60ty's strolling

Better to Die on the Branch: the verse she used to answer an emperor The painter who left out the ground Sometime after 1279, a Chinese painter named Zheng Sixiao began producing ink orchids with no soil beneath them. The flowers float. The roots hang in white space. When people asked why, he is said to have answered: the land has been taken — did you not know? The Song dynasty had fallen to the Mongols. Zheng Sixiao, who had…

“Smoke Opium and Stay Quiet”: The Jiang Family of Gold Leaf, and Filial Piety Without Blood Introduction The Taiwanese drama Gold Leaf (茶金) takes its inspiration from a real tea merchant: Jiang Axin (1901–1982) of Beipu, Hsinchu. But you cannot tell this family’s story with Jiang Axin alone. Put his father and his daughter’s husband beside him, and a shape appears. None of the three was born a Jiang. All three were brought into the house from outside, by adoption,…

The Lesser Jade: Huanbi, the Sister Who Was a Servant This is the companion piece promised in “[The Real Prince Guo (Yunli)]” — a look at the historical model behind Huanbi. Her model is Prince Guo’s dijin, his primary consort. And the historical primary consort is said to have come from a family connected to the clan of Zhen Huan’s own model, Empress Xiaoshengxian — or to the line of the Ulanara empress. (Accounts of her clan differ; see “[The…

The Chinese historical drama *Empresses in the Palace* (甄嬛伝) won a huge following — and the name of its heroine, “Zhen Huan” (甄嬛), in fact carries a deep literary background and an aesthetic all its own. This time, let’s trace where this beautiful name comes from, back through classical poetry.  The image of beauty folded into the surname “Zhen” The surname “Zhen” (甄) calls to mind Zhen Mi (甄宓, zhēn mì), the peerless beauty of the late Han. Zhen Mi…

Was Ruyi a Real Person? Short answer Yes. Ruyi is based on a real woman: Lady Nara (1718–1766), the second empress of the Qianlong Emperor, known to history as the Step Empress (继皇后). Her real name was not Ruyi. In 1765 she cut her hair during the emperor’s southern tour, lost his favor, and died the next year — the only Qing empress never given a posthumous title. The same woman also appears as Consort Xian in Story of Yanxi…

Why the Tiger Tally Never Came to Japan This piece continues from [Jade Gui, Bi, and Yue: The Jade Regalia of Rule], where I traced how the yue —the ceremonial axe—stood for the right to move an army. Here I follow that right forward, into the Warring States, where China turned it into something with the opposite logic: the tiger tally. And I follow it as a foreigner, because I am Japanese, and the tiger tally is the one Chinese…

> A note on what this is: an essay built on a single idea — that calligraphy is a portrait of the person who holds the brush — traced across the emperors and princes of the Qing dynasty. It begins with a scroll I saw in Shimonoseki, Japan, and ends with Kawashima Yoshiko’s father. Related pieces: [Li Hongzhang — The Scroll at Shimonoseki], [Prince Su (Shanqi) — The Qing Royal Who Chose Japan], [Kawashima Yoshiko], [Pujie and Saga Hiro —…

Four Words That Break What English Does to a Chinese Court — notes from translating a Warring States life I spent several weeks writing about a woman who rose from the entertainer households of Handan to become Queen Dowager of Zhao, and then helped destroy the state by having its finest general killed. She died around 228 BCE. History calls her the Chang Consort. Writing her in Japanese was difficult. Writing her in English turned out to be a different…

Queen Daochang of Zhao (趙悼倡后), also known as Lady Chang or Queen Chang, was the consort of King Daoxiang of Zhao and the mother of King Qian, the last king to rule from Handan. Born into an entertainer household, she rose to Queen Dowager, took Qin’s gold, and helped destroy Li Mu — the general who was Zhao’s last defence. Three months later, Zhao fell. Readers of Kingdom know her as a villain of the Zhao court, and the histories…

This article continues the story begun in “[Posthumous Names],” and stands as one worked example of the series’ opening piece, “[History Is Written by the Victors].” In the manga Kingdom, Zhao Qian appears as the strange, unstable king of Zhao — the state’s very last ruler. The history books dismiss him in a word: benighted, a fool. But read the single poem he is said to have composed in his place of exile, and you find something else: a man…

Li Mu (李牧) — known as Ri Boku in the manga and anime Kingdom — was a general of the state of Zhao in China’s Warring States period and one of its Four Great Generals. He never lost a battle. In 229 BCE, his own king had him executed on a charge of rebellion, after Qin bribed the courtier Guo Kai. Three months later, Zhao’s capital Handan fell. Quick facts Died: 229 BCE, executed on the order of King Qian…

Wei Yingluo in Real Life: Who Was Wei Jiashi?” Was Wei Yingluo a real person? Yes. The heroine of Story of Yanxi Palace (sometimes spelled Wei Ying Luo) is based on a real woman: Qianlong’s Consort Ling, Wei Jiashi (1727–1775). So is Wei Yanwan, the villainess of Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace: two dramas, one historical person. She rose from a bondservant family to Imperial Noble Consort, gave birth to the future Jiaqing Emperor, and was made empress only…