The Last Unicorn Lived In A Lilac Wood,                  And She Lived All Alone

WangXian Kisses! 💖

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MDZS Vol 2 Annotations, part 1

I finished annotating my copy of MDZS, Volume 2!

First off, I think the translations are perfectly wonderful and I am forever grateful that Seven Seas has given us the ability to share this story with a wider group of friends. With that, I went into Vol 2 trying to pretend that I did not speak Chinese, had little to no knowledge of Chinese culture.

Any time I saw something that didn't flow well to my North American brain or that didn't feel like what I remembered feeling when I read the Chinese version, I made a note. I love this story, and I don't expect my non-Chinese friends to remember the 5+ different things that Lan Xichen is called, or what in the world "shishu" is, so I made a lot of notes. Here they are:

MDZS Vol 2, Annotations Part 1, pages 1 - 86 (I tried to include the page number in each photo).

Hey, I saw a post in which you said that if we had the means we should support MXTX through legal means. I'm a white American who only found out that danmei was a thing through CQL and then MDZS. How would I go about supporting MXTX? Are there places I've been missing where I can give money in exchange for my enjoyment of her world or something? I keep looking for a DVD of CQL or a print book of MDZS in English, but no dice. Have I been overlooking another way to support her?

Hi there! :D I don’t blame you, it’s pretty hard to find stuff in english, but I have a few masterposts for you (*´▽`*)

Alas for any print editions of MDZS in english, they don’t exist (yet). AFAIK, no english publisher has the rights to it, but if you’re interested in the traditional Taiwan print edition, I have a masterpost with links here

@the-social-recluse‘s pinned post (here) is a fantastic resource on different places to stream/purchase MDZS’s various forms legally as well as sources to scanlations and fansubs etc. (there’s a buying guide for the audio drama, which I highly recommend :DDDDD)

if you are interested in the audio drama, I have a masterpost here (first link is just to an outdated version of post 2) that includes a link to a tipping guide for the audio drama team and also a link to my episode guide lol

most official merch is on taobao stores, so you can either purchase directly (though i will readily admit that navigating through it can be a Whole Ordeal + you need to be cognizant of what is/isn’t possible for them to send directly to the states -- I uh, mostly learned through trial and error RIP -- but there are guides online to help you do it!) or use an agent (I use Superbuy for certain items that can’t be sent directly). Shipping direct using their consolidation function costs around ~15USD/lb, so it can get hefty, but agent shipping is definitely more expensive. ;A; still! agents are relatively painless to use and they speak english, so, you know. ANYWAYS, if you’re interested on that front:

KAZE makes beautiful MDZS stationery items! mostly washi tapes. also sometimes stuff like mousepads, enamel pins, candles, etc. :3 do note: sealing wax, candles, pens with ink are not able to be consolidated, as I have Learned haha

Official CQL Taobao store. bit of a grab bag of CQL merch lol. please note, you can’t ship any makeup, wax, liquid etc. directly, so you’d have to use an agent for that (and I’m not sure it’s guaranteed??)

Official Donghua Merch (aimon). exactly what it says on the tin lol. keychains, plushies, knicknacks etc.

another official merch store (assortment??) this collects some items from a bunch of other official stores, including KAZE and aimon, but also has listings i haven’t seen elsewhere! there’s some really pretty jewelry (not... sure if you can send that directly, i sort of doubt it rip)

this.... is maybe a lot ahaha. if the taobao stuff is too intimidating to deal with, you can also find resellers on ebay pretty often as well. there’s also always stuff like group orders (i’ve pretty much only used OnlyDream and @shandian-go, both of whom were very good!!).

anyways!! hope you found this somewhat helpful!!

MDZS Volume 4 Annotations

Part 7, pages 236 - 266

More little clarifications and one little rant.

(Lan Wangji wouldn’t use that many words if he could help it :)

More below the cut.

Hold on. I appreciate the beautiful illustration, but you’re illustrating to me that Wen Qing, a trained doctor fully prepared to do a 30+ hour surgery, decided to just lay her patient out on the ground in the open? No tent, no table, no water? No reliable light source?

And where in the world is Jiang Cheng!?!?

MDZS Vol 2 Annotations, part 6

Here is Part 6 of my annotations of MDZS Volume 2, pages 321 - 351.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if any of my notes are too fuzzy or squiggly to read, and I'll let you know what I meant to write.

I’m reading 病案本 Bing An Ben (Case File Compendium)!

As of ch 30 (of 254), it’s reading as a super slow burn with all the usual romantic tropes, except that the two protagonists hate each other.

They work together and successfully save the day! But they hate each other.

There is only 1 bed! But they still hate each other.

Trapped on a rainy night in a cave on a romantic island with nothing but a book of love confessions and condoms! But … they hate each other.

One gets sick and the other nurses him back to health! Wait… they still hate each other?

The other gets sick and forcibly kisses the one in his delirium! … Why do they Still hate each other?

Anyway, I am enjoying it. They’ll start to like each other eventually, I’m sure.

As I’m preparing my copy of MDZS to lend out, I’m re-reading about how crazy and difficult it is to translate XianXia.

Of course, I can’t share any of these posts with my uninitiated friends, since even the Name meta contains a spoiler. Ugh!

At least I’m enjoying it. And can maybe copy-paste abridged non-spoiler versions of some of these posts :)

松风水月 masterpost

Hi I’m jing (she/they, 海外华人) 🍆 You can find my mdzs/cql meta and translation posts on this blog :) Please note that I do not allow my meta and translations to be translated, reposted, edited, reproduced (including printing, and/or the distributing of electronic and physical copies), or used commercially.

General meta related to terms used in mdzs/cql

The real meaning of 走火入魔 / “qi deviation”

The real meaning of 青山不改 绿水长流 后会有期 (cql only)

The differences between gongzi 公子 and shaoye 少爷

The differences between dizi 弟子 and mensheng 门生

The C-fandom’s nicknames for mdzs characters (novel only)

Plot meta

CQL subs critique

On the names of Lan Wangji’s bunnies (novel only)

What Jiang Fengmian might have done differently

The ideal wife, according to Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian (cql only)

The moment Nie Mingjue acted like a true Chinese parent in canon (novel only)

The 36 Stratagems in MDZS

Character meta

Jiang Cheng: Family, responsibility, and love

Lan Sizhui: What Lan Sizhui’s birth and courtesy names mean

Lan Xichen: What Shuoyue and Liebing mean

Lan Xichen: Fairness, justice, and love

3zun: Oath of fraternity

Analysis of speech patterns in mdzs from character to character

Translation notes

What really happened in the love confession scene in the Guanyin temple (novel only)

Wei Wuxian’s heart and temperament 心性

What Nie Huaisang was saying about Lan Wangji in the flower petal scene (cql only)

Lan Wangji never said “you are an awful person” to Wei Wuxian (novel only)

Misc

The meaning of “jianghu” 江湖

Using Chinese names

A short note on translation

Right panel style 右衽 and left panel style 左衽 in hanfu

Other links

🐥 Meta originally posted on Twitter 🎨 Main art tumblr ☕️ Ko-fi

The Husky and His White Cat ShiZun, volume TWO 2 二

(The one with the very pale cover)

(English 7Seas version) Notes 3 of 4

Pages 208-327

More under the cut.

Back to my Masterlist.

Stars of Chaos 杀破狼

Volume 3, Notes 5/5, Pages 358 - end

The "Imperial Censorate" here is 御史台, which is the department, not the person. Chang Geng would never slap another person in full view of the court; but he would not hesitate to admistratively slap another department if he felt it was justified.

So. The classic punishment for adultery was to be put in a pig cage and thrown into the river to drown. I don't know how I know this little bit of trivia, seeing as I was raised in the west and my only contact to Chinese culture was my very conservative Chinese mother; but I know this. Adulterers get drowned.

谋事在人，成事在天。 Plotting depends the person, success depends on the heavens. I just wanted you to know that it's symmetrical in Chinese, even though it doesn't translate that way.

The "tactlessly" here is a translation of 不长眼色， which I think could be explained better as "not reading the room" or "not taking hints."

It's not that Ge Chen is tactless so much as he is clueless to the tension between Gu Yun and Chang Geng.

In the online Chinese version that I read, the line is "Zixi! Don't go!" which explains why Chang Geng is reaching out to grab him in a panic -- he thinks Gu Yun is leaving him.

Page 382

Top: The Chinese here is "看看我说话!" which can be translated as either

-- "Look at me while I am talking to you," (though that feels weird) or -- "Look at me and speak - respond to me,"

...both of which are a little different from what is actually written in English. The "look at me when you speak" translation threw me for a second because Chang Geng isn't speaking and hasn't said anything for a while.

Bottom: Liangjiang is 两江 which is Two Rivers. (The north side and the south side of the river?)

This section is actually so pretty:

“天时地利、花前月下、水到渠成”

The perfect time (天时) and place (地利); in front of the flowers (花前) and under the moon (月下); when success is assured (where water flows (水到) a canal will inevitably form (渠成)).

Carriage Door. The carriage door opened, and out came Shen Yi. He had hitched a ride with Miss Chen so that he could leave his home unnoticed.

(When I read the English, I thought that the door was the courtyard door and got really confused.)

----

And that's it for Volume 3!

I love 杀破狼 <3

My DanMei Literary Adventure Masterpost

Stars of Chaos - All Notes Links

Here is Part 2 of my annotations of First Edition MDZS, Volume 1, pages 87 - 147.