to see, or at least know, some or all of the versions to really appreciate this song.
Accented Cinema:
And, for those who can understand Chinese, the righteous 1963 musical:
The updated English translation does add many thoughts and considerations about how ZYL finally realizes that SW has loved him for countless lifetimes, but I liked the "gouge their eyes out!" too.
It's all good. Just different. And I had strong memories of SW's reaction to ZYL's offer to play in the car, so I had to share.
如果不是赵云澜大手大脚、喜新厌旧的败家毛病，
The phrase大手大脚 looks similar to 笨手笨脚 and 大头虾, both of which mean "clumsy," but 大手大脚 actually means "extravagant (idiom); to throw away money by the handful / wasteful" (mdbg.net)
ZYL is not and never will be clumsy.
The Chinese is 抓出来 = grab and pull out, which I understood in Chinese much better than "evict" because the Immortal Bowl had left ZYL's father's immediate consciousness; it's just that ZYL had not trapped the Immortal Bowl in one of his little glass jars (had not grabbed and pulled out and subsequently trapped the Bowl) and so ZYL had no way to guarantee that the Bowl would not take over his dad again.
...整个人好像给气·枪打了, 圆了一大圈,...
This translation is totally accurate. I just hadn't expected those words in that order outside of a Harry Potter fic.
They are just saying that Lin Jing had eaten a lot and gotten very fat in the last few weeks. He went from a size M to a size L.
Remember in Book 2, page 250? I went over it in my Vol 2 post:
But he can't just kneel. The offending man must kneel on 留恋键盘搓衣板 durian (the hard pokey outer shell, not the soft yummy inside), keyboard, or washboard -- you know, pokey hurty things that make kneeling a much less pleasant experience. To really show their remorse.
People just update the old "durian keyboard washboard" combo by adding "motherboard" cuz they are all tech-savvy modern people who can build their own computers and have spare motherboards lying around?
No one speaks so disrepectfully of Shen Wei / Soul-Executing Emissary. What she said (in the old online version) is
“他分明是故意勾引你，He obviously seduced on purpose,
故意欲拒还迎，strung you along and played hard to get on purpose,
故意吊你胃口，baited you on purpose ( 胃口=appetite, liking; so the whole phrase is more similar to "he whet your appetite"; "he put your favorite thing in front of you to bait you in"...)
That last line... I just don't think it's supposed to be as vulgar as this translation makes it out to be.
“内人大于等于二就出作风问题了。”
"If the number of insiders is more than 2, then there is a problem with your style."
No it's not. It's his 筋 -- his tendon.
This little exchange, "Do you know what this is?" Shake head. "It's my spine，" never happened in the old online version. I don't know why Priest added it for the English.
"...sending you off" is 送你。 In Chinese, in Chinese culture, when guests are leaving, it's polite and respectful to walk people to the doorway, or to the gate, or to their car, or to their home; to wherever fits their status and yours.
But sometimes you're busy and you can't walk your guest out, so you say "不送了！” and hope that they accept that as an acknowledgement that you wish you could spend more time with them, but you're all good friends and understand each other and don't have to stand on ceremony.
Or, you say 不送了 to casually (rudely) dismiss someone of much lower status.
gravity-defying speed = escape velocity = super fast.
神农说：“是天生。”
天生 = birthed by the heavens = natural order.
So... you can interpret Shen Nong's words as "it's natural" or as "they were birthed by the heavens." :)
A big section of the old online version got cut out here :( Lemme give you a little bit of it, since this is one of favorite exchanges:
SW shut his mouth. He felt like he was always waiting for ZYL to condemn him with "I don't want to see you again," but the condemnation never came. It was like holding on to a little blade of grass for dear life while hanging over a cliff -- beg to be saved but you aren't saved, and you can't beg to die. (This is a very bad translation that I'm giving you, btw. ）
赵云澜一眼瞥见, 忽然说：“沈巍, 其实人生最大的痛苦, 你知道是什么吗？”
ZYL looked at him out of the side of his eye, and suddenly said, "SW, actually, one of life's great sufferings, do you know what it is?"
"It's when you marry a difficult and shameless wife, whose brain has too many thoughts, three legs couldn't kick out a... (cough), In summary, eventually his infinitely-layered ideas will make it so you can't figure out which way is north." ("can't find north" = "confused")
沈巍：“……”
SW: "......"
赵云澜：“没错我说的就是你，我现在就非常找不着北。”
ZYL: "That's right, I'm talking about you. Right now I have no idea which way is north."
<3
"Shenron" is supposed to be 神龙 = heavenly dragon.
Top: I think Lin Jing is tied to the rock, not actually stranded on top of a tall rock. "...get me off this stupid rock..." may be easier to understand?
Bottom: actually, 林静哑然片刻，干巴巴地说：“吓、吓尿了。” Lin Jing was mute for a moment, then stuttered out: "So...so scared I peed."
影 conveniently means both "shadow" and "reflection." GCC saw a Reflection. CSZ thought he meant "Shadow."
It's a 短笛, a short bamboo (or bone) flute. He's not about to bust out chamber music or play a little jig.
"We might not get along" is 相克 = restrain/subdue each other; as in, that thing might not be something that SW can actually win against, but it probably can't win against him, either.
"Let's forget everything else" is 别的东西就算了， which I think means "let's focus on what's important here".
"old bug“ = snake. The character for Snake 蛇 has the radical 虫 bug.
“沈老师这种浓眉大眼的,怎么也能叛变革命? !”
"Professor Shen with his bold eyebrows and big eyes, how could he betray us!?"
a deviation from my normal TL style! for reasons i will get into below ^^
楼台/Butterfly Lovers is really queer. stating that off the bat. it’s one of mine and @dezsignpazsion’s favourite zs duets and i said that i would translate it ✋ then i looked through the lyrics more closely and realised i’d been had (sob) played for a fool (sob) like the clown i am (sob)....... this song! not easy. a lot of extra reading. and i knew immediately that at the very least i should read 梁山伯与祝英台/Butterfly Lovers before starting, so my first step was to do so. you can find it here as well! in this post, i’ll also be going through the novel/poetry/etc references that you can find in the lyrics + offering some of my notes on the song.
楼台 (‘pavilion’) references chapter 14 of the novel, 楼台会 (Meeting at the Pavilion); in the chapter, Zhu Yingtai and Liang Shanbo reunite some time after he had sent her off from their school in Hangzhou. Liang Shanbo, having realised that she was a girl, arrives at the Zhu residence with the intention of proposing; Zhu Yingtai faces him, in female dress for the first time, with the news that her parents have betrothed her to Ma Wencai.
Liang Shanbo is not quite as chill about the pavilion gender reveal in 楼台. he, having fallen in love with the male Zhu Yingtai, cannot consolidate the man he knew with the woman she is— Zhu Yingtai becomes increasingly desperate to get through to him as the song progresses.
当年结拜 羞涩的神采
that year, we swore brotherhood / a bashful, sprouting bud
今日楼台 看你红妆粉黛
and today, in the pavilion / in a woman’s dress you stood
约定去未来 翩翩少年如雪白
the future, wherever, we said we’d go / two young men like fresh white snow
你写意山水蓬莱 我琴声飘云外
you freehand Penglai, right and good / and the clouds hear my qin from below
-> 蓬莱 (peng2lai2): fabled abode of immortals (wiki / baidu)
痴痴情爱（痴痴情爱）
madly in love (madly in love)
我心如松柏（痴痴等你来）
my heart, evergreen (madly awaiting you)
曾经沧海（朝暮三载）
unstirred by but one flower (morning, evening, three whole years)
任林中百花开（冬雷夏雨雪）
however many bloom between (winters thunder, summers snow)
我心如松柏 (my heart, evergreen) @ 《子夜四时歌·渊冰厚三尺》(南北朝佚名创作的作品 / an anonymous work from the Southern and Northern Dynasties, baidu):
渊冰厚三尺，素雪覆千里。我心如松柏，君情复何似？
The pool’s ice has frozen a metre thick and white snow blankets all around. My heart is evergreen, but what is yours?
冬雷夏雨雪 (winters thunder, summers snow) @《上邪》 (汉代乐府民歌 / a yuefu (wiki) from the Han dynasty, baidu):
山无陵，江水为竭。冬雷震震，夏雨雪。天地合，乃敢与君绝
Only if the mountains flatten, if the oceans dry— if the winters thunder, if the summers snow— only if the sky and earth unite, will I let go of my feelings for you.
while Liang Shanbo of the studying arc dreams of a singular flower, Zhu Yingtai insists on the strength of her love. zs affects a pleading tone to a discordant effect: there is a disconnect between Liang Shanbo’s tentative daydream and Zhu Yingtai’s desperation, emphasising the disconnect that is Liang Shanbo venerating their past (and the ‘man’ he knew) while Zhu Yingtai worries about their present.
你是祝英台
you are Zhu Yingtai
偏偏要改了穿戴（偏偏我改了穿戴）
you’ve but changed from pants to gown (i’ve but changed from pants to gown)
那个缠绵的男孩
that dewey-eyed young man
换成凤冠裙摆（不爱凤冠裙摆）
dons a graceful bridal crown (hates this graceful bridal crown)
-> 凤冠 (feng2guan1): phoenix coronet [...] used formerly as a bride’s headdress (wiki / baidu)
我不知 竟不知（我不是）
i didn’t know / somehow, i didn’t know (i am not)
你是深闺中的女子（藏在深闺中的女子）
that you were a boudoir-bound woman (some boudoir-bound woman)
满屋诗 空胭脂（观音祠 樵夫痴）
our room of books / your rogueless face (Guanyin temple / woodcutter’s way)
娥眉淡淡藏心事（我苦苦暗示）
hiding your worries from attention (my every hint and pun)
深闺中的女子 (boudoir-bound woman) @ 《别亲》（越剧《梁山伯与祝英台》第一场 / the first act of the Butterfly Lovers Shaoxing opera):
祝公远：她是祝府千金女，应该是描龙绣凤在闺门。
Zhu Gongyuan: She is the Zhu household’s only daughter, and should carry out her work in the boudoir.
i think Liang Shanbo’s echoing of Zhu Gongyuan (Zhu Yingtai’s father)’s words is uhhh really interesting!! because she was quite obviously not a boudoir-bound woman of any sort… if Liang Shanbo can’t accept that the man he loved was actually a woman to the point of mischaracterising her entirely, you can really understand her frustration with my every hint and pun.
观音祠 樵夫痴 (Guanyin temple / woodcutter’s way) @ 《十八相送》 (越剧《梁山伯与祝英台》经典唱段 / a famous aria from the Butterfly Lovers Shaoxing opera, wiki / baidu):
祝英台唱道：出了城，过了关，但只见山上的樵夫把柴担。
梁山伯：起早落夜多辛苦，打柴度日也艰难。
祝英台：梁兄啊！他为何人把柴担？你为哪个送下山？
梁山伯：他为妻儿把柴担，我为你贤弟送下山。
[...]
梁山伯：离了井，又一堂，前面到了观音堂，观音堂，观音堂，送子观音坐上方。
祝英台：观音大士媒来做，我与你梁兄来拜堂。
梁山伯：贤弟越说越荒唐，两个男子怎拜堂？
Zhu Yingtai: We’ve gone out of the city and through the gates, but I’ve only seen one man— hauling firewood up on the mountain..
Liang Shanbo: Toiling dawn to dusk, gathering firewood. Such a hard life!
Zhu Yingtai: Liang-xiong! Who does he gather firewood for? And who are you bringing down the mountain?
Liang Shanbo: He gathers firewood for his wife. And I, I’m bringing you down the mountain.
[...]
Liang Shanbo: Past the well, just a bit further— Guanyin temple!
Zhu Yingtai: You can get married there— Liang-xiong, let’s go!
Liang Shanbo: Nonsense! Two men, getting married?
+ Chapter 9 of the novel (十八里长亭相送 / Eighteen-li Sendoff):
祝英台指着卖柴的道：“哦！他是为家小出来奔走的。梁兄，这奔走和你一样呀。”
梁山伯摇摇头道：“不一样，不一样！挑柴的为了家中有妻子，要吃要穿，我是为贤弟送行呀！”
Zhu Yingtai pointed at the man selling firewood and said: “Oh! He’s out working for his wife and child. Just like you, Liang-xiong!”
Liang Shanbo shook his head. “No way! Not the same! He’s out selling firewood to support his family, but I’m here sending you home.”
Zhu Yingtai isn’t exaggerating; she dropped every hint/made every pun she could. it was in equal parts funny and exasperating to read. in the novel, Liang Shanbo’s obstinance was a product of his kind nature; in 楼台’s context, it can be read as a product of him having fallen in love with the male Zhu Yingtai— not the female one. personally, i like Zhu Yingtai’s use of 痴 (chi1, idiotic or crazy abt someone) here! it breaks my heart a little haha because as much as Liang Shanbo loved her (‘him’), she loved him back as much if not more.
你不是 你不是（我如何不是）
you are not / you are not (how could i not be?)
三年同窗明月修辞（难道光阴虚掷）
my classmate of three years’ moonlit learning (was it all for nothing?)
从此窗棂檐角相思（我夜夜相思）
from now on, the eaves sigh lovesick (every night, i’m lovesick)
他已消失 不留一字（山伯未迟 错订盟誓）
for he’s already gone / without warning (not your fault for being late / but mine for promising)
@ Chapter 9 of the novel (十八里长亭相送 / Eighteen-li Sendoff), Zhu Yingtai tells Liang Shanbo that ‘he’ has a sister, Jiu-mei (九妹), and promises to introduce them so they can marry. in 楼台, i think this promise only added insult to injury when the truth was revealed 😅
当年结拜（当年结拜）
that year, we swore brotherhood (that year, we swore brotherhood)
我心如松柏（羞涩的神采）
my heart, evergreen (a bashful, sprouting bud)
今日楼台（今日楼台）
and today, in the pavilion (and today, in the pavilion)
看你红妆粉黛（天地沉入海）
in a woman’s dress you stood (the sky and earth, one)
天地沉入海 (the sky and earth, one) @ 《上邪》, once again! what was once Zhu Yingtai’s insistence on the strength of her love is now a sign of her suffocating despair; with the sky and earth having united, will she give up her feelings? her and Liang Shanbo’s division is represented structurally by zs and zq singing in canon, contrasting the first stanza of the song which this stanza is supposed to mirror. in terms of rhyme scheme, i still had this stanza match the first one (AABA CCBC) as it’s the start of the second verse.
你是祝英台
you are Zhu Yingtai
翩翩少年如雪白（哪来少年如雪白）
a young man like fresh white snow (what young man like fresh white snow?)
我不曾退隐蓬莱（你不曾退隐蓬莱）
i won’t retire to Penglai (you won’t retire to Penglai)
你却换凤冠裙摆（我不换凤冠裙摆）
and still, you don a graceful bridal crown (i won’t don this graceful bridal crown)
我不知 竟不知（我是）
i didn’t know / somehow, i didn’t know (i am)
你是深闺中的女子（藏在深闺中的女子）
that you were a boudoir-bound woman (some boudoir-bound woman)
满屋诗 空胭脂（鹊桥织 鸳鸯池）
our room of books / your rogueless face (magpie bridge / lovebird pond)
娥眉淡淡藏心事（我苦苦暗示）
hiding your worries from attention (my every hint and pun)
鹊桥织 鸳鸯池 (magpie bridge / lovebird pond) @ 《楼台会》 (越剧《梁山伯与祝英台》第八场 / the fourth act of the Butterfly Lovers Shaoxing opera):
祝英台：可记得比作鸳鸯成双对，可记得牛郎织女把鹊桥会。
Zhu Yingtai: Remember that we were like a pair of mandarin ducks, remember that the cowherd and weaver girl reunited on a magpie bridge.
mandarin ducks (鸳鸯; yuan1yang) figuratively refer to an affectionate couple (lovebirds) (more on this later!). both in the play and song, she pleads with Liang Shanbo to remember their love.
interestingly, among Zhu Yingtai’s possessions is a bowl-shaped steel statue of a pair of male and female mandarin ducks; she leaves it to Liang Shanbo when she is summoned home from Hangzhou by her parents. Chapter 8 (师母为冰人 / Shi-mu Plays Matchmaker):
祝英台用手摸摸那鸳鸯的扁嘴，摇摇他的翎毛，两只鸳鸯的形势，差不多挤到一处去。她又用一只手，在两只鸳鸯背上盖着。便道：“不，这鸳鸯的形势，有点像兄的境遇，弟若去后，将这对鸳鸯天天抚摸，也许抚摸得出所以然来。”
Zhu Yingtai stroked one mandarin duck’s beak, shaking its plumes. The two ducks’ shapes were so close together that they were almost one. She then used a hand to cover their backs, and said: “No, the ducks’ situation is sort of like ours. Once I’ve gone, stroke them often— maybe you’ll find out why.”
Liang Shanbo accepts the gift, but admits that he has no idea what she’s talking about otherwise; by bringing up the ducks, 楼台’s Zhu Yingtai reminds Liang Shanbo that not only did she try to tell him that she was a girl, but also that the male and female versions of her were not as different as he was making them out to be. simultaneously, she worries for herself: with the prospect of a happy marriage retreating further and further away, she wonders who will weave a Magpie bridge for her.
Zhu Yingtai refers to herself as a ‘weak, boudoir-bound girl (深闺弱女)’ exactly once in the book. Chapter 19 (忽然坐船可以走 / Sudden Agreement to Marriage):
祝公远还是摇摇摆摆在房里踱慢步。一回头看见祝英台，便带了笑容道：“恭喜我儿，贺喜我儿！”
祝英台就站定了，问道：“儿一深闺弱女，有何喜可贺？”
Zhu Gongyuan swaggered slowly around the room. Looking back at Zhu Yingtai, he smiled: "Congratulations, my daughter, congratulations!”
Zhu Yingtai paused. She asked, “Your daughter is a weak, boudoir-bound girl. What’s there to congratulate?”
Zhu Gongyuan (Zhu Yingtai’s father) is congratulating Zhu Yingtai on her marriage into the Ma family, which he arranged against her will. Zhu Yingtai’s statement of her boudoir-bound status, although spiteful, is also true of her behaviour: by chapter 19, Liang Shanbo has already died and the grief-stricken Zhu Yingtai has spent the last few months holed up in her study.
with the change of Zhu Yingtai’s line from 不是 in the first chorus to 是 in the second, you could say that Zhu Yingtai’s POV takes place after Liang Shanbo’s death, beyond the grave as they wait for the moment of their reincarnation into butterflies.
你不是 你不是（我如何不是）
you are not / you are not (how could i not be?)
三年同窗明月修辞（难道光阴虚掷）
my classmate of three years’ moonlit learning (was it all for nothing?)
从此窗棂檐角相思（我夜夜相思）
from now on, the eaves sigh lovesick (every night, i’m lovesick)
他已消失 不留一字（错订盟誓）
and he’s already gone / without warning (my fault for promising)
我不知 竟不知（春去冬至）
i didn't know / somehow, i didn’t know (spring's gone, snow's here)
你愿化蝶轻言生死（蝴蝶几日生死）
you want wings / saying life and death all easy (butterflies live only a short whirl)
早与迟 虚与实（既相识 又相知）
too soon, too late / the real and fake (from acquainted / to intimate)
无关谁家贵公子（何必辨雄雌）
whoever your husband may soon be (why quarrel boy or girl?)
你不是 你不是（我如何不是）
you are not / you are not (how could i not be?)
十八里路绵绵情丝（伴你蒲苇磐石）
he of that send-off’s gentle yearning (i’d be a rock, pampas grass waving)
从此窗棂檐角相思（我夜夜相思）
from now on, the eaves sigh lovesick (every night, i’m lovesick)
他已消失 不留一字（山伯未迟 蝶已展翅）
for he’s already gone / without warning (not your fault for being late / but our wings are spreading)
伴你蒲苇磐石 (i’d be a rock, pampas grass waving) @ 《孔雀东南飞》 (汉代乐府诗作 / The Peacock Flies Southeast, a yuefu from the Han dynasty, wiki / baidu):
君当作磐石，妾当作蒲苇，蒲苇纫如丝，磐石无转移。
You are a rock and I am pampas grass; untiring pampas grass, an unmoving rock.
《孔雀东南飞》 (The Peacock Flies Southeast) is the tragic romance of Liu Lanzhi and Jiao Zhongqing, ending in the fulfilment of their suicide pact and their subsequent reincarnation as mandarin ducks. the parallels between them and liangzhu are pretty plain ^^ what i like about the line, though, is how zs sings it. that's despair babey.. Zhu Yingtai can no longer see a future where they can be happy together as they are! and their only option for a happy ending is the one they chose— reincarnation.
从此蝴蝶忘了旧事（忘了旧事）
for now, the butterflies have forgotten what’s long over (what’s long over)
传奇故事
as for the legend…
各执一词
to each their own
so 楼台 ends with liangzhu’s only option, and the story’s only end. have they resolved any of their issues? i like to think the reincarnation meant that they loved each other, despite everything, but that’s because their relationship means a lot to me after reading Butterfly Lovers itself. i would love to hear what everyone thinks!!!
楼台 is a very unique song of the zs catalogue; as an older one (8 years old this year!), i don’t see him performing it again anytime soon 😓😓 maybe if it got really popular on dy like 云裳羽衣曲 did (and 瞳 seems to be doing)? zs did sing it a couple times during 深空间, though! here’s one with zq and here’s a solo (!!).
this TL was a lot of work on every front, so it means a lot to me. thanks for reading!!!!
While this song makes me merry,
Tyrian purple dyes many a hue
From magenta to berry
And a true purple too.
But fun as it is to watch this poetic race
The answer is staring you right in the face:
Roses are red and violets are blue
Because nothing fucking rhymes with purple.
I've heard the idea that Monkey is 7 times immortal thrown around a couple times, but my count has only ever gone up to 4 (the peaches, the pills, the wine, and his daoist studies). How immortal IS Monkey?
(Note 09-07-2024: I am going to edit this for more clarity. It will differ from previously shared versions.)
I count eight categories of immortality.
In place of using “layer” or “level,” I’m choosing to designate his various immortalities as “categories.” This is because a new layer of divine longevity or durability would surely be added for each immortal peach, elixir pill, or cup/jug of heavenly wine consumed. Hence, eating multiple peaches would be one category, eating multiple elixir pills would be one category, and so on and so forth.
There are two sets. The first are achieved before or during the journey:
1) Daoist Longevity Arts - Ch. 2
I discuss the exact methods here.
Last updated: 09-22-23 Did you know that Monkey’s early spiritual training is connected to historical Daoist internal alchemy? In chapter on
A photomanipulation by me.
2) Erasing Allotted Lifespan - Ch. 3
[After Monkey is summoned to hell in his sleep and thereafter threatens to beat the Judges of Hell for their mistake] The Ten Kings immediately had the judge in charge of the records bring out his [Sun's] books for examination. The judge, who did not dare tarry, hastened into a side room and brought out five or six books of documents and the ledgers on the tens species of living beings ... He [Monkey] had, therefore, a separate ledger, which Wukong examined himself. Under the heading "Soul 1350" he found the name Sun Wukong recorded, with the description: "Heaven-born Stone Monkey. Age: three hundred and forty-two years. A good end."
Wukong said, "I really don't remember my age. All I want is to erase my name. Bring me a brush." The judge hurriedly fetched the brush and soaked it in heavy ink. Wukong took the ledger on monkeys and crossed out all the names he could find in it. Throwing down the ledger, he said, "That ends the account! That ends the account! Now I'm truly not your subject" (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 140-141).
A print from the Japanese children book Son Goku (1939).
3) Immortal Peaches - Ch. 5
[After being appointed the guardian of the Queen Mother of the West's immortal peach groves] The Great Sage ... asked the local spirit, "How many trees are there?" "There are three thousand six hundred," said the local spirit. "In the front are one thousand two hundred trees with little flowers and small fruits. These ripen once every three thousand years, and after one taste of them a man will become an immortal enlightened in the Way, with healthy limbs and a lightweight body. In the middle are one thousand two hundred trees of layered flowers and sweet fruits. They ripen once every six thousand years. If a man eats them, he will ascend to Heaven with the mist and never grow old. At the back are one thousand two hundred trees with fruits of purple veins and pale yellow pits. These ripen once every nine thousand years and, if eaten, will make a man's age equal to that of Heaven and Earth, the sun and the moon..."
One day he [Monkey] saw that more than half of the peaches on the branches of the older trees had ripened, and he wanted very much to eat one and sample its novel taste. Closely followed, however, by the local spirit of the garden, the stewards, and the divine attendants of the Equal to Heaven Residence, he found it inconvenient to do so. He therefore devised a plan on the spur of the moment and said to them, "Why don't you all wait for me outside and let me rest a while in this arbor?" The various immortals withdrew accordingly. That Monkey King then took off his cap and robe and climbed up into a big tree. He selected the large peaches that were thoroughly ripened and, plucking many of them, ate to his heart's content right on the branches. Only after he had his fill did he jump down from the tree. Pinning back his cap and donning his robe, he called for his train of followers to return to the residence. After two or three days, he used the same device to steal peaches to gratify himself once again
One day the Lady Queen Mother decided to open wide her treasure chamber and to give a banquet for the Grand Festival of Immortal Peaches, which was to be held in the Palace of the Jasper Pool. She ordered the various Immortal Maidens ... to go with their flower baskets to the Garden of Immortal Peaches and pick the fruits for the festival ... [After meeting with the Great Sage's ministers] The local spirit went into the garden with them; they found their way to the arbor but saw no one. Only the cap and the robe were left in the arbor, but there was no person to be seen. The Great Sage, you see, had played for a while and eaten a number of peaches. He had then changed himself into a figure only two inches high and, perching on the branch of a large tree, had fallen asleep under the cover of thick leaves (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 161-162).
A new years print found online.
4) Immortal Wine - Ch. 5
Our Great Sage could not make an end of staring at the scene [the heavenly feast set for the Immortal Peach Banquet] when he suddenly felt the overpowering aroma of wine ... standing beside the jars and leaning on the barrels, he abandoned himself to drinking. After feasting for a long, he became thoroughly drunk...
[...]
[After returning to Flower Fruit Mountain and meeting with his children, he says] "When I was enjoying myself this morning at the Jasper Pool, I saw many jars and jugs in the corridor full of the juices of jade [yuye qiongjiang, 玉液瓊漿; lit: "Jade liquid and jade syrup"], which you have never savored. Let me go back [to heaven] and steal a few bottles to bring down here. Just drink half a cup, and each of you will live longer without growing old" ... He took two large bottles, one under each arm, and carried two more in his hands. Reversing the direction of his cloud, he returned to the monkeys in the cave. They held their own Festival of Immortal Wine [Xianjiu hui, 仙酒會], with each one drinking a few cups" (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 165 and 167).
A screenshot from the 1986 Journey to the West TV show.
5) Immortal Elixir - Ch. 5
[After Sun Wukong drunkenly stumbles into Laozi's laboratory in the Tushita Heaven] He found no one but saw fire burning in an oven beside the hearth, and around the oven were five gourds in which finished elixir was stored. "This thing is the greatest treasure of immortals," said the Great Sage happily. "Since old Monkey has understood the Way and comprehended the mystery of the Internal's identity with the External, I have also wanted to produce some golden elixir on my own to benefit people. While I have been too busy at other times even to think about going home to enjoy myself, good fortune has met me at the door today and presented me with this! As long as Laozi is not around, I'll take a few tablets and try the taste of something new." He poured out the contents of all the gourds and ate them like fried beans (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 166).
A detail from the 1835 Japanese translation of Journey to the West.
6) Ginseng Tree Fruit - Ch. 24
In the mountain there was a Daoist Abbey called the Five Villages Abbey [Wu zhuang guan, 五莊觀]; it was the abode of an immortal whose Daoist style [name] was Master Shenyuan [Shenyuan zi, 鎮元子] and whose nickname was Lord, Equal to Earth [Shi tong jun, 世同君]. There was, moreover, a strange treasure grown in this temple, a spiritual root that was formed just after chaos had been parted and the nebula had been established prior to the division of Heave and Earth. Throughout the four great continents of the world, it could be found in only the Five Villages Abbey in the West Aparagodaniya Continent. This treasure was called grass of the reverted cinnabar [cao huan dan, 草還丹], or the ginseng fruit [renshen guo, 人參果]. It took three thousand years for the plant to bloom, another three thousand years to bear fruit, and still another three thousand years before they ripened. All in all, it would be nearly ten thousand years before they could be eaten, and even after such a long time, there would be only thirty such fruits. The shape of the fruit was exactly that of a newborn infant not yet three days old, complete with the four limbs and the five senses. If a man had the good fortune of even smelling the fruit, he would live for three hundred and sixty years; if he ate one he would reach his forty-seven thousandth year.
[After Wukong learns the complicated method of harvesting the fruit] Parting the leaves and branches, he knocked three of the fruits into the sack ... The three of them [Monkey and his brothers] took the fruits and began to enjoy them (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, pp. 453 and 462-463).
Monkey holding ginseng tree fruit. Image found online.
This previous article talks about the history of this magical fruit.
Last updated: 04-05-2022 I. Battle of Transformations Did you know that certain portions of Journey to the West were influenced by Indo-Pers
Sun Wukong is not truly immortal during the journey, just long-lived and hard to kill. Immortality in Ming to Qing-era popular literature means that you can live for a long time but still die if injured badly enough. Think of it like an infinitely long candle being blown out instead of having a chance to burn for centuries or eons. For example, Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen yanyi, 封神演義, c. 1620), a sort of prequel to Journey to the West, is full of immortals killed in battle with heavenly weapons. Some even have their immortality sapped away before dying in one of many celestial traps. The biggest of these traps is the "Ten Thousand Immortal Array" (Wanxian zhen, 萬仙陣), so named because it can apparently kill myriad transcendents.
The second set of immortalities are achieved at the journey’s end once they reach the Buddha’s blessed land. These shouldn’t be lumped together with those acquired before and during the pilgrimage.
7) Divine food and tea - ch. 98
Then Buddha turned to call out: "Ananda and Kasyapa, take the four of them to the space beneath the precious tower. Give them a vegetarian meal first. After the maigre, open our treasure loft for them and select a few scrolls from each of the thirty-five divisions of our three canons, so that they may take them back to the Land of the East as a perpetual token of grace."
The two Honored Ones obeyed and took the four pilgrims to the space beneath the tower, where countless rare dainties and exotic treasures were laid out in a seemingly endless spread. Those deities in charge of offerings and sacrifices began to serve a magnificent feast of divine food, tea, and fruit-viands [仙餚、仙茶、仙果] of a hundred flavors completely different from those of the mortal world. After master and disciples had bowed to give thanks to Buddha, they abandoned themselves to enjoyment (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, p. 349).
[...]
This time it was Eight Rules who was in luck and Sha Monk who had the advantage, for what the Buddhist Patriarch had provided for their complete enjoyment was nothing less than such viands as could grant them longevity and health and enable them to transform their mortal substance into immortal flesh and bones [... 壽長生，脫胎換骨之饌，儘著他受用。] (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, p. 350).
While the quote refers directly to Zhu and Sha, Monkey certainly benefits from the meal as well, gaining another category of immortality.
Monkey eating yummy food.
8) Buddhahood - ch. 100
Sun Wukong, when you caused great disturbance at the Celestial Palace, I had to exercise enormous dharma power to have you pressed beneath the Mountain of Five Phases. Fortunately your Heaven-sent calamity came to an end, and you embraced the Buddhist religion. I am pleased even more by the fact that you were devoted to the scourging of evil and the exaltation of good. Throughout your journey you made great merit by smelting the demons and defeating the fiends. For being faithful in the end as you were in the beginning, I hereby give you the grand promotion and appoint you the Buddha Victorious in Strife [Dou zhansheng fo, 鬥戰勝佛] (Wu & Yu, 2012, p. 381).
I'm adding this as another immortality category since as a Buddha, he is now completely free of the wheel of reincarnation.
It’s important to note that the novel ends before Monkey is able to perform any feats as a Buddha. Therefore, making claims about his subsequent abilities is outside of canon.
A lovely drawing of Sun Wukong as a Buddha by the talented @ninjahaku21art.
Source:
Wu, C., & Yu, A. C. (2012). The Journey to the West (Vols. 1-4) (Rev. ed.). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
As noted, Sun Wukong appears to have eight immortalities:
Spiritual breathing exercises (ch. 2)
Erasing his name from the ledgers of hell (ch. 3)
Drinking immortal wine (ch. 4 & 5)
Eating immortal peaches (ch. 5)
Eating elixir pills (ch. 5 & 17)
Eating Ginseng fruit (ch. 24)
Eating Immortal food, tea, and fruit (ch. 98)
Buddhahood (ch. 100)
But I’ve thought of something that brings one of these into question:
In JTTW chapter 98, the pilgrims are all given “immortal food, tea, and fruit” (仙餚、仙茶、仙果) upon entering the Buddha’s paradise, and this is said to “grant them longevity and health and enable them to transform their mortal substance into immortal flesh and bones” (… 壽長生，脫胎換骨之饌，儘著他受用。) (based on Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, pp. 349-350). The latter quote refers directly to Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing, but Monkey and Tripitaka certainly benefit from the meal as well.
The pilgrims are not too long after elevated in spiritual rank in JTTW chapter 100 (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 4, pp. 381-382).
The chronological proximity of the food to the spiritual promotions reminds me of a concept from Buddhism, the immortal “diamond/adamantine body” (Sk: vajrakāya; Ch: jingangshen, 金剛身) of the Buddha. You can read more about that here (see the PDF link therein):
[Mahayana] doctrines eventually propose that the Buddha is completely immortal, and that his immortality is reflected in his embodiment in a
(It’s interesting to note that Laozi suggests in JTTW chapter seven that all of the divine foodstuffs eaten/drunk by Monkey must have resulted in his “diamond body” (jingang zhi qu, 金鋼[剛]之軀) (Wu & Yu, 2012, vol. 1, p. 188).)
This then raises a question: Is the food meant to symbolize the immortality that comes with becoming an enlightened being? If so, then numbers seven (immortal food) and eight (Buddhahood) in my list are one and the same, meaning that the former should be removed.
Not as many as Book 1, but there are a few things I consider Very Important. They are mostly towards the bottom of this post, and I considered re-ordering the post in terms of "importance,” but then I got caught up in "How important is it that the translators properly portray Mama Zhao as a scholarly intellectual?" and "I love these two paragraphs that got cut out, but are they important to anyone but me?"
So here they are in the order you see them in the book:
Just a reminder:
Xiao = "Little," an affectionate prefix to put before the name of a friend / colleague who is younger than you.
Jie = "Big Sister," an affectionate way to refer to all women older than you but are not yet trying for Grandma Energy (if you're anywhere near your eventual full height, don't bother with A-yi [auntie] -- no women wants to remember that she's old enough to be your mom);
.... and as a way for Zhu Hong to pull rank on Xiao Guo and boss him around.
So, on the next page, Zhu Hong complains, "I hate people who flaunt their love in front of everyone."
In conservative Chinese culture, to sadly single people like Zhu Hong, quiet words and a peaceful smile are "flaunting love."
ZYL, his brain lit up by alcohol to be unusually alert, he thought, "Soul Executioner? What about Soul Executioner? If I like someone, then everyone else should get out of the way!" (but with a more gangster-y tone)
Part of the sentence was cut: after the video-game-y "health bar vs attacks", there is a
“ ... 唉，照你的意思找个吉利的，我应该弄一只招财猫来结婚， ... ”
"... Ai, if I follow your meaning to find something auspicious, then I should get a Lucky Cat / Beckoning Cat to marry." (The kitty toys at the front desk of lots of stores that waves its paw up and down and has a little sign with the words "Enter, Money!" on it.)
It's not important, but in the old online version (ch 51), there are another 11 little paragraphs here. I like reading about how GCC left home wayyyyy too early, and when SW asked GCC "Why didn't you wait inside?", ZYL answered for him, "He didn't have the guts to (go inside by himself)."
It was a nice little view into how GCC is doing (still scared, still ignorant, but still holding up) and how well ZYL knows him.
（Old online ch 53)
First: There is wordplay there that didn't make it through translation. "Outsider" and "Partner" are opposite-related words in Chinese, if you're naughty / shameless.
The word for "outsider" is, of course, 外人 = "outside" "person"
内人, is, of course, what ZYL calls SW = "inside" "person"
mdbg.net: 内人 = my wife (humble)
Next: instead of "She had the feeling that she'd just seen the lord of incompetence claim his throne." the old version was
With a tone reminiscent of "I'm sorry. The user you are trying to reach is not available, " Zhu Hong said to GCC "Xiao-Guo, look, the sun outside this window so green! As if it's been cured in La Ba vinegar!"
GCC could not restrain himself from rubbing his eyes.
Just two more tiny little paragraphs makes this so much better:
“什么？”赵云澜故作大惊失色，一把握住自己的领子，“你想把我怎么样？关起来玩强制禁断爱吗？”
"What?" ZYL pretended to be shocked and grabbed his collar, "What do you want to do to me? Lock me up and play 强制 forced 禁断爱 taboo love?" （Dom-Sub play? I don't really know my Chinese sex-play vocab.)
沈巍眨眨眼睛，明知道他在胡说八道，还是居然忍不住顺着他这话想象了一下。
Shen Wei blinked. He knew that ZYL was talking nonsense, but he couldn't help himself from imagining what ZYL was suggesting.
只听赵云澜猥琐地笑了几声，继续说：“其实我认为这个可以有。”
Then he heard ZYL chuckling (vulgarly) and adding: "Actually, I think we could do that."
沈巍：“……”
Shen Wei: "......"
捧茶闻香 hold your tea and enjoy its fragrance. Not enjoying tea and, separately, enjoying the fragrance of some flower or perfume or other non-tea thing.
Tea is wonderful and amazing and is the best smell in the world (depending on the tea). Of course you would hold your teacup up to your nose and enjoy its fragrance.
This translation is totally accurate, but ... it's so much more rich in Chinese:
And then his voice suddenly stopped; the energy of his entire person weakened into that of a little cat, and he used a gentle and obedient tone, almost like he was nodding his head and bowing from the waist: "Ai ya, I didn't see just now. I'm wrong, Mom." (admitting you're wrong is another way to say "I'm sorry".)
ZYL originally sat on his swivel chair in a bold and imposing fashion (大马金刀 big horse gold saber, an idiom from the Qing Dynasty novel 《儿女英雄传》), feeling himself to be 10/10 imperious and formidable; but as soon as he took the call, he automatically shrunk into a little ball, nodding his head and wagging his tail like a eunuch following his emperor around in the ancient times. DaQing silently laughed so hard he fell over on the desk.
You know that meme of "Let's eat kids! vs Let's eat, kids! Grammar saves lives"?
It's weird to add a comma in here, but they maybe could have added an exclamation mark?
"Eat!" is repeating DaQing's request, "I want to eat her pan-fried little croackers!" (a type of fish).
"My ass!" is like how, when you're looking for a home to buy in any big city and someone says, "Oh, look - this house is affordable! It's only 1.5 million." and you respond "Affordable, my ass!"
It helps that in Chinese, there is no "my". It's just
吃个屁，eat (measure word) flatulence
(if you say 屁股, that means "buttocks")
滚开，boil away / get out (rude)
There is Nothing Sexual about this phrase. It's just standard run-of-the-mill Rude.
It's traditional to light firecrackers for Lunar New Year, and firecrackers have gunpowder in them. That's why the air smells of gunpowder. No guns, just firecrackers.
Here is another section that got changed quite a bit; the changes don't affect the plot at all, but I feel ... I ... I really love the old online version and I cry for every compound word and idiom that got cut. (Online ch 66.)
TOP:
An example of the difficulties of translating: the line "ZYL dared not say a word of protest. "...Oh" is
敢怒不敢言地说：
dare be angry but not dare speak out:
“……遵命。”
".... obey your orders." (a very official and super-deferential version of "Yes, Sir" that you would say in response to an emperor or general or other super high-level person's bidding.)
MIDDLE:
And then they (Priest?) cut two paragraphs of Mama Zhao and Shen Wei interacting:
SW sat cautiously on one corner of the sofa. She offered him fruit, so he picked up a piece of apple and ate it without tasting it; she offered him water, so he sat very properly and carefully brought the cup to his mouth and took a tiny sip. When she learned that SW was a university professor in Chinese (Linguistics?), Mama Zhao was suddenly energized (打了鸡血 = injected with chicken blood :) and happily chatty (酒逢知己千杯少 a thousand cups of wine is not too much when best friends meet [mdbg.net]), she said, "Aiyo, that's wonderful! Wouldn't it be great to have such a son. Our family, this father and son... ai, I don't even want to talk about them. You sit, Aunty will go wrap dumplings for you, and when I get back we can take our time to chat <3"
沈巍不自然地笑了笑，腰背绷得直直的，简直就像一张拉满的弓。
SW smiled awkwardly, his back ramrod straight, taut as a bowstring pulled to full extension.
BOTTOM:
赵母说：“光吃饭不干活，一年到头不着家，养你干什么用？还面子，你有那玩意吗？”
Mama Zhao: "All you do is eat, no work; all year long you don't come home / have no need for home; what did I even raise you for?! And you talk about dignity (面子 face), do you even have that?!"
(In the old online version, she does not tell him to "get out of the way.")
(But he does make space for her in the next paragraph, probably so she can fix the dumpling skins and then wrap the filling.)
This is a translation choice that I take issue with. As I see it, Mama Zhao is a civil, cultured lady who is very excited to get to have dinner with a university professor of linguistics -- while she is properly sharp to her son and complains at him and bosses him around (it's tradition), she would never use crude language. SW doesn't curse; Mama Zhao doesn't curse. They are sweet scholarly types.
And in the old online ch 66, the line is
赵母：“你别给我岔开话题，我……”
Mama Zhao: "Don't change the topic, I..."
Still on ch 66 (old online).
Saying "I've been with two guys" makes me want to ask "Which two? One at a time, or at the same time? Do I know them?"
What ZYL actually said was
"...也跟一两个小男孩在一起过..."
"...and I've been with one or two boys before...."
You know the idea of "sleeping on the couch," punishments that are generally given to the man of the relationship because he misbehaved?
Well, apparently, in China, it's a more practical, visceral, real punishment: kneeling.
But he can't just kneel. The offending man must kneel on 留恋键盘搓衣板 durian (the hard pokey outer shell, not the soft yummy inside), keyboard, or washboard -- you know, pokey hurty things that make kneeling a much less pleasant experience. To really show their remorse.
Since the idea in the West is that it hurts to walk barefoot on Legos, I guess they changed the Durian Keyboard Washboard to "kneeling on Legos"?
(old online ch 72)
"as tall as thousands of men"? Wha?
高千仞
As tall as a thousand 仞 rèn = unit of length used in ancient times, equal to 7 or 8 Chinese feet 尺 (mdbg.net) (a 尺 is about 1/3 meter long)
(previous page) 沈巍端走药碗：“这个管用，我不害你。”
(previous page) SW carried away the bowl: "This is useful, I wouldn't harm you."
赵云澜面无表情地说：“你不害我，你往死里折腾我。”
Stone-faced, ZYL said, "You wouldn't harm me, but you would torment me to death."
Let's talk about the word 折腾.
From mdbg.net, the first three definitions of 折腾 are:
to toss from side to side (e.g. sleeplessly) /
to repeat sth over and over again /
to torment sb
So, let's think about what sort of activity SW may have engaged in that prevented ZYL from sleeping the night before, that he repeated over and over, and maybe possibly could have become uncomfortable for ZYL (if, say, he was not fully prepared, or if he did not have an ample quantity of lubricant on hand, or if certain parts of him became over-stimulated).
Yah. That's how I've seen this word used in Chinese.
Now that I think of it, that's the only way I've seen it used in Chinese. But, then again, I'm only reading danmei novels :)
蚩尤 ChiYou did not have three heads and six arms, but he was powerful, maybe as powerful as everyone's (my) favorite god Nezha, who did have three heads and six arms when he was in full fighting mode.
"Three heads and six arms" is a not a physical description; it just means "powerful."
And that's it! Thanks for joining me on this journey of Guardian, the worst-ever way to learn about Chinese Mythology, but one of the best ways to learn how to talk like a gangster in Chinese :)
In Seven Seas vol 2 ch 16 / online ch 71, I love love love how, when the Netherworld comes to Zhao Yunlan for a favor, he responds with a long long list of people/ghosts who have been unfairly punished.
This is beyond “Hey, fix this one issue adversely affecting my one direct underling,” it’s “I’ve been keeping track of all your systemic failings since I’ve started working here, just waiting for the power balance to tip in my favor so I can help all these unjustly wronged people.”
Zhao Yunlan, you are a (very naughty) saint and we love you.
Of course, this is also the third time that Shen Wei / 斩魂使 gives ZYL a direct order to Stand Down Go Home Stay Safe and ZYL blatantly ignores it.
周深 Zhou Shen Fashion Complaint / Appreciation Post for 音乐缘计划 YYYJH2 Season 2!
So, I loved many of the outfits from YYYJH Season 1, as I documented here, and only realized after Season 2 was all done that, wait — why no awesome(ly titillating) outfits? (I mean this with the utmost respect, of course. Yes. Respectfully.)
I mean, I liked all the half-capes and excesses of ruffles and all, and the outfits fit the songs, … but last year we got Bare Arms and Collars and even got a little sneak peak of (gasp) thighs! (Remember those weird jeans he wore for 蜂?)
To defend this opinion, I decided it was necessary to compile a list of all the outfits ZS wore for all his YYYJH songs in 2025.
The list of songs is from Chryso's Year 2025 in Review, and all the photos are from Zhou Shen's Official Weibo.
自诩周全
The neckline is kinda low and he's got necklaces up high. I guess that's revealing, for Zhou Shen.
I like the cool jeans, which took me many viewings before I realized that all but one of the "belts" were embroidered/appliqued/drawn on.
时差
A little bit of collarbone is visible under the scarf! And... that's it.
But I like it. And I like the fun danglies.
造物
Yes, this outfit would work perfectly in olden times, East or West (but not Equatorial). Not even his wrists are visible.
The corset-belt is quite nice, though, I must say. And I love the ear cuff.
Ok. I really like this look.
晚风请你告诉她
What? I think that outfit may have seen a bit too much wind?
象人
Ruffles! No skin outside of his hands and the top of his neck, but ... we have ruffles and leather. That's a good combination.
雨季又来临
Very cozy.
爱丽丝卿
More ruffles! Out of lace, this time.
This black top looks familiar. But this one has chains instead of studs.
I like the red-white-black combo. The amount of coverage is very conservative, but the long lace is vaguely suggestive of the boudoir. As if Zhou Shen had been... fully clothes in his tank top and cargo pants and huge shoes, but then threw on a lace dressing gown to cover his arms... and then put a red jacket over the top of it all? I dunno. It's fun. I'm glad for the long lace and ruffles.
告别旅行
Very proper, yet relaxed. Like a ...fashionable middle-schooler, but with extra-long straps on the pocket-ties?
扑通扑通
OK. You can't really argue with this outfit, given the theme of the performance.
逃开夜幕
A half-cape! And high collar. And vambraces. Gosh but he is covered up. Ready to face the night(mares).
怜悯
Given the song and that he was sick when he was prepping and performing, OK. Big and soft is acceptable for this song.
Make Up Forever
Did he have to wear a white t-shirt under this? I mean, I think this outfit looks great on Zhou Shen, but... no skin? At all?
地球没有你
Yet again, oversized button-up shirts. It's a sad song. We get it. But did it have to be so soft?
全世界下雨
Um. You know, I think the outfit woulda worked with a normal collar? Maybe a simple button-up with a button or two undone?
山灵
I don't know what I think about this outfit. The topic of the song is too serious. I don't know why there is lace. He / his stylists really like those huge cuffs, don't they.
And, from the Episode 11 Finale:
怜悯
Looks like a typical non-ZS-concert stage outfit -- black pants and white jacket. Buttoned all the way up. Sigh.
自诩周全
One button undone! And is that shirt... semi-translucent? Translucent?!? Lighting! Can we get some more light here, please!
占有
Finally! A black v-neck! A perfectly-placed necklace. And fun scarves to play with. Everything else is covered up, so I'll take what I can get :)
And... that's it. 18 outfits, and the most risque is a low round neckline under a jacket (twice), and a ruffly black v-neck three whole inches under his collarbone.
It’s a good thing that 周深 looks good in everything he wears. 😌
Happy new year! This 2025, you have held 34 concerts, released 57 songs, performed at 49 events and participated in 6 TV shows!
The highlights of your 2025 include...
Having your first overseas tour!
9.29 Hz's overseas stops were formally announced on the 19th of December last year. Although you had to cancel your London concert, having fallen ill, you still sold out every venue you played at after recovering. You held 8 concerts across 3 continents— the Chinese food was only good in, like, two of them. You go, Sydney and Kuala Lumpur! Try harder, Seattle!
2. Releasing an EP!
小深情 (Shen's love) was revealed to the world on May 16th and released song-by-song from the 17th of May to the 8th of August. Its third track, 来啊, won Weibo Music Report's 年度歌曲推荐 and Weibo Night's 微博年度喜爱音乐入围. 恭喜卡布回归!!!!!
3. Starting yet another concert tour!
9.29's last stop was in KL on the 12th of April. No worries about concert withdrawal, though, because 深深的巡回演唱会 (Shenshen's Concert Tour) was announced about a month later! SSD's first stop was in Bejing; you would then take the tour across 13 cities and win not only Weibo Music Report's 年度演唱会推荐, but also Weibo Night's 微博年度喜爰演出入围.
4. Voice-acting for an original character!
In 2021, you said on 天天向上 that your original dream was to be a voice actor— in 2024, you make your voice actor debut as Shazu in the Mandarin dub of Mufasa. In 2025, you went on to voice Amu in the original animated movie 时间之子! But when will you debut 梦见你 live???
5. Participating in 音乐缘计划: Crush of Music!
You're not known for participating in multiple seasons of shows. However, a rare exception was made in 2025... You were the most prolific artist on YYYJH by far, having performed 15 new songs. Your greed sickens me!
2025 was a very long year. You've experienced legendary magic failures in New York, indirectly incited flame wars upon 奔跑吧's lead showrunner, shipped your giant articulated mechs all over China... You've also been welcomed wherever you've gone, bowed all the way to your knees whenever you could, and put your best into whatever you've done. 新的一年永远会被最美好的爱一直爱着!!! Happy new year!!!!!
Full lists of concert stops, events, TV shows and new songs under the cut.
For readers who didn't grow up steeped in Chinese mythology (not presented with the appropriate cartoons in their youth): Read the Appendix from page 388 onward! I especially appreciate the "Guardian-Specific Terminology" on page 407. I had the hardest time learning classical Chinese mythology and trying to figure out what of Guardian was actual Chinese mythology vs created just for the sake of the plot. My head still spins a little when I think of Guardian and all the research I had to do to understand What The Heck Is Going On.
Here is how many notes I have, about how some un-translatable original term was so cool or what my interpretation is of some ambiguous passage (Chinese doesn’t require a subject to be defined) or where a few paragraphs were added or subtracted vs what I originally read.
Here we go!
又红又专 does not mean that the ink was red. When I was little and playing with different colored pens, my mom impressed upon me very strongly that red ink = blood = hatred and murder and vengeance (cinnabar and Taoist talismans are a separate thing). We don't write letters in red ink.
The 红 here refers to Communist Red, or The Color of the Government. The Letter of Acceptance that Guo Changcheng received was written in a very professional 专 and government-positive 红 manner.
"upright shoulders" here is 端正, which means just that Zhao Yunlan's shoulders are straight and strong; no weird lean or lopsidedness or hunch.
"Announce yourself" here is 报告.
This paragraph makes more sense in Chinese because the last word of Zhao Yunlan's sentence is 报告， and Guo Changcheng is so nervous that he ends up just repeating the last thing ZYL says instead of processing the entirety of what he actually says.
Zhao Yunlan: 不用喊“报告”。 You don't have to announce "I'm here."
Guo Changcheng: 报告！ "I'm here!"
Top: "little tail" is actually a less cute and more pejorative 跟屁虫= follow buttocks bug. But which conveys the idea really well, yah?
Bottom: "Stench" here is 腥味 which I am sure is short for 血腥味 = blood reeking smell, or the foul smell of blood and guts and murder. Very different than what you would smell at, say, a crowded 3-day music festival.
Top: Shen Wei's yelling up to Guo Changcheng was actually quite polite, but also not too formal. “哎，那位同学，你爬墙上干什么呢？” Closer to "Hello, fellow student, what are you doing climbing up the wall?"
Bottom: Zhao Yunlan did not "just let him drop”！ He lost his grip and consequences ensued. Zhao Yunlan is actually a very caring boss.
Top: in Chinese, the sentence makes sense to have the word 可能="maybe": 郭长城低着头，觉得自己可能是一根天生的废柴。 Guo Changcheng hung his head and felt that maybe he had been born a natural piece of waste-wood.
But I feel like the "maybe" confuses the sentiment in English. Try this, instead: "He felt that he'd been born a useless lump of wood."
Middle： 吃软饭 translates as "to live off a woman" according to mdbg.net. I like how the literal translation is "eat soft rice."
Bottom: I dunno where the "dual wield" thing came from. The Chinese version I have is 着实很想脱了鞋，照着这二逼实习生脸上使劲来两下 = he truly wanted to take off his shoe and smack this idiot intern's face with force, twice. (There is no "plural" in Chinese, so it's not clear if ZYL wants to take off one shoe or two shoes, but, really -- what Asian takes off both shoes when they can just take off one to beat their underling silly?)
Also! The full sentence around "with someone else present" is 饶是他不想破坏自己在外面八面玲珑的光荣形象 which is just really fun: "Because he did not want to destroy his, on the outside, smooth and slick (in establishing social relations), glorious appearance."
And I love the idiom八面玲珑: 8 facets, tinkling of jade, gem cut like a dragon (that "smooth and slick in social relations" idiom).
"Language classes" is closer to what we think of as "language arts classes," I think. Shen Wei is not teaching Chinese to foreigners; he's teaching classical poetry and ancient texts. For English-speakers: this is like how it takes a lot of education to read Chaucer. But add another 1000+ years of language history and development to the curriculum.
Top: "female ghost" here is 女妖, which can also translate to "female demon" or some similar bewitching feminine creature. They are not dead or undead, and plenty of 妖 are fine non-human creatures (not evil, don't eat humans, just want to be left alone to live) (or to fall in love and enjoy quiet domesticity with nice human scholars, like the story of White Snake and her scholar).
Bottom: in that same vein, I don't like to interpret 妖气 as "sinful" aura. Maybe "demonic aura" or "bewitching aura" or "taboo magic-y aura."
(This is one of my favorite passages in the whole novel.)(It's in the old online version's ch 5.）
OK. This passage only makes sense if you interpret it to be: Shen Wei first grabs ZYL's free hand, and then yells to ZYL to let go of the ledge (so that ZYL would be held up solely by SW) to give him his other hand.
Here is where Priest (?) edited out some paragraphs 😭 。 If you can read Chinese, I highly recommend going to online-Chapter7 and start reading at (Cntrl-F) 沈巍的睫毛很长.
It's not necessary, but Priest's writing is just so beautiful ❤️
Umm. Li Qian is really upset, but I don't think she rudely cussed at a professor and a police officer.
Mdbg.net translates 胡说 as "to talk nonsense / drivel," so I think a more tone-appropriate translation would be something like "That's nonsense!"
Silly as it is, I had the worst time parsing this sentence. It just means that Shen Wei stepped back to his original position, as if he had never moved away.
Yes, it is impressive to be able to scream and cry while also using so much breath to run; but the sentence I think this is based on is 哭哭啼啼地还不耽误嚎叫 = “to weep endlessly / interminable wailing” did not interfere with his "to howl / to yell" (quoted translations from mdbg.net), or
"his crying didn't interfere with his yelling"
还有，你歧视胖子吗？超重怎么了！我们胖子不偷不抢不耍流氓，超重挺好的！ （old online version ch 14)
Also, are you prejudiced against fatties? What's wrong with being overweight? Us fatties don't steal don't grab don't act immoral; it's fine to be overweight!
That cut-off note is "totally different. In ch 20, towards end, much funnier"
"What's going on? Protecting our environment is every person's responsibility. My Lord, aren't you just picking something up? How did it get to be this big a deal?" ZYL looked from afar at the scene of devastation "battlefield," searched and searched, but couldn't find a place to step (without making his shoes gross).
Cute/gross pun: 满目疮痍 by mdbg.net = a scene of devastation meets the eye everywhere one looks (idiom)
疮 = tumor, boil, sore, wound
痍 = wound, bruise, sore
So, yah. It was gross on that rooftop.
Here is where the English translation starts being really different. I can only assume that the translators are working on a more updated version than what I have access to.
However, the old version has a few short paragraphs from Shen Wei's POV here. Shen Wei 😍
Let me address the two little things that tripped my "Wha？ Where is the logic?" wire, though:
First: "I'll buy you dinner tomorrow. Make sure you show up!" but not giving Shen Wei a time or place or opportunity to respond is, in the old version, "周末有空我请你吃饭" "If there's time on the weekend I'll take you out to eat." No actual date was set, just kinda a "Hey, why don't we hang out this weekend," which fits the old novel version bc ZYL does not have a date in a fancy restaurant with SW in the old novel version; the first 5 pages of (Seven Seas) Ch 14, pgs 193-197, the Date, is all new. The bottom of page 197 is where it matches back up to the old online version's ch 22.
Next: "ZYL looked at his own reflection in the rearview mirror."
Really. Rearview mirrors are adjusted to look back through the rear window of the car, to see behind the car, like where Shen Wei is still standing (by the side of the road); not so you can check out your own reflection while driving.
Chinese: 沈巍，赵云澜自我感觉良好地借着后视镜照了照，心里念了一遍这个名字。
Literal translation: Shen Wei, ZYL feeling very good about himself borrowed the rearview mirror to look, said the name in his heart.
And the entire section of "Below the Huangquan, in the Netherworld..." is totally new. I think it'll be helpful? Even after two (three?) reads of the old online version in Chinese, I still don't understand everything.
Here is where I scream and howl some more that the Chinese version is so much more fun!!!
So, I grew up in a very civil Cantonese household (yes, they exist). No one cursed, no one spoke like a gangster, and my mom only watched period dramas. So, no slang.
THIS CHAPTER is where I finally learned that hoodlums refer to themselves as 爷 （grandpa) and the people they look down on as 孙子 (grandkids)， and later the hoodlums try to suck up to ZYL by calling him 大哥 (big brother / boss), which, of course, he rejects （"Who the fuck are you calling '大哥 dage'?").
Anyway, if you can read Chinese and have time and wanna read some fun big-boss-gangster slang, go to online old version ch 22. The fight starts with "可是他的手刚抬起来..."
(Also, Zhu Hong sometimes refers to herself as 老娘=old woman = giving herself status)
The old version of this is so much deeper: “哎，说真的，沈巍，你要是答应我，我明天就把这地方卖了，在你们学校附近换个大房子。”
"Ai, tell me the truth, Shen Wei ah, if you accept me, tomorrow I'll sell this place, and switch to a bigger place closer to your school."
ZYL already knows he loves SW enough to buy a new house for them to live together in!!!
“交代什么？我和谁交代？我没背负繁衍全人类的种马责任啊沈老师，你……你是外星人吗？”
“Explain what? Explain to whom? I don't bear responsibility for increasing the population of humanity as a stud horse, Professor Shen. You... are you an alien?"
Ya. 种马 means Stud Horse.
(No mention of homophobia in the old version, or the Qing Dynasty.)
“Public nuisance" in the novel is 鬼见愁 = ghosts/monsters, see, worry, as in "When monsters see you, they feel anxious"; or "unusually powerful and able to do anything" -- even monsters are afraid of you.
I like this term since it has the words 鬼 ghosts/monsters and 愁worry; so even if it has a positive meaning, it is made of netherworld-y words.
I don't know what SW was about to say. In the old online version,
沈巍侧过脸，淡淡地看了他一眼：“什么关系？”
SW turned his head, indifferently looked at him, "What relationship?"
Zhu Hong's line in Chinese is "狗眼都瞎了”. "Dog eyes going blind."
In Chinese slang, single people are called 单身狗 = single dogs.
Public displays of affection are called 狗粮 = dog food.
So, here, Zhu Hong is complaining that (her) dog eyes are going blind.
Cool slang, yah?
This part and the lead-up to it are actually really funny. The Team talks about how ZYL somehow has a "brother-in-law" who is some political bigwig, despite ZYL being an only child and unmarried; and now these two are calling each other variations of brother, big brother, fourth brother, old brother, etc.
It's a really Chinese thing to claim "family relationships." My mom has at least 3 dads and 2 other kids besides me (I'm the only one she birthed), and all of her close female friends are "sisters".
Also, that last paragraph about "acting out the roles of love at first sight" isn't in the old version. Rather, it's a simple
两人你来我往，基本没有别人插话的份。
The two people played off each other / each acted their part, and no one else even had a chance to interrupt. （old online ch 27)
The poem is very positive, but here, it means that those dang monsters just keep coming. (You don't have to read or know the original poem. It's just fun to point at a phrase and go "I know where that comes from!!!")
Top: The Chinese version of Never Eat Soggy Waffles is
上北 up north
下南 down south
左西 left west
右东 right east.
Bottom: 他垂下的脑袋忽然被人重重地一按后脑勺 His head, which was hanging down, was suddenly subject to a heavy pressure pushing down the back of his head, on his 后脑勺， which forced him to look up.
So, to make friends is to 交朋友。
To associate or have contact with someone is to 交往。
To date someone is also to 交往。
To have sex is 交媾 (I've never seen this before. I'm just reading off the dictionary app).
To mate (of animals) is 交尾 and 交配。
There are at least a hundred compound words with the word 交。
Random / messy is 乱。
乱交 sometimes translates as "promiscuous" (Pleco)
So, when ZYL says "我看起来像那种喜欢乱交的人吗？", he's either saying "Do I look like someone who likes to make friends randomly" or he's saying "Do I look like someone who likes to be promiscuous?"
ZYL wasn't asleep to begin with. 打起精神 is not so much "force yourself awake" as "force yourself to be alert."
(And in the old online version, he kinda made sure that all of his team and the students were safe and ok [got to their rooms?] before he carried Shen Wei to his room. 赵云澜打起精神，先草草安顿了其他人，最后扶着沈巍,...)
And that's it for Volume 1！ I hope you aren't too mad at all my "But the original is so much better!"s. (Because it is!!!!) (But it's also really and truly not easy to read if you learned how to read Chinese later in life.)
Yay! I love Guardian ♥️。 It was, like, the third novel I ever read in Chinese. I am shocked that I got through it, especially considering that I had zero knowledge of the mythology underlying the plot.
For readers who didn't grow up steeped in Chinese mythology (not presented with the appropriate cartoons in their youth): Read the Vol 1 Appendix from page 388 onward!
I especially appreciate the "Guardian-Specific Terminology" on Vol 1 page 407. I had the hardest time learning classical Chinese mythology and trying to figure out what of Guardian was actual Chinese mythology vs created just for the sake of the plot. My head still spins a little when I think of Guardian and all the research I had to do to understand What The Heck Is Going On.
Considering how difficult it is to translate Priest, I felt that this translation was pretty good. Priest is hard - she writes in idioms. And it looks like she made quite a few (admittedly minor) changes to the story since the version I read was published, which sometimes was great and sometimes, well, ... I really love the old online version I read.
Extras! SO MANY EXTRAS!!!!!! (Just read them yourself ♥️) Priest has written More Extras since I first read Stars of Chaos, and they are So Good in English that I’m wondering if I should once more attempt JJWXC so I can read them in Chinese, too!! (Chinese websites scare me. They are so so busy!)
So. It has been a long time since I read 杀破狼, so I couldn’t remember all the idioms and clever turns of phrase. I think this might be a good thing, as I flew through this reading much more quickly when I wasn’t second-guessing every other paragraph.
Here are my very few notes:
The idiom is 磨刀不误砍柴工, “Sharpening the axe doesn’t delay the work of chopping wood”. (I feel like the translation doesn’t convey the goodness of the phrase enough.)
Allowed we allowed to combine metaphors in English like that?
In Chinese, the phrase is 咸鱼翻身 “salted fish turns over”, which I think, according to baidu, is actually a purposeful mis-typing of 咸鱼返生 “the salted fish comes back to life” (ie, the fish was a dead fish corpse) because it was a Cantonese phrase and Hong Kong moviemakers were trying to make their movies more appealing to mainland audiences? I can’t find more info on it right now, but it looks like a lot of Chinese idioms — very convoluted.
Anyway, it means that circumstances have turned for the better, dramatically, for someone who had previously been in a bad situation. Underdogs having their day in the sun.
In case you didn’t remember, Dage = 大哥 = big brother.
The phrase is 一拥而上 “rush up in a crowd” (Pleco). More like fish or small children than bullies.
I’m always worried that names get lost in transliteration. This is 小蔡, Little General Cai, son of Old General Cai.
The phrase is 飘然而去 “nimbly / trippingly / happily / float-y like and left / went away,” which lets the reader know that Gu Yun was not sitting in one place after drinking his wine off Chang Geng’s lips, which is why Chang Geng had to chase Gu Yun once he unfroze.
And here is one that was accurately translated, but which confuses me unless I add a transition phrase:
So, the options were to kill him in the light (through political manipulation) or kill him in the dark (assassination).
The Marquis of Pingning says “it’s too hard in the light” and then proceeds to explain why it’s too hard to carry out an assassination. I am guessing that both the author and the character assume…. that the listeners and readers are all so smart that we know that the first sentence is for one option and the rest of the paragraph is for the other option? That we can keep up without transition phrases?
If you understand better than I do, please comment!
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
And that’s all my notes! I hope you love 顾昀 Gu Yun and 长庚 Chang Geng as much as I do.
