#Shenzhou nine | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yamayuandadu · 1 month

Text

"Nine-headed hermit": the early history of Zhong Kui (and his sister)

Gong Kai's painting Zhongshan Going on Excursion, showing Zhong Kui, his sister and various demons during a journey (wikimedia commons) Zhong Kui is probably one of the most recognizable figures from Chinese mythology today and continues to star in novels, movies and other works. However, his modern image largely depends on sources the Ming and Qing periods. In this article, I’ll attempt to instead shed some light on some lesser known aspects of his earlier history. You will be able to learn why he was called a “nine headed hermit” despite having only one head, what he had to do with foxes, when his sister was portrayed as an exorcist like him, and more. As a bonus, I’ve included a brief summary of Zhong Kui’s reception in medieval Japan.

The earliest history of Zhong Kui

Zhong Kui’s history goes all the way back to the Zhou period (most of the first millennium BCE). A homophone of his name (鍾馗), zhongkui (終葵; also zhongzui, 終椎) at the time referred to a type of ritual mallet used to expel demons. During the Six Dynasties period first cases of this term (now written as 鍾馗 ori 鍾葵) being used as a personal name start to pop up. The purpose was most likely to confer the protection granted by such objects to a child just through their name. Numerous cases are attested, and it doesn’t seem the bearers of the moniker Zhong Kui can be distinguished by a specific origin, social class or even gender. The earliest possible reference to a specific supernatural being named Zhong Kui comes from the Taishang Dongyuan Shenzhou Jing (太上洞淵神咒經; “Scripture of the Divine Incantations of the Abyssal Caverns of the Most High”), a Daoist work possibly composed as early as in the fourth century. The oldest surviving copy of the passage concerning Zhong Kui has been identified in a copy from Dunhuang dated to 664. He appears in it as an assistant of king Wu of Zhou and Confucius (sic) who helps them subjugate ghosts and disease demons. It is not impossible that to the compilers of Taishang Dongyuan Shenzhou Jing Zhong Kui was only a stand-in for an exorcist, though, not a single well defined figure. There’s an eyewitness account of such specialists dressing up in leopard skins, painting their faces red and announcing they are Zhong Kui in another, slightly newer Dunhuang text. It specifies that many Zhong Kui exist, and that they answer to the “General of Five Paths”, an originally apocryphal Buddhist figure eventually canonized as one of the kings of hell (you can find an excellent article about him here). In any case, regardless of the clear evidence for ambiguous use of the term in earlier times, it is agreed Zhong Kui became a well defined figure by the end of the Tang period. That’s also when legends about his origin started to circulate.

The legend of Zhong Kui

A typical depiction of Zhong Kui as a Tang period official by the Qing period artist Lü Xue (wikimedia commons)

According to the most popular version of Zhong Kui’s origin story, he was a scholar from the Zhongnan Mountains who lived during the reign of Gaozu of Tang (reigned 618-626). He took part either in the imperial examination or the imperial military examination (that’s an ahistorical detail - it was established by Wu Zetian in 702), but failed. This detail is not elaborated upon further in early accounts, but by the Ming period it was attributed not to lack of skill but rather to prejudice against Zhong Kui’s physical appearance (he is fairly consistently described as dark-skinned, unusually tall, with a bulbous head and excessive facial hair). It’s possible that this new backstory was based in part on experiences of real officials of foreign origin, whose appearance was sometimes mocked by their peers, as already documented in Tang sources. Another possibility is that the descriptions were meant to be exaggerated to the point of making him resemble a demon, though. Either way, out of despair caused by failure Zjong Kui committed suicide by smashing his head against the steps leading to the imperial palace. However, since in his final words he swore to protect the emperor and his realm, he didn’t return as a vengeful ghost, but rather as a queller of malevolent supernatural entities. Alternatively, he took this role out of gratitude for Gaozu, who was saddened by his death and organized the burial worthy of an honored official for him. Note that in later plays which often serve as the basis for modern adaptations, the burial is typically arranged by a certain Du Ping (杜平), a friend of Zhong Kui from back home. Apparently a version in which the kings of hell are so impressed by Zhong Kui that they decide to make him the king of the ghosts also exists, though I was unable to track down its original source. In any case, he is associated with Mount Fengdu - one of the terms referring to the realm of the dead - in a poem by Song Wu (宋无; 1260–1340) already. He, or at least generic clerk figures based on his iconography, also sometimes appear in Song period paintings of the Ten Kings.

Several Zhong Kui-like clerks from a depiction of hell in Sermon on Mani's Teaching of Salvation (wikimedia commons)

According to Shih-shan Huang a single example of such a figure has even been identified in a Manichaean context, specifically in the scroll Sermon on Mani’s Teaching on Salvation.

Manichaean curiosities aside, supposedly the first person to be aided by Zhong Kui was emperor Xuanzong of Tang. At some point he fell gravely ill. In a dream, he saw a demon who attempted to steal a flute which was one of his most prized possessions. However, the attempt was foiled by a fearsome giant, who dealt with the thief rather brutally, poking out one of his eyes and then devouring him. After completing this act of demon quelling, he explained that he is Zhong Kui, and how he came to fulfill his current role. After waking up, Xuanzong felt healthy again. He was so impressed he commissioned Wu Daozi, arguably the most famous artist in China at the time, to prepare a painting of Zhong Kui which could be used as a talisman against any further supernatural issues. Supposedly it left quite the impression on the general populace, and soon numerous images of Zhong Kui started to be distributed as talismans. There is definitely a kernel of truth to this part of the legend, as eyewitness accounts of Wu Daozi’s painting exist, but the work itself is lost. As a side note, it’s worth pointing out the flute thief demon, despite meeting a gruesome end here, enjoyed a literary afterlife of his own. A certain Li Mingfeng (李鳴鳳), the author of a colophon on one of the earliest surviving Zhong Kui paintings, suggests that the (in)famous rebel An Lushan might have been a reincarnation of this specific entity. While I am not aware of any other attempts at providing him with a backstory, in Ming period retellings of the legend, he received a name, Xu Hao (虛耗).

Zhong Kui’s later career

Zhong Kui’s popularity grew after the Tang period, and he arguably eclipsed figures such as the fangxiang (方相) or the baize (白沢) as the demon queller par excellence. Legends about his origin and his first notable act of demon quelling which I summarized above spread far and wide during the reign of the Song dynasty. After becoming a well defined figure, Zhong Kui came to be most commonly classified as a ghost (鬼; gui). In texts from the Song and Yuan periods he is often labeled more specifically as a “big ghost” (大鬼, dagui) or “ghost hero” (鬼雄, guixiong). However, his popularity effectively made him a god in popular imagination, and as a matter of fact he is referred to as such. His divinity is not exactly conventional, though. This topic is addressed in Fu Lu Shou Xianguan Qinghui 福祿壽仙官慶會 (The Immortal Officials of Happiness, Wealth and Longevity Gather in Celebration) by the Ming playwright Zhu Youdun (朱有燉; 1379-1435). Zhong Kui says himself that unlike his peers, he has no festival to call his own, and receives no regular offerings - and yet, he still vanquishes malicious entities on behalf of humans as long as talismans showing him continue to be distributed.

Interestingly, despite his long career in texts, no images of Zhong Kui older than the thirteenth century are known. This is mostly a matter of selective preservation, though - we know that depictions of him existed as early as in the ninth century, and that they were mass produced, presumably as woodblock prints, in the tenth. However, he didn’t necessarily look similar to his modern depictions. He actually only came to be depicted as a Tang scholar in the Song period. It seems earlier his costume might have varied. One thing which seemingly remained consistent when it comes to Zhong Kui’s appearance is his facial hair. This feature is even emphasized in many of his epithets, such as “Old Beard” (老髯, Lao Ran), “Bearded Elder” (髯翁, Ran Wong) or “Bearded Lord” (髯君, Ran Jun). It’s possible that this was initially a way to highlight his vitality and his opposition to disease-causing demons. Tang and Song sources indicate the state of facial hair could be viewed as an indicator of health. There’s even a handful of peculiar anecdotes about certain emperors, like Taizong of Tang or Renzong of Song, believing their facial hair has supernatural healing powers and offering ailing courtiers concoctions in which it was one of the ingredients. There’s no evidence Zhong Kui’s hair was ever believed to serve a similar purpose, though. Not all of Zhong Kui’s titles revolve around his beard, though. An interesting example is “Nine-Headed Hermit” (九首山人). The intent isn’t to imply he has nine heads, it’s a multilayered pun instead. The character 馗 in Zhong Kui’s name is a combination of 九, “nine”, and 首, “head”. Referring to him as a “hermit”, literally “man of the mountain”, is likely supposed to show that he traverses areas traditionally believed to be inhabited by demons.

The nine-headed snake Xiangliu (wikimedia commons)

Chun-Yi Tsai suggests that this title also highlights Zhong Kui’s physical prowess by implicitly evoking “a nine-headed serpent known for its tremendous strength in Guideways through Mountains and Seas” (presumably Xiangliu).

Zhong Kui’s strength lets him punish his enemies in various unexpectedly creative ways. The earliest sources already mention he could grind vanquished demons in a mill, for instance. References to eating them are particularly common. Depending on the source, Zhong Kui might simply devour them whole, hunt and prepare them like game animals, chop them up to pickle them, mince them to prepare meat snacks, squeeze them to make juice and wine, and so on. Such comedically gruesome descriptions are generally limited to textual sources, since violence was rarely depicted in other mediums, even in relation to military topics. Wu Daozi’s lost painting was apparently one of the exceptions, as according to a tenth century description it showed Zhong Kui gouging out the eyes of the captured demon.

Zhong Kui’s sister and other assistants

While Zhong Kui is often depicted in the company of nondescript demons, there are relatively few recurring figures associated with him. The main exception is his sister. The Song period painter Gong Kai (龔開) and his contemporary Li Mingfeng (李鳴鳳) simply refer to her as Amei (阿妹), literally “younger sister”, though here it’s apparently a personal name, following Chun-yi Tsai’s interpretation. Her origin is unknown, and she is not present in any of the early variants of the legend.

Zhong Kui Marrying Off His Sister (wikimedia commons)

Today Zhong Kui’s sister is known chiefly from works of art in various mediums which can be broadly subsumed under the label “Zhong Kui marrying off his sister” (鍾馗嫁妹, Zhong Kui jiamei) which proliferated through the Ming and Qing periods. This label is sometimes applied to earlier paintings too, for example Zhong Kui Marrying Off His Sister (鍾馗嫁妹圖, Zhong Kui jiamei tu) is the conventional modern title of a scroll attributed to the poorly known painter Yan Geng (顏庚). A colophon from the Ming period describing this work calls the figure presumed to be Zhong Kui’s sister Ayi (阿姨; an informal way to refer a maternal aunt) as opposed to Amei. Chun-yi Tsai states it is not impossible that the woman is supposed to be Zhong Kui’s wife, rather than his sister, though. The painting can be dated to the Yuan period, and there is no evidence for the story of Zhong Kui marrying off his sister before the Ming plays - granted, it is not impossible that it was already in circulation earlier. Still, other paintings showing Zhong Kui marrying off his sister only date to the Qing period. Additionally, the procession might be a parody of paintings showing rural marriages or couples moving to a new house.

While as far as I am aware this eventually went out of fashion, in early sources Zhong Kui’s sister could be portrayed as an exorcist herself. An example can be found in one of the sermons of the Chan monk Yuanwu (圓悟; 1063–1135), in which he states that celebrations on the “Double Fifth” (端午節, duanwu jie) - the fifth day of the fifth month - involved a dance of “Zhong Kui and his little sister”. A reference to performers dressed up as the pair (as well as kings of hell, gods of soil and stove, various warrior deities and more) has alsobeen identified in an account of celebrations in Kaifeng from the end of the reign of the Northern Song dynasty.

Similar evidence can be found in art too. For example, Zheng Yuanyou (鄭元祐; 1292-1364) in a poem inspired by a painting titled Zhong Kui’s Sister (馗妹圖; as far as I am aware, this work has not been identified) states that she travels alongside her brother, that she’s armed with a sword, and that demons fear her. A related portrayal of her is known from a critical review of the works of Si Yizhen (姒頤真), a Song dynasty painter. According to Gong Kai, in one of his paintings she is shown in tattered (or unbuttoned - the term used, 披襟, can mean both) clothes, and chases away a boar attacking her brother. He was evidently not fond of this innovation, and criticizes it as “vulgar” and inappropriate. It needs to be stressed that Gong Kai’s displeasure wasn’t necessarily tied to presenting Zhong Kui’s sister as a demon queller, though. In fact, he is actually the author of the most famous work portraying her in this role.

Gong Kai's take on Zhong Kui's sister and her attendants (wikimedia commons; cropped for the ease of viewing)

Gong Kai depicted Amei in unusual black makeup, which is also worn by female demons accompanying her (note the one carrying a kitty!). This might be a parody of the sanbai (三白; “three whites”) face painting popular in the Song period. She and her attendants wear robes decorated with depictions of the “five poisons” (五毒), a term referring to animals perceived as particularly dangerous and inauspicious. The exact list varies, though centipedes, scorpions and snakes in particular are mainstays. The five poisons are directly associated with Zhong Kui, as he can be invoked to ward them off. Direct evidence first appears in the Qing period in accounts of the well known Dragon Boat Festival, but it’s not impossible this was an earlier development.

It is presumed that Gong Kai’s painting might depict Zhong Kui and Amei looking for a demonic version of Yang Guifei, as indicated by various hints in colophons. Her portrayals in art are quite diverse, but attributing demonic traits to her would be hardly unparalleled - she could even be described as a “palace demon” (宮妖, gong yao). The decline of the Tang dynasty was blamed on her, and metaphorically she might have been invoked to criticize other people believed to improperly use the power granted to them by the imperial court.

Gong Kai’s painting also depicts a less recurring member of Zhong Kui’s entourage. One of the demons carries a fox, specifically a nine-tailed specimen. The association between this animal and Zhong Kui goes all the way back to the early Tang period. In one of the Dunhuang manuscripts, the demon queller’s entourage includes a nine-tailed fox and a baize, who acted as bringers of good luck alongside him. It’s also worth pointing out that in another text from the same site, his mount during the hunt for a wangliang (魍魎; I will likely cover this entity a future article, stay tuned) is a “wild fox”. Chun-Yi Tsai attributes the inclusion of a nine-tailed fox among Zhong Kui’s servants as a “family pet” of sorts to the portrayals of this supernatural creature both as an apotropaic antidote to poison (including the five poisons) and as a demon in its own right. It would be a suitable member of Zhong Kui’s entourage both as a conquered malevolent being and as an amplifier for his exorcistic, protective power. A further possibility is that the association is the result of wordplay. A new year celebration involving a procession of people dressed up as members of Zhong Kui’s entourage, including his sister and various supernatural attendants, was known as dayehu (打夜胡). The homphony between 胡 and 狐, “fox”, might have resulted in the inclusion of the animal among the helpers.

Post scriptum: Zhong Kui in Japan

Zhong Kui, as depicted in Extermination of Evil (wikimedia commons)

Zhong Kui - or rather Shōki, following the Japanese reading of his name - probably reached Japan in the Insei period. Many other figures originating in China reached a considerable degree of popularity in Japan at roughly the same time - Taishan Fujun, Siming, Wudao Dashen, Pangu, Shennong, the examples keep piling up.

The oldest known Japanese depiction of Zhong Kui, which you can see above, is a painting from the twelfth century set known as Extermination of Evil. It might look a bit outlandish compared to most of the other depictions shown through this article, but I was able to locate a very close Chinese parallel:

A Yuan period depiction of Zhong Kui from the collection of the Beijing Library, via Richard von Glahn’s Sinister Way. Reproduced here for educational purposes only.

This is a Yuan period illustration said to be based on Wu Daozi’s painting. Zhong Kui doesn’t look like a Tang scholar yet, and the jacket and wide-brimmed hat are remarkably similar. It seems safe to assume that the Japanese painter was following a similar model - presumably one of the many now lost early depictions of Zhong Kui. Slightly antiquated iconography surviving far away from the core area associated with a specific figure would hardly be unparalleled - it has been recently suggested that the baize/hakutaku is a similar case, with Japanese depictions and descriptions matching Tang sources fairly closely, but missing the elements which developed in the Song period or later. For the most part, Zhong Kui fulfilled a similar role in Japan as in China: he was regarded as a fearsome demon queller, and images representing him were distributed for apotropaic purposes. However, it’s also important to note that there were certain innovations. He arrived in Japan at the brink of the middle ages - theologically speaking an era of unparalleled innovation, during which both native and imported figures were interpreted in unexpected ways, leading to the rise of a new “medieval mythology”. Zhong Kui was hardly an exception from this trend. A “medieval myth” involving Zhong Kui is known from Hoki Naiden (ほき内伝; “Inner Tradition of the Square and the Round Offering Vessels”), an onmyōdō treatise traditionally attributed to Abe no Seimei, but most likely written by one of his descendants in the fourteenth century. Curiously, Zhong Kui’s name is written in it as 商貴 instead of the expected 鍾馗.

Tenkeisei (wikimedia commons)

In the Hoki Naiden, Zhong Kui is still a queller of malevolent supernatural beings. However, instead of being a scorned scholar, he is a yaksha who became the ruler of Rājagṛha, a city in India. He is said to correspond to both the medieval Japanese deity Gozu Tennō (牛頭天王), and to his celestial “double” Tenkeisei (天刑星; from Chinese Tianxingxing), the “star of heavenly punishment” (I covered him here). They are said to be his manifestations respectively on earth and in heaven. This equation might seem random at first glance, but both of them actually had a lot in common with Zhong Kui: all three were believed to keep demons, especially those causing diseases, in check. Curiously, the reinterpretation of Zhong Kui as a yaksha turned king can also be found in the Genkō Shakusho (元亨釈書), a Kamakura period Buddhist history book. However, I am not aware of any studies examining it in more detail. I assume identifying him as a yaksha was a result of association with Gozu Tennō (I briefly discussed his yaksha credentials here), rather than the other way around, though.

While Hoki Naiden ultimately pertains more to medieval than modern religion, it’s worth noting that an unconventional take on Zhong Kui is still part of an extant tradition. Through history, Zhong Kui could be identified as a dōsojin (道祖神). This term denotes a class of deities meant to protect roads, crossroads and borders of villages. In parts of the Niigata prefecture this form of him is sometimes referred to as Shōki Daimyōjin (鍾馗大明神) today.

Bibliography

Joshua Capitanio, Epidemics and Plague in Premodern Chinese Buddhism

Bernard Faure, Rage and Ravage (Gods of Medieval Japan vol. 3)

Richard von Glahn, The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture

Shih-shan Susan Huang, Picturing the True Form. Daoist Visual Culture in Traditional China

Wilt Idema & Stephen H. West, Zhong Kui at Work: A Complete Translation of The Immortal Officials Of Happiness, Wealth, and Longevity Gather in Celebration , by Zhu Youdun (1379–1439)

Chun-Yi Joyce Tsai, Imagining the Supernatural Grotesque: Paintings of Zhong Kui and Demons in the Late Southern Song (1127-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) Dynasties

#zhong kui #chinese mythology #chinese literature #japanese mythology

54 notes · View notes

the-monkey-ruler · 8 months

Text

Westward Journey Online II (2002) 大话西游2经典版

Date: August 15, 2002 / August 07, 2015 Uncoded test Platform: PC Developer: NetEase Publisher: NetEase Genre: Turn-Based Theme: Fantasy Franchises: Westward Journey Online Aliases: New Westward Journey 2 / Westward Journey 2 Classic Edition Type: Reimanging

Summary:

Since Pangu opened up the world, the heavens are divided into three realms, and the earth is divided into four continents. All ethnic groups coexist in Dongsheng Shenzhou, Xiniu Hezhou, Nanzhanbuzhou, and Beijuluzhou, thus determining the pattern of heaven and earth. All species originally coexisted peacefully: The immortal clan ruled and dominated everything from above, the human race admired the brilliance of the gods and reproduced endlessly, the demon clan was always sealed in the darkness and lived stubbornly but arrogantly, the ghost clan continued the cycle of yin and yang, and lived freely in the underworld... all things in the cycle of reincarnated endlessly, and tens of thousands of years of time flow like water.

However, an accident 13,000 years ago caused the Demon Race to invade the Immortal Race, disrupting the order of the entire world, and the Ghost Race gradually became stronger. According to the historical records of the Heavenly Court: On the day when the demons slaughtered the immortals, the sky and the earth changed color, the sun and the moon were dimmed, the terrain of the invasion was like a broken bamboo, and the guards of the Heavenly Court were like fallen leaves in a strong wind... It can be seen that the degree of tragedy is extraordinary. After this battle, the dominance of the fairy clan was also shaken, and the sealed demon clan began to wait for an opportunity to come out. Wrathful ghosts and wild ghosts were everywhere in the land of Shenzhou, monsters are reborn, and it is even more difficult for mortals to resist the demons in their hearts as hate and killing fill the world. In the human world and the underworld, ghosts gathered for a while, and the ghost clan gradually awakened in the chaos of war and came to the Three Realms.

In a blink of an eye, it was the Tang Dynasty. It is said that one day, the Tathagata Buddha summoned all the Buddhas, Arrows, Jiedi, Bodhisattvas, arhats, monks, and nuns in the Daleiyin Temple of Lingshan to give lectures on the Dharma. He talked about the great numbers of the world and the good and evil of all living beings. Immediately, his compassion arose, so he summoned Guanshiyin Bodhisattva from the South China Sea, saying that there is a Tripitaka of Mahayana Buddhism, which can transcend the souls of the dead, free them from suffering, and make life and body invincible. However, those who have a predestined relationship with Buddha need to pray sincerely and overcome ninety-nine and eighty-one difficulties. Only by getting rid of the shackles of the physical body can he retrieve it; then he uses this scripture to pass on to the Eastern Tang Dynasty, and it can relieve the calamity between heaven and earth. So Guanyin enlightened the Buddhist monks to go west to learn Buddhist scriptures. Helplessly, the world has been determined, and the path to learn from the scriptures is doomed to be full of hardships.

At this time when the world is full of numbers, when immortals, humans, demons, and ghosts coexist in the world, you were born in a fishing village on the shore of the East China Sea that gathers the essence of heaven and earth, the aura of mountains and rivers, and talented people come forth in large numbers. People in the village say those who are born here are the people of destiny who shoulder the important task of resolving the great numbers in the world. So, you are on your way.

Source: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A7%E8%AF%9D%E8%A5%BF%E6%B8%B82%E7%BB%8F%E5%85%B8%E7%89%88?fromModule=lemma_search-box

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNeQlXej8YE&ab_channel=thitramy https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1aN4y177F5/ https://xy2.163.com/

#Westward Journey Online II #大话西游2经典版 #大话西游2 #NetEase #jttw media #jttw game #game #video game #reimagining #continuation #sun wukong #six eared macaque

35 notes · View notes

tendaysofrain · 2 years

Text

“Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month” (八月十五夜) Translation

(Another Mid-Autumn Festival, happy Mooncake Day to all! This post is a bit late but considering how swamped I am with work and life, it’s a miracle I remembered to post here lol....anyway please enjoy!)

Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month (1)

By Yin Wengui (Tang dynasty, 9th century-early 10th century)

Cloudless clear heavens a mirror over the land (2),

Most perfect time for reunions (3) is Mid-Autumn.

Moonlight clinging to my garments a frosty iridescence,

And over the earth an aqueous brillance ready to flow.

Mountainous shadows in the distance chilly with dew,

Raging winds over yonder capping the waves with white.

Since you (4) illuminated my heart’s true thoughts,

The anxious man may have a carefree eve.

—————————-

Notes:

Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the fifteeth day of the eighth month in the lunar calender.

“The land” here is “九州” (Pinyin: jiu3 zhou1) in Chinese, which literally means “nine provinces”. This is a reference to the nine original provinces that were said to make up ancient China pre-Warring States. Since the Warring States period (476-221 BC), the term “jiuzhou” is taken to mean “all of China”, hence my translation of “the land”. Synonyms include 神州/Shenzhou and 中土/Zhongtu. Not to be confused with the Japanese Kyushu, since Kyushu refers to a specific island within Japan, and Jiuzhou is a broad term for the entirety of China.

Reunion here is “团圆/團圓 ” (Pinyin: tuan2 yuan2) in Chinese, where both characters in the word denote “roundness”, and the full moon on the night of the festival is also round. This is partly why the Mid-Autumn Festival is regarded as a holiday for family and friend gatherings.

Here “you” can be interpreted to mean either the moon or a person.

—————————-

Original Text (Traditional Chinese):

《八月十五夜》

[唐] 殷文圭

萬里無雲鏡九州，最團圓夜是中秋。

滿衣冰彩拂不落，遍地水光凝欲流。

華嶽影寒清露掌，海門風急白潮頭。

因君照我丹心事，減得愁人一夕愁。

#my translation #Night of the Fifteenth of the Eighth Month #chinese poetry #poetry #mid autumn festival #midautumnfestival #happy mid autumn festival #八月十五夜 #殷文圭 #中秋节 #中秋节快乐

119 notes · View notes

bizarrequazar · 2 years

Text

GJ and ZZH Updates — June 05-11 (nice)

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This is part of a weekly series collecting updates from and relating to Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan.

This post is not wholly comprehensive and is intended as an overview, links provided lead to further details. Dates are in accordance with China Standard Time, the organization is chronological. My own biases on some things are reflected here. Anything I include that is not concretely known is indicated as such, and you’re welcome to do your own research and draw your own conclusions as you see fit. A glossary of names and terms often used can be found [here]. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or additions. :)

06-05 → Filming for Go Fighting! continued with Gong Jun now in all black :x

→ Gong Jun’s studio Weibo reposted a video from People’s Daily about a rocket launch. Caption: “Wishing our Shenzhou 14 crew all the best, looking forward to the triumph!” (mtl)

→ A Twitter space was held between Naan, Qilin88, _zuokanyunshu, and clownfactories, with clownfactories there as a marketing professional to explain and discuss how endorsement agreements works. It’s 3 hours long but extremely informative, going into topics such as the endoresement terminations in August, the use of CP elements in advertising, and how involved Gong Jun likely is in the ads released by his endorsements. [summary notes]

→ QuelleVous recieved news that the umbrella behind CAPA has been replaced. This is a very good sign.

06-06 → Last day of filming Go Fighting!. During a break, Gong Jun gave some extra watermelon to fans who were watching. [videos]

→ Honor posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun announcing activities at their offline stores from 06-07 to 06-10 to celebrate the anniversary of their endorsement.

→ Hsu Fu Chi posted four photo ads featuring Gong Jun. They later posted nine more. Fan Observation: Almost definitely a coincidence, but the timing is interesting given what was said about the brand during the previous evening’s Twitter space...

→ Honor posted a video spoken by Gong Jun promoting their product and wishing students luck on their entrance exams.

→ KFC posted a collection of illustrated ads, the first of which looks strikingly like Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan seen from behind. The text on the image ends with, “let’s come back together.” Fan Observation: The ad looks a lot like what Zhang Zhehan said in an interview last year would be his perfect life. 🥺

→ We Are The Champions released a trailer for their upcoming season featuring Gong Jun. [cut of Gong Jun’s parts] WeTV’s Twitter later posted promotional images for it. Fan Observation: This was filmed last July.

→ Vox released an article written by the notorious fandom flamer Aja Romano about the Instagram deepfake controversy, painting fans who are critical of the videos and account as tinhat conspiracy theorists. The article also said that Zhang Zhehan entered the shrine (later edited out), and that most Chinese fans have moved on—both statements are obviously blatantly false. I will not be linking the article and I do not recommend giving it further traffic.

06-07 → Gong Jun posted the Honor commercial previously released on 05-30 to his personal Weibo. This was reposted by MUJOSH, 361°, LockNLock, and Baidu APP’s Weibo accounts with comments celebrating and promoting him and the product. Gong Jun later also posted part of the commercial to his Douyin.

→ Colgate posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

→ Kangshifu posted three photo ads feauturing Gong Jun, wishing students luck on their exams.

→ KFC posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun, wishing students luck on their exams.

→ Gong Jun posted four photos of himself to his personal Weibo. Caption: “Keep up the good work tomorrow, do your best! ! !” This was reposted by Colgate.

→ Fresh posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun.

06-08 → We Are The Champions posted a solo trailer of Gong Jun.

→ Bluebird posted an audio analysis of a video posted by Xie Yihua on 05-11 of “Zhang Zhehan” on the Great Wall. The analysis shows distinct signs of editing, most prominently in the fact that there are no sounds of him breathing.

→ 361° posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun, wishing students luck on their exams.

06-09 → The Instagram posted another photo, this one found to have been taken in Chongqing. It was probably taken in 2019, [source] [source], further evidenced by the fact that stores in the background no longer exist. Caption: “The entrance examinations are over 🔚 Go to the streets and alleys to find food”

→ 361° posted a commercial featuring Gong Jun for the launching of their new line in partnership with him. (1129 kadian) Caption: “Every hot youth has its own secret. Some people hide on desks, some people hide in notes, and some people hide in their hearts. It's another year of graduation season, does anyone still remember those secrets about youth?” (mtl) [purchase links for the new line] Fan Observation: - According to the brand’s livestreamer, the design supposedly designed by Gong Jun means, “Love surrounds you, you are my whole world, as far as the eye can see is you.” - The line’s advertisements includes one rather interesting photo (left):

→ We Are The Champions posted another preview.

→ Gong Jun posted six photos of himself cooking and the food he cooked to this personal Weibo. Caption: “Went home! Learned two dishes [3 dog emojis]” He left a comment on the post with a screenshot of the recipe and the comment, “A brief introduction [dog emoji]” The photos were reposted by Mengniu, Downy, Colgate, BEAST, MARRSGREEN, LockNLock, and Kangshifu, the products of which are all visible in the photos.

He also posted three of the photos to his Instagram with the same caption, except specifying “Sichaun dishes” and without the emojis, and four of the photos and the recipe to his Xiao Hong Shu with the caption “Hahahaha back home!”

Fan Observations: - One of the dishes appears to be fried duck intestines. (There was a whole saga last fall about Gong Jun having an auntie staying with him in Hengdian who made him fried duck intestines. Some suspect the “auntie” was actually Zhang Zhehan.) [Here] is a translation of the recipe. - There are five pairs of chopsticks at the table: one for him, one for his father, one for his mother, one for his grandmother, and one for...? - 06-09 is 05-11 on the lunar calendar. Addition 07-30: Second and third 浅, second only counting Weibo.

→ 361° posted three photo ads featuring Gong Jun wearing their new line.

06-10 → A case study was posted by Beijing Xingquan law firm, the firm that represented Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun last year, about the illegal use of a public figure’s name and image in advertising. [translation]

→ LockNLock posted a commercial featuring Gong Jun. (1129 kadian) The caption includes “Want to have the company of Junjun's fun house and fun waves (浪)?” They also later posted a photo ad advertising their deals for 618 (shopping festival).

→ Xu Lin was announced as the new head of the NRTA, replacing Nie Chenxi who has reached retirement age.

→ WeTV posted the trailer for We Are The Champions previously posted by the show itself on the 6th to their Twitter with English subtitles.

→ 361° posted another short commercial featuring Gong Jun. Caption: “Keep loving the original intention and start the next journey. Follow @ Gong Jun Simon to explore the new trajectory of life and witness a better us.” (mtl)

06-11 → A Twitter space was held discussing Golden Shield, procedural justice, and Zhang Zhehan’s case. [written notes] QuelleVous followed up with two threads about Golden Shield [here] and [here].

→ Addition 06-12: Word of Honor’s opening song, Tian Wen, was used in a “guess the song” game on Hello Saturday! The actor who guessed it was Liu Yuning, the original performer of the song who will also be co-starring in Gong Jun’s upcoming drama Legend of AnLe. [subs of the spoken part] [comments by some fans on Weibo]

→ Mengniu posted a video with photos and a voice over featuring Gong Jun. Caption: “❗ Summer is unbearable and in urgent need of inspiration to cool off?Your good mood🍃 has been "gong" for a long time! Just tomorrow 😎, Mengniu 💚 and the spokesperson @ Gong Jun Simon will join hands with a mysterious partner to bring you a new energy of summer healing. Want to know exactly what kind of sparks will burst, stay tuned and don't stop!”

→ 361° posted a photo ad featuring Gong Jun. (1129 kadian) Caption: “Hold on to your love and live up to your expectations. The time devoted to love will not be let down! ... Let your love story ignite more people's youthful memories~”

→ We Are The Champions posted a clip of Gong Jun. They also later posted a promo image of him.

→ Gong Jun posted three promo images for We Are The Champions to his personal Weibo. (12:19, 1129 kadian) Caption: “Daily three questions: Is your mobile phone fully charged today? Did you sigh today? Is Zhao Yun ‘covered’ today?”

→ The first episode of We Are The Champions aired, available with auto-translated subs. [Here] is a thread explaining the game being played.

→ Honor posted a video spoken by Gong Jun for a deal on their new product. (14:11, 511 kadian) Fan Observation: There’s an odd amount of jump cuts, these videos are usually only a couple takes at most.

Additional Reading: → Flora’s daily fan news thread

<<< previous week || all posts || following week >>>

This post was last edited 2022-07-30.

#I'm (almost) on time this week!#Zhang Zhehan #Gong Jun #Word of Honor #woh cast #lld timeline

49 notes · View notes

spacenutspod · 4 months

Link

China is aiming for a strong finish to 2023, with several high-profile launches happening in a short period. At the same time, both LandSpace, and iSpace have been directing their attention to reusable rocket stages, with vertical takeoff and landing testing of pathfinder prototypes. China’s reusable spaceplane – Chang Zheng 2F/T With the American X-37B waiting for its ride to space on Falcon Heavy, another space plane started its mission on the other side of the world. A Chang Zheng 2F/T launched the Chongfu Shiyong Shiyan Hangtian Qi (CSSHQ — Chinese Reusable Experimental Spaceplane), on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 14:12 UTC. The launch was conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. Since the payload and operation of this spaceplane are highly classified, the details released about this mission have been very ambiguous. According to China’s official announcement, the spaceplane will be used to conduct verifications for reusable technologies, and space science experiments, to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space. It has not been verified if this is actually true, or if the spaceplane’s mission also includes any military objectives. Just like the operation of the X-37B, China’s space plane is heavily coated in mystery. The spaceplane will operate in orbit, for a duration of a few months, before returning to Earth. CelesTrak has GP data for 4 objects from the launch (2023-195) of a reusable test spacecraft atop a Long March-2F rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Dec 14 at 1410 UTC: https://t.co/0yKfc3iSN4. Data for the launch can be found at: https://t.co/nGwBSqxw0N. pic.twitter.com/oDUYtLDx1L — T.S. Kelso (@TSKelso) December 14, 2023 This is the third mission for the spacecraft. The first of its previous missions started in September 2020, with a duration of two days, while its second was a 276-day mission between August 2022 and May 2023. According to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the space plane will be used up to 20 times. See AlsoChinese Spaceflight SectionNSF StoreClick here to Join L2 The spaceplane was launched to a 332.9-by-347.9-kilometer orbit, with an inclination of 49.99 degrees. Despite the launches of the Chinese spaceplane and the X-37B being scheduled close together, a correlation between both missions is neither likely nor expected. The launch vehicle for this flight was a modified Chang Zheng 2F (CZ-2F). While the CZ-2F usually serves as the launcher for crewed Shenzhou missions, to deploy the spaceplane it flew in the CZ-2F/T configuration with a conventional payload fairing. The CZ-2F features two stages, with four liquid side boosters attached to the first stage. Overall the rocket stands 62 meters tall, with the core diameter being 3.35 meters. ZhuQue-2 aftermath, and LandSpace hop In the aftermath of the successful third flight of ZhuQue-2, the company LandSpace released a large amount of interesting material about their future projects. In a rendered video, the company reveals more details about their upcoming ZhuQue-3 rocket, which will be closer to a Falcon 9-class vehicle. Introducing stainless steel methane "Falcon-9" – Zhuque-3¥20,000RMB/kg (~$2,800USD/kg) https://t.co/yV4U7wGBiE pic.twitter.com/gjkTNnAMBr — China 'N Asia Spaceflight 𝕏 (@CNSpaceflight) December 9, 2023 Overall, ZhuQue-3 will be 76.5 meters tall, with a 4.5-meter body diameter, and a 5.2-meter fairing. This marks a move away from the 3.5-meter body diameter common across many Chinese rockets, which will likely introduce more complex and custom transportation requirements. The first stage will be powered by nine Tianque 12B (TQ-12B) methalox engines. These engines are a successor to the TQ-12A, which is itself planned to be used on future ZhuQue-2 missions. The first stage engines will provide 8,800 kilonewtons (900 metric tons) of thrust at liftoff, while the second stage will be powered by a single TQ-15B delivering 1,183 kilonewtons of thrust with a specific impulse of 3500 m/s, or 356.9 seconds, in vacuum conditions. Overall, Landspace hopes the rocket will be able to lift up to 21.3 metric tons of payload to a 450km low-Earth orbit. The target price for payloads is $2,800 per kilogram in US Dollars. ZhuQue-3s VTVL pad, next to the ZhuQue-2 flight three rocket. (Credit: LandSpace) LandSpace also confirmed that one of the next steps for the company will be a vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) test. In this test, a hopper vehicle will verify the vertical takeoff, gimbling, throttle, and steering capability of the engines, and perform a takeoff and landing. This is similar to prototypes used by SpaceX in the past, such as Grasshopper and Falcon 9-R for the Falcon 9, or Starhopper as part of Starship development. This fits with satellite imagery previously acquired by Harry Stranger. In the pictures, a structure that seems to have been a landing pad was spotted next to the launch site of ZhuQue-2. The VTVL test is currently expected to take place before the end of the year. Its goal will be to demonstrate first stage recovery, with more assembly and flight validations planned in 2024, before a first operational launch in 2025. iSpace Hop Another Chinese company, iSpace, is also developing a VTVL rocket and recently completed its second test flight with the Shuang Quxian 2Y (SQX-2Y, or Hyperbola-2Y) hopper. Liftoff of the Hyperbola Y2 hopper. (Credit: iSpace) Following on from its first 200-meter hop in November, the hopper reached an altitude of 343.12 meters during a 63-second flight. The target platform, which was 50 meters away from liftoff, was reached successfully. SQX-2 was designed as a two-stage, liquid-methane-fueled reusable rocket, which aimed to lift up to 1.9 tons into low-Earth orbit (LEO). iSpace began hot-fire testing of the JD-1 engine for this rocket in May 2020. However, as of late 2023, the company has announced that Hyperbola-2 will no longer be built, and the hopper will instead serve as a testbed for the future SQX-3 rocket. This will be a much bigger rocket, expected to lift up to 8.5 metric tons of payload into LEO in a reusable configuration, and up to 13.4 tons in an expandable configuration. The first flight is planned for 2025, while reusability is planned for 2026. Yaogan 41- Chang Zheng 5 Chinese massive Chang Zheng 5 (CZ-5) rocket flew once again. Liftoff of the Yaogan 41 mission took place on Friday, Dec. 15, at 13:41 UTC from Wenchang, the usual launch site for the CZ-5. The payload was described as a remote sensing satellite, which would operate in a high orbit. It was tracked in a standard geostationary transfer orbit after launch. Chang Zheng 5 rolls out. (Credit: Vony7 – CASC) The fairing of the rocket seems to be extended compared to previous missions, which indicates a large payload inside. The mass could be in the range of 10,000 kilograms or more, given the capability of the rocket which is the most powerful in China’s current fleet. Chang Zheng 5 is a heavy-lift rocket, used only for missions where China requires its performance to deploy heavy payloads or reach high-energy trajectories. It stands 57 meters toll, with a liftoff thrust of 10,565 kilonewtons. It can place up to 32,000 kilograms of payload into LEO, and up to 14,000 kilograms into GTO. The official purpose of the Yaogan 41 is stated as “Land Surveying, survey of crops, environment control, meteorology alert, and general disaster prevention and mitigation” which is most likely a placeholder for its true mission. Dier-1 – Shuang Quxian 1 iSpace’s Shuang Quxian 1 (SQX-1), or Hyperbola-1, launched again on Dec. 17 at 07:00 UTC. Its payload was DEAR-1 (Discovery Exploration Advance Recovery 1), a prototype recoverable experimental spacecraft operated by Chinese firm AZSPACE, which was placed into a sun-synchronous orbit. Announcing the successful launch, AZSPACE detailed some of the aspects of the planned mission: “The satellite in orbit mainly carries out technical verification of small uncrewed spacecraft platforms, and carries optical observation payloads and life science payloads. This mission will accumulate experience for the design, development, and flight of the subsequent B300 series of small uncrewed spacecraft.” SQX-1 liftoff. (Credit: iSpace) SQX-1 stands 21 meters tall, with a fairing diameter of 1.2 meters. It consists of four solid-fueled stages, guided by liquid-propellant attitude control engines. The rocket can be used to transport up to 300 kilograms of payload to LEO. After a series of failures in 2021 and 2022, the rocket successfully returned to flight in April 2023 Yaogan 39 Group 05 – Chang Zheng 2D A Chang Zheng 2D (CZ-2D) rocket successfully launched a trio of Yaogan 39 satellites on Dec. 10, lifting off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 01:58 UTC. Yaogan 39 satellites are part of China’s satellite reconnaissance network, with the name Yaogan Weixing – which translates as “Remote sensing satellite” – applied to most of China’s military satellites. Each group of Yaogan 39 satellites consists of three satellites, with the Dec. 10 launch deploying the fifth such group. The CZ-2D has been the usual launch vehicle for these Yaogan 39 triplets. It is one of the earlier versions of the Chang Zheng rocket and consists of two stages – although some configurations include an optional third stage. While it is designated as part of the Chang Zheng 2 family, it is more similar to the Chang Zheng 4 series as it incorporates enhancements made to the design during the development of the CZ-4 rocket. (Lead image: Chang Zheng 5 lifts off. Credit: CASC) The post Chinese spaceplane takes flight again; iSpace and LandSpace prepare to hop appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

#space #astronomy #news #science

0 notes

brookstonalmanac · 5 months

Text

Events 11.19 (after 1950)

1950 – US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes Supreme Commander of NATO-Europe. 1952 – Greek Field Marshal Alexander Papagos becomes the 152nd Prime Minister of Greece. 1954 – Télé Monte Carlo, Europe's oldest private television channel, is launched by Prince Rainier III. 1955 – National Review publishes its first issue. 1967 – The establishment of TVB, the first wireless commercial television station in Hong Kong. 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum (the "Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon. 1969 – Association football player Pelé scores his 1,000th goal. 1977 – TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 crashes in the Madeira Islands, killing 131. 1979 – Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran. 1984 – San Juanico disaster: A series of explosions at the Pemex petroleum storage facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec in Mexico City starts a major fire and kills about 500 people. 1985 – Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time. 1985 – Pennzoil wins a US$10.53 billion judgment against Texaco, in the largest civil verdict in the history of the United States, stemming from Texaco executing a contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil had entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty. 1985 – Police in Baling, Malaysia, lay siege to houses occupied by an Islamic sect of about 400 people led by Ibrahim Mahmud. 1988 – Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian separatists in Kosovo as well as internal treachery within Yugoslavia and a foreign conspiracy to destroy Serbia and Yugoslavia. 1994 – In the United Kingdom, the first National Lottery draw is held. A £1 ticket gave a one-in-14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers. 1996 – A Beechcraft 1900 and a Beechcraft King Air collide at Quincy Regional Airport in Quincy, Illinois, killing 14. 1998 – Clinton–Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against U.S. President Bill Clinton. 1999 – Shenzhou 1: The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft. 1999 – John Carpenter becomes the first person to win the top prize in the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. 2002 – The Greek oil tanker Prestige splits in half and sinks off the coast of Galicia, releasing over 76,000 m3 (20 million US gal) of oil in the largest environmental disaster in Spanish and Portuguese history. 2004 – The worst brawl in NBA history results in several players being suspended. Several players and fans are charged with assault and battery. 2010 – The first of four explosions takes place at the Pike River Mine in New Zealand. Twenty-nine people are killed in the nation's worst mining disaster since 1914. 2013 – A double suicide bombing at the Iranian embassy in Beirut kills 23 people and injures 160 others. 2022 – A gunman kills five and injures 17 at Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

#Events

1 note · View note

sciencespies · 1 year

Text

China Launches Astronauts to Tiangong Space Station: Video and Updates

https://sciencespies.com/space/china-launches-astronauts-to-tiangong-space-station-video-and-updates/

China Launches Astronauts to Tiangong Space Station: Video and Updates

After decades of military secrecy, Chinese officials opened their desert rocket launch center to a handful of visitors and called for international cooperation in space.

Tall as a 20-story building, a rocket carrying the Shenzhou 15 mission roared into the night sky of the Gobi Desert on Tuesday, carrying three astronauts toward a rendezvous with China’s just-completed space station.

The rocket launch was a split-screen event for China, the latest in a long series of technological achievements for the country, even as many of its citizens have been angrily lashing out in the streets against stringent pandemic controls.

The air shook as the huge white rocket leaped into a starry, bitterly cold night sky shortly before the setting of a waxing crescent moon. Less than nine hours later, the three astronauts aboard Shenzhou 15 docked with the space station and greeted the crew of three who were already there and had completed construction of the orbital outpost this autumn.

That made the expedition to the new space station a milestone for China’s rapidly advancing space program. The Tiangong outpost will now be continuously occupied, like the International Space Station. That is another marker laid down by China in its race to catch up with the United States and surpass it as the dominant power in space.

With a sustained presence in low-Earth orbit aboard Tiangong, Chinese space officials are preparing to put astronauts on the moon, which NASA also intends to revisit before the end of the decade as part of its Artemis program.

“It will not take a long time; we can achieve the goal of manned moon landing,” Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s crewed space program, said in an interview at the launch center. China has been developing a lunar lander, he added, without giving a date when it might be used.

The launch of Shenzhou 15 comes less than two weeks after NASA finally launched its Artemis I mission following many delays. That flight has put its uncrewed Orion capsule into orbit around the moon.

At the same time, Beijing has engaged in a charm offensive since the Group of 20 summit in Bali earlier this month, wooing European nations and developing countries in particular. That includes space exploration. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, emphasized that point in a letter on Nov. 21 to a United Nations symposium.

“China is willing to work with other countries to strengthen exchanges and cooperation, jointly explore the mysteries of the universe, make peaceful use of outer space, and promote space technology to better benefit the people of all countries in the world,” Mr. Xi wrote.

Zhou Jianping, the chief designer of the China Manned Space Program, said on Monday that the country had spent money on its space program efficiently.Li You/The New York Times

A worker on Monday in front of the launch tower where the Shenzhou 15 rocket was being prepared for the launch on Tuesday. The Jiuquan site is a military base long involved in China’s ballistic missile programs.Keith Bradsher/The New York Times

While European nations are working with the United States on the Artemis missions and the International Space Station, they so far have not expressed much interest in Tiangong. Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action said in a written reply to questions that Germany had no bilateral projects with China for its space station.

And while Germany and Italy each sent an astronaut four years ago to China’s Shandong Province for training to fly aboard a Shenzhou rocket, neither country has announced plans to send astronauts on a Chinese rocket. Some European researchers are involved in scientific experiments that will be carried to Tiangong, however, including a proposed high-energy cosmic radiation detector. Researchers from India, Peru, Mexico and Saudi Arabia have also received research opportunities on the Chinese space station through a United Nations program.

Officials in Europe have been wary of closer cooperation in space at a time of rising frictions over China’s human rights record and military buildup. They have asked China to share highly detailed information about its space operations, partly to ensure the safety of astronauts. But China’s space program has grown out of the country’s military, like the early American space program decades ago, and has been wary of extensive sharing.

That military connection was on display at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the desert. Camouflaged vehicles were visible in and around the base, and some signage referred not to Shenzhou civilian space rockets but to Dongfeng, the ballistic missiles used in China’s nuclear weapon arsenal.

Visitors approaching the launch center received a succession of short, automated warning messages on their mobile phones, starting about 50 miles away. The warnings stated that they had entered a military management zone where photography was strictly prohibited and violators of national security would be executed.

The first of these messages, in Chinese, provided a mobile phone number for reporting any sightings of foreigners or of suspicious activity, and concluded with a warning: “Those stealing secrets will surely be caught, and will be decapitated once caught! Everyone catch enemy spies, and make great contributions by seizing them!”

Ji Qiming, assistant director general of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, said at a news conference on Monday ahead of the Shenzhou 15 launch that China was preserving the heritage of the “two bombs one satellite” vision articulated by Mao. That program aimed to create an atomic bomb, an intercontinental ballistic missile to carry the bomb and a satellite from which to view the world below.

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China on Monday, where the Shenzhou 15 rocket was being prepared for a launch scheduled for Tuesday.Li You/The New York Times

Astronauts live and train before launch inside this fancifully decorated area at the Jiuquan site.Keith Bradsher/The New York Times

On Tuesday, foreign journalists were given uncommon access to the launch center, which began construction in 1958 and is usually out of bounds even for Chinese citizens.

Two journalists for The New York Times and a photographer from Kyodo News of Japan were allowed to attend the launch, as were a small group of journalists from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Visitors from Beijing and other cities were required to spend a week first in quarantine at a village hotel about 50 miles away, and to pass daily PCR tests. Foreign journalists paid for their travel, accommodation and quarantine.

The quarantine was part of elaborate precautions to prevent the Covid-19 virus from reaching the space center again. An outbreak last year briefly interrupted work at the site.

The base is 150 miles into the Gobi Desert from the nearest city, Jiayuguan in northern Gansu Province. On the highway from the city, an older China was still visible as a farmer’s small herd of Bactrian camels loped along, their double humps shaggy with dark-brown fur as winter approaches.

The region around the launch center has some of the world’s tallest stationary sand dunes, rising to a height of over 1,000 feet. Flat, gray gravel surrounds the base itself, which is home to an architectural mélange.

An immense vertical assembly building for rockets and modern administrative high-rises stand at the front of the base. Behind them are considerably older, low-rise brick buildings with prominent Communist Party insignia, and then rows of three-story apartment buildings with peeling white paint. The astronaut living and training quarters used before launches have been built in a fanciful Art Deco style with a curious resemblance to Tomorrowland at Disneyland.

The newer buildings at the site signal how fast China has been catching up with the West in space. Charles Bolden, who led NASA during the Obama administration, said that China’s ample budgets and long-term planning had given it an advantage over the United States, where Congress has been divided on space expenditures.

China, he said, moved as fast as “anybody would do if they had unlimited resources and didn’t have to go back” repeatedly to politicians for approval of expenditures.

Astronauts waved to the crowd while a brass band played on Tuesday.Keith Bradsher/The New York Times

Huang Weifen, chief designer of the astronaut system for the China Manned Space Program, said on Monday that fresh fruits and vegetables would be sent to the Tiangong space station.Li You/The New York Times

Mr. Zhou of the crewed space agency said that China had spent money efficiently on its space program, and that its space station had cost not much more than $8 billion. Pay and the cost of living are low for the large community of rocket scientists living and working mostly in isolation at Jiuquan launch center, with even their internet communications with the rest of China restricted for national security reasons.

By contrast, NASA will spend $3 billion just this year on the International Space Station, which has cost more than $100 billion to build and maintain over the course of its life.

Three men were aboard the Shenzhou 15 when it lifted off: Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu. China has sent women into orbit on previous trips, but chose its oldest and most experienced team of astronauts to get the just-completed space station up and running in the next six months.

The trio stood at attention when introduced at a news conference, and delivered crisp military salutes. Mr. Fei, the spaceflight commander, first went into space in 2005 and is 57 years old.

“I am very proud and excited to be able to go to space again for my country,” he said.

Huang Weifen, chief designer of astronaut systems, said in an interview that China had added resistance exercise equipment and a broader menu for recent spaceflights, even including fresh fruits and vegetables.

Herbal treatments based on traditional Chinese medicine are carried aboard the space station and also used for medicated baths given to astronauts after their return to Earth, in an attempt to limit medical harm from prolonged stays in space, she added.

Mr. Zhou Jianping said that experiments to be done by the crew would involve using an extremely accurate atomic clock for gravity research and deploying a space telescope for ultraviolet studies of distant reaches of the universe.

“China’s aerospace industry is developing rapidly,” he said. “China is already a major aerospace power.”

Li You contributed research from Jiuquan.

#Space

0 notes

words-writ-in-starlight · 3 years

Note

for the ship headcanon meme: star trek pairing of choice, #16-#20?

Bet you thought I forgot about this ask meme, fuckers! And you’re right, I did, but the beauty of forgetting is that sometimes you remember. Anyway, as always, it’s Michael/Saru Hours, lads.

16) When the zombie apocalypse comes, how do they cope together?

This is not a headcanon, but I have this fragment of a fic idea in my head based on this question, and that fragment of a fic idea is like...some kind of case fic where Discovery finds a planet being ravaged by Basically A Zombie Apocalypse and Michael and Saru get stranded there. Ideally, for my personal enjoyment, I would want to slot it into the plot of s1 as early as possible, because the best/worst dynamic there would be Michael choking with guilt and yet still one of the finest scientific minds in Star Fleet, and Saru unable to keep himself from pressing on the fresh bruise of loss, unable to trust her, and the two of them still working together flawlessly.

Because that’s the thing, isn’t it? Even when they can’t stand each other, they argue like a choreographed dance, and when the chips are down and they have to think on their feet, they still move like Georgiou’s trusted right and left hands.

Anyway. That, but make it zombies.

17) When they find a time machine, where do they go?

If Michael came into possession of a time machine that actually allowed her to reliably control where she went and let her come back, I think she would sit down and try to do the temporal math to figure out how to avert the war. I do not, however, believe that Michael and Saru, survivors of a fair amount of timeline hopping already, would actually risk going back in time. I think they would both talk about wanting to go back, specifically because they know the other will talk them out of it, but I don’t think they would do it.

That being said, I would love a lotus eater prison AU where Michael and Saru are trapped in an idyllic dream of a world where the Shenzhou was never destroyed, Michael was being prepared to be promoted off the ship as a captain, and Saru was preparing to take her place, ft a lot of sadness about Georgiou and Michael and Saru working together to find a way to wake up.

18) When they fight, how do they make up?

Michael wears Raised On Vulcan tattooed on her face, sometimes, and especially when she defensive or guilty--if she’s angry with Saru, she’ll tell him exactly what she thinks he’s doing wrong, to his face, and it takes her a long time to learn that she should pull that punch a little more with people she cares about. On the upside, that means that, when she feels like she’s been out of line and unnecessarily harsh, she’ll walk right up to Saru and tell him, blunt as anything, what she did, why she thinks it was wrong, and that she understands if he’s angry with her.

This was initially…a weird experience for Saru on several levels, if he’s being honest. A lot of his experience with people is colored heavily by the fact that very few people know how to deal with Kelpiens, and that means that he’s either handled like glass or he puts in the work to be treated like any of the other crew members. He’s not really sure how to deal with someone who handles him with exactly the same unemotional ruthlessness as everyone else, and it’s disorienting, and it makes him angry that it’s disorienting, because that’s what he wants, but also, Michael is sometimes an asshole. She’s the first person that he’s ever argued with on the regular—really argued, a push and counterpush, shoving each other away from the science console and pulling out ad hominem attacks in a way that visibly infuriates Michael’s Vulcan training. But quite frankly, they never felt like they needed to apologize for those early fights, under Georgiou. It was part of the ship dynamic, to have Burnham and Saru trying to take strips off each other in a very professional and scientific manner. As long as Saru never took a cheap shot over Michael’s upbringing and Michael resisted the impulse to go full xenoanthropologist on Saru’s species, they were very good at fighting.

(Personally I am of the belief that Michael only tried to pull the I understand where you’re coming from because of what your species makes you after the mutiny, after she was trying to be nice. Before then, she expected Saru to perform to her standards and fuck the details. Half the reason he’s so coldly furious with her over it is because he knows she’s trying to manipulate him, because if she wasn’t, she would never play that card, because no matter how nasty their fights were, she always fought with him as a person, not as a Kelpien.)

19) Where do they go on their first date?

There’s a fic that bounces around my brain every time I watch Discovery, and it’s about Michael and Saru having a first date (sort of) very late at night, when they’re both having trouble sleeping. It’s not an arranged date, they’re not even really friends even though they’ve gotten past the stage of Michael letting Saru flay her alive for her guilt, but Michael is having trouble sleeping and she’s not a prisoner anymore, so she wanders, and Saru, frankly, sleeps like hypervigilant garbage since the Binary Stars, so he has a preferred hiding spot on one of Discovery’s few observation decks. As Lorca likes to point out, they’re not a goddamn pleasure cruiser, but Star Fleet never built a ship without at least one view panel, not even their top-secret war machine.

Michael is avoiding people—she hates being asked why she’s awake, gets tangled up in her automatic shame over not being able to control her emotions. It’s the middle of the “night” by ship standards, but Discovery seethes with activity around the clock, especially since Stamets pulls regular all-nighters when he gets really entranced and often has to be peeled away from his work by Local Exasperated Doctor Hugh Culber. So she ducks into the parts of the ship that she usually doesn’t go, the places that are more for socializing and are empty at this hour, the places that aren’t often used, the places that are quiet.

She finds the observation deck dim and blessedly silent, with the stars spreading infinitely outside. The room is faintly lit by the nebula off to the starboard bow, the one they’re using to hide their signature while they run some necessary repairs. It’s a practical use, but it’s also beautiful, every window in the ship glowing with warm reds and golds, and Michael still finds the stars soothing after all this time, and so she drifts up to the glass with the vague plan of sitting down and spending an hour or two there in an attempt at meditation. She only sees Saru, leaning back against the edge of the viewing window, when she’s close enough to nearly trip over one of his long legs, stretched out in front of him.

Michael, of course, apologizes, and turns to leave. Saru never really does have a good answer, as to why he stops her. But he doesn’t ask any questions about why she’s awake and she doesn’t ask any questions about what he’s doing here, and instead they sit in relative quiet for a while before Saru sits up straighter and offers Michael, again, a small bowl of fruit. It’s not familiar to her, this time, but he says it won’t hurt her, that it’s sort of like a lychee, and she believes him. It leaves a bit of thin red juice on her fingers when she bites into the first one, and he recommends eating them whole to avoid it while she ruefully sucks the juice off her thumb. It’s good—less sweet than she expected. Saru settles next to her in the middle of the window and sets the bowl between them, and she asks how he always manages to have fresh fruit, and he admits that he can wring a lot more out of the replicators since he never gets meat. Somehow it turns into—talking.

Michael is startled to realize, around the hour mark of murmured conversation, that she might have literally never just talked to Saru before. It’s—nice.

(Because I’m physiologically incapable of letting things be nice, if I wrote this fic there would be an immediate sequel of Observation Deck Chats Redux, featuring them doing basically the same thing but after Michael gets back from the Mirrorverse. Michael leans against Saru’s shoulder in a way that she would never, if she hadn’t been awake with nightmares and grief for pushing three days, and she tells him about the Empire like she’s confessing her sins, and they talk quietly about the ghost haunting their ship in the shape of Empress Philippa Georgiou. It’s not nice, but not for lack of kindness.)

20) Where do they go on holiday?

I think Saru and Michael would have two very distinct kinds of “holiday” and they have two destinations accordingly.

The first kind of holiday is Nerd Holiday, in which they find an unexplored planet and appoint themselves to the away team—everyone else on the away team is wryly aware that they are, essentially, third-wheeling a date, but Discovery has watched this whole situation unfold and honestly the popular opinion is that it would actually be easier to deal with a little bit of PDA than the current Very Professional Mutual Adoration Show. Local Red Shirt Absolutely Agonized By The Very Correct Ten Inches Of Space Between Her Captain And First Officer, Reports As They Come. Michael and Saru are pleasantly unaware of this and are having a great time arguing over whether they need another sample of that plant if it’s just a different color.

The second kind of holiday is actual fucking shore leave. They both prefer planets or stations with a large variety of species—Saru is uneasy with being the center of attention among strangers, and since he stands head and shoulders above a decent percentage of the Federation, it’s hard to avoid unless they’re in mixed company; Michael never quite recovered from the perpetual sense of disjoint when it comes to being around all humans or all Vulcans, so being in a place where everyone is different makes her feel less out of place. Neither of them like big crowds, so they’re the tourists who immediately leave the usual Tourist Area and find somewhere else to be, which has its ups and downs. The first time they get into trouble on a totally safe colony planet because they decided to go exploring, there’s a beat of them looking at each other and silently agreeing that they won’t be telling the crew about this, because there’s already a running ship joke about what trouble magnets they are and they do NOT need to feed anyone more material.

#star trek #star trek discovery #michael burnham #saru #michael x saru #i'm trying to think of more things to say but WOW my brain is full of fog today #i want to write that observation deck fic very badly #also you can't tell me that there weren't some WILD theories on the shenzhou about michael and saru #some helmsman goes to his friends and goes 'y'all are never going to believe it but saru TOUCHED burnham'#and all his friends go 'no one touches burnham she's got that vulcan nine-foot personal space thing going on'#and he's like 'yeah but they were arguing and he just like grabbed her elbow and MOVED HER'#'and she kept arguing with him and just came back and fully hip-checked him away from the console'#and there were probably some Theories is what i'm saying #michael is less obviously Touch Me Not on discovery of course #but once there start being some Theories on discovery for SURE one of the shenzhou survivors is like #'ah yes the eternal burnham and saru debate. you are like little babies. [lays out seven Y E A R S of gossip].'#a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #meri47 #asked and answered

25 notes · View notes

pearlofshenzhou · 4 years

Text

TEST.

To the nine heavens....

I amble alone....

.....And sit to watch life fleet in a dream.

#;;Flowers bloom and wither; To dust they always fade. Yin and yang arise; Purity and filth divide. [Empyrean Jingwei IC]#;;Tirelessly she stood; For centuries without rest. She's the Pearl of Shenzhou; With her we're blessed. [Empyrean Jingwei Visage]#;;To the nine heavens I amble alone...and sit to watch life fleet in a dream. [IC]#;;Spirit. The epitome of change; Not one to be transcribed. [Visage]#;;From burning stars to specks of sand; Nothing stands against the Blade of Taixuan. My blade struck true. [Aesthetic]#;;Nothing was left in her heart except for sorrow. [Musings]#;;Ride the gale and surpass time. [Asks]#;;In the twilight zone between reality and dream; She seems to hear a voice. [Music]#;;I did not forget the battles we fought together. [Abilities]

1 note · View note

dcoglobalnews · 2 years

Text

UPDATED: CHINA'S SHENZHOU-13 TAIKONAUTS RETURN AFTER SIX MONTHS IN ORBIT

UPDATED: CHINA’S SHENZHOU-13 TAIKONAUTS RETURN AFTER SIX MONTHS IN ORBIT

The Shenzhou-13 return capsule, carrying the three Chinese astronauts, or taikonauts, Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, safely landed back on Earth on Saturday morning after a record breaking six-month mission in space.The capsule touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at about 9:56 a.m. after a journey of about nine hours from the…

View On WordPress

#China #Shenzhou-13 #Space station #Taikonauts

4 notes · View notes

starryeyes2000 · 2 years

Text

Volte-Face: Chapter 3

Read on AO3 or FFN

Pairings: Christopher Pike x OFC (Aalin)

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 1.6k

Summary: On her first mission as a member of Starfleet, interpreter Aalin Matthews is stranded on a war-torn world ten days’ journey from a haven. Safe passage for Federation personnel has been revoked. Hostile forces are hunting the orphans she is protecting. As she and the children make the dangerous trek, the crews of both Enterprise and Shenzhou work behind the scenes to aid them.

Banned from intervening, from returning to the planet, from scanning for Aalin’s location, Captain PIke must decide whether to ignore the prohibitions or risk intensifying the conflict, a choice complicated by his personal feelings for Aalin. And Spock must come to terms with his decision allowing her to remain behind; should the worst occur, it will be the first time the young lieutenant has lost someone under his command. Both Pike and Spock undertake a dangerous mission among the brutal people who invaded their neighbors in order to protect Aalin and the children and end the war.

A/N: Ambassador Shran is a direct descendant of General Thy'lek Shran (from Star Trek:Enterprise), one of the founders of the Federation and frenemy of Johnathon Archer.

Excerpt: Nine Months Ago Earth

“Varia is a non-aligned planet located on a busy traffic corridor at the crossroads of sectors claimed by three Klingon houses, the Federation, and the Conglomerate which is a loose association of mercenaries, pirates and local warlords. After careful overtures by Ambassador Shran, Varia has agreed to negotiations for hosting a Federation outpost. Varia’s military runs their government, therefore Starfleet, and, more specifically, Captain Pike will lead the talks rather than the diplomatic corp. The State department will provide technical staff and an interpreter …”

Una glanced at her Captain and raised an eyebrow. It was subtle, so she was probably the only one in the conference room who noticed, but her commander’s full attention was not on the briefing. His eyes kept wandering to the woman sitting at the other end of the table. Yes, the speaker was repetitive and mind numbingly boring, but still this was unusual behavior from a man with iron-clad discipline.

Pike glanced again at the other side of the room, moving his eyes without turning his head. The corner of his mouth ticked a bit, as if it wanted to smile, while he considered how perfectly her cheek would fit in the palm of his hand. Realizing his executive officer had caught on, Pike shook his head almost imperceptibly and refocused on the presentation.

Continue Reading on AO3 or FFN

Story Masterlist | Series Masterlist

OC Masterlist | Author Masterlist

7 notes · View notes

wearecaptaingeorgiou · 3 years

Text

Captain Georgiou January - February Day 3′s scheduled creation is by Al @dykekeit. Thank you to Al for sharing this essay!

Here’s the thing: this story isn’t about me. I’m white and Jewish―not exactly lacking for representation in Star Trek, even if I am a lesbian―not with the ta’al itself coming from the Kol Nidre service, not with Benjamin Sisko’s character more closely resembling Moses than any other religious figure. How many times have I seen myself, loved myself, in Trek? I’ve taken heart in Leonard Nimoy’s Yiddish, in Jim Kirk’s Tarsus IV backstory, in Benjamin Sisko the reluctant prophet and in Kira Nerys, fighting for her traditions amidst pressure to assimilate or die.

And yet, the first time I saw the trailer for Discovery, I almost burst out crying hearing Michelle Yeoh’s voice—her accent, the way she pronounced Shenzhou, seeing her in the captain’s chair—because it felt so much like home.

Like I said, this story isn’t about me. This is a story about my sensei.

I still don’t know what name she was born with, growing up just outside of Hong Kong. When she arrived in the United States, there was no large Chinese community on the east coast in those days; she didn’t speak English, and no one around her spoke Cantonese. She was alone, totally alone. I still can’t fathom the sheer amount of chutzpah it took for her to stand her ground and carve out her place the way she did, but I know what it took: a skill for organization, a love of scheduling, a gift for disdainful silences, and an intense, rigid sense of etiquette. When you stand barely five feet tall, it’s all necessary.

Sensei loves gardening and darjeeling tea, and hates anything sweet to the point that I have gone out of my way to buy her chocolate above 70% grade dark. Oh, and did I mention? She loves Star Trek.

Sensei gravitates towards characters like Spock, like Data: immigrants, constant strangers among new and adopted cultures alike, repeatedly explaining their differences and saving face and proudly, wholly themselves, no matter if people understand them or not. They are characters who defy expectations and use every difference as a strength, no matter if it’s supposed to be a weakness. I wonder, sometimes, as she’s teaching me about the protective properties of jade bracelets and how the good Jewish delis she knew used to serve thinly sliced beef tongue for sandwiches, but not any more—were the stars visible in Hong Kong, growing up? Did she want to escape to the dark sky, to the other side of the world—anywhere?

How did I meet her? Well, when she was thirty-nine, my sensei took up kendo, the Japanese martial art of fencing, and almost twenty-five years later, she had reached fifth-dan (that’s fifth degree black belt!) Into her dojo I stumbled. Picture this: me, a clumsy, skinny Jewish lesbian, never worked out in my life, thought swords were kind of cool, walking into a dojo and finding a sixty-something Chinese woman who, though she barely came up to my chest, could kick the butts of every single much-younger six-foot-plus male student she had.

I guess it’s not surprising I stayed.

Over the next six years, my sensei taught me everything, and not just about kendo. In between correcting my wrist angles, my posture, my follow-through, my footwork, my uniform, my dojo etiquette, and anything else she could think of, there were moments of life coaching: how to focus, how to be disciplined in everything I do, how to help, how to put other people first. When I burst out crying during practice, she reminds me that the dojo is a safe place for emotions. She introduced me to Hong Kong-style diner food, showed me real dim sum and how to order and eat and share it properly, cultivated a lucky money plant for me to bring home and instructed me where to put it in my house for best feng shui, advised me to begin acupuncture for stress, told me to take more initiative when pouring tea for other visiting sensei. On the worst day of my life, I wanted her advice. Once, I managed to get a signed copy of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club addressed to her personally. When I presented it to her and she learned I hadn’t read it, she turned around and gave it right back to me, insisting with a smile that I read it first so that we could talk about it together.

In the middle of all of it, a new Star Trek show, called Discovery, was announced, and soon, a new trailer dropped. The captain’s name was Philippa Georgiou, and she was played by Michelle Yeoh.

I did nearly burst out crying. It was Michelle Yeoh, but all I could see was Sensei, in command and speaking her accented English, proof of a past beyond a Starfleet that demanded “standard” English for assimilation.

Captain Georgiou was concerned with etiquette, both social and honor-bound: Starfleet doesn’t fire first. In the dojo, I am to bow respectfully, I am to shake hands and thank my opponent after every match, I do not hit just to hit or shy away in fear. The only way a kendo match works is with mutual communication; an opponent is not a faceless thing to be beaten so much as a partner to create opportunities. We may strike first, but we are not aggressors.

Captain Georgiou said: the best way to know yourself is to know others. Take care of those who are in your care. I still remember the time I watched a fellow dojo member rush across the tournament floor because someone had the wrong-colored tasuki to change it without a thought—because he had noticed a problem, therefore he must help. I sat there, frozen. I told Sensei this story later with absolute wonderment and shame and she just smiled, patted my hand, and shared some of her favorite raisin walnut bread with me. She knew the lesson had stuck. Other times, she has snapped at me for forgetting to hold a door open for other people, but—

Captain Georgiou: disciplined, teasing, dedicated, setting stars and valuing candor: your confidence is justified. My shock when Sensei first told a few of the other girls and I some dirty jokes late at night before that same tournament was only matched by how funny it was, and how it was immediately followed with a discussion of our weaknesses in shiai combat, and what our approach both physically and mentally would be for the tournament the following day.

I wonder, through fanfiction and fanart and discussion with others, what Philippa shared of the universe with those around her—with Michael, with Saru, with all those under her care.

I once told Sensei that reading The Joy Luck Club and trying to understand all the Chinese cultural nuances from an outside perspective was like looking through a waterfall, or trying to see through a beaded curtain—seeing outlines, but not being able to grasp details. She smiled, and nodded, and said, “yes.” What she meant was, of course I couldn’t, and no one would be able to explain every detail to me―not if I didn’t live it, but more importantly, not if I didn’t ask questions. When Captain Georgiou brought Michael Burnham to the bridge for the first time, she said, “This can be your new home, if you want it to be.” She asked for little but trust and mutual respect from a certain Vulcan-raised human who needed to re-integrate into an all-too-familiar but still foreign culture. The dojo is foreign, and it is my home, and I must always ask questions.

A human who had seen a life of loss, but still chose hope. A mentor who saw everything as a lesson, full of expectations both written and unwritten. And I, or Michael Burnham, watching her set a star.

Sensei: 谢谢, I love you, and I hope to see you in person soon.

#philippa georgiou #star trek discovery #event submission #type: scheduled creation #type: text #author: dykekeit #event tag #food #ds9 #tos #tarsus iv #death mention

65 notes · View notes

the-monkey-ruler · 1 year

Text

Journey to the West (1986) 西游记

Director: Yang Jie

Screenwriter: Dai Yinglu / Yang Jie / Zou Yiqing / Wu Chengen

Starring: Liu Xiaolingtong / Chi Zhongrui / Ma Dehua / Wang Yue / Xu Shaohua / more...

Genre: Drama / Action / Fantasy / Adventure / Costume

Country/Region of Production: Mainland China

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Date: 1986-02 (Mainland China) / 2000-02-08 (Mainland China)

Number of Seasons: 2

Episodes: 41

Single episode length: 45 minutes

Also known as: Old Version of Journey to the West / CCTV Version of Journey to the West / Journey to the West / 西游记续集 / Journey to the West Sequel /

IMDb: tt1163129 / tt6289390

Type: Retelling

Summary:

A boulder in the Flower Fruit Mountain of Aolai Country in Dongsheng Shenzhou gave birth to a Intelligent Stone Monkey (played by Liu Xiaolingtong). The stone monkey later learned the seventy-two transformations after worshiping Subhuti as his teacher and possessed the supernatural ability, so occupy the mountain as king, he claimed to be the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. So Zhanshan became king and called himself the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.

The Jade Emperor sent Taibai Jinxing down to summon the Great Sage to the Heavenly Court. Later, the Great Sage made a disturbance in the Heavenly Palace because he thought the official position bestowed by the Jade Emperor was too low. After being trapped in the alchemy furnace for forty-nine days by the Taishang Laojun he was refined with golden eyes and fiery eyes. The Tathagata Buddha saw that the situation was out of control, so he suppressed the Great Sage under Wuzhi Mountain. Five hundred years passed in a blink of an eye, and Tang Seng was selected by Guanyin Bodhisattva as the person who went west to learn scriptures and save all sentient beings.

After ninety-nine and eighty-one hardships, Tang Seng (played by Xu Shaohua), the master and his disciples finally arrived at Lingshan to obtain the scriptures. After a successful practice, the master and apprentice returned to the capital city Chang'an on a cloud, where they met Tang Wang Li Shimin (played by Zhang Zhiming), and told him about the process of learning the scriptures. It can be said that this road is really dangerous, and there are many difficulties.

In Tongtianhe, the King of Inspiration blocked his journey and hurt his life; in Shituoling, there were three gods and beasts from Lingshan acting as monsters. During this period, there was even a rift between the master and the apprentice. As a result, the Six-Eared Macaque took advantage of the vacancy and staged a good show of the real and fake Monkey King. There is even a rhino monster in Jinping Mansion pretending to be Buddha, deceiving the world and stealing its name, attracting heavenly soldiers and generals to eliminate demons. It's hard to describe in words...

This film is adapted from "Journey to the West", one of the four classic Chinese classics. Due to financial constraints and other reasons, the old version of "Journey to the West" was not fully filmed, and "Journey to the West Sequel" filled in the missing parts.

Source: http://chinesemov.com/tv/1986/Journey%20to%20the%20West.html

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3KNpyKILHM&list=PLIj4BzSwQ-_sfc7l2xm1wQswAd5jqrrDS&ab_channel=CCTV%E7%94%B5%E8%A7%86%E5%89%A7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K5lphymgSg&list=PLzX3GuY8oecrs3TA7MTZbnPicD6sMMwHv&index=2&ab_channel=ChinaZone-English

21 notes · View notes

mylittleredgirl · 3 years

Text

trekathon: disco 1x04

“the butcher’s knife cares not for the lamb’s cry”:

okay

remember how in the last post i was like “context is for kings” is a title for the star trek hall of fame

“the butcher’s knife cares not for the lamb’s cry” is the opposite. banished. no joke, i stopped watching discovery when it aired the first time around for like a month because i saw that title and went “actually i am a fragile soul and i do not want to see what’s behind a door labeled the butcher’s knife cares not for the lamb’s cry.”

which is a shame because that was a month of my life in which i did not know that michael made friends with a tardigrade the size of a small car.

EvilWatch 2255:

michael gets invited to lorca’s chamber of horrors, which features the deadliest weapons in the galaxy and what may or may not be a cardassian vole vivisected on a table

“i study war,” he explains, which -- in my experience -- is exactly what one can expect an angry white man to say when they show you the functioning arsenal they keep in their garage

i love knowing that lorca is a long-suffering mirror universe transplant because his frustration at discovery’s lack of battle-readiness makes sense in context -- he’s a military-minded captain trying to helm a science ship in a bloody war -- but it’s hilarious when you realize he’s looking around at these meek science softies like “i have seen ALL of you murder AT LEAST one person with your bare hands can you PLEASE up your game a little”

meanwhile, klingons:

i remember being surprised to learn that voq and l’rell had a love affair, so i’m keeping an eye on it this time

that’s definitely the most sexually charged removal of a dilithium processor i’ve ever seen so i buy it

i don’t know what kind of awards we should be giving these actors for creating such vibrant performances in another language under 90 pounds of latex and contacts that fill their entire eyes but uhhhh i’m fucking impressed

i recall people being WILDLY upset about the exo-cannibalism thing as non-canon, as though klingons in all series do not regularly exchange recipes for eating the hearts of their enemies

that said? toss a dollar in the tip jar of whichever writer went “you know what, this should probably be one of those tell-don’t-show narrative beats”

michael burnham must suffer:

her shoving the package under the bed and walking away as soon as she hears “last will and testament” is unfortunately the most relatable thing

petition for michael to lovingly install that magical telescope in her ready room in season 4 🔭😍

i’m fascinated by michael and saru’s conversation when they seem to agree that she was dismissive of him (she calls herself “selfish”) on the shenzhou. i wish we’d gotten to see more of that in flashbacks so we can better appreciate how she’s grown over the series.

“you will fit in very well with captain lorca” is a lot to say when lorca has just played the audio of dying children screaming for their dying parents over the entire comm system to shame one dude

but nnngggg it’s so INTERESTING how lorca chose these mirror images of the deranged people he knew and tries to enhance the darkest parts of them.

other characters:

lines for owo!! hugh is here!

we really should not have been surprised that detmer eventually has a nervous breakdown

honestly i love paul’s prickliness in a way i didn’t the first time around. he just wants to talk to his mushrooms and not to people, ok.

admiral cornwell is somehow already exhausted

saru like u USE me?? for my GANGLIA????

we hardly knew ye: “lorca thought you and i would make a good team,” landry says, and i can only assume that in the mirror universe their team dynamics work better than michael as the screaming voice of reason while landry tries to bum-rush an unstoppable living tank and then dies about it.

an ongoing list of ~It’s Not Canon~ things i have chosen to ignore:

“the nature of humanity is just that every so often someone accidentally invents holographic communications again” (see also: those three episodes of deep space nine; the 32nd century)

other moments of delight:

landry saying “weps are double-hot” to announce that tactical is on-line is amazing and i will now imagine tuvok saying that every time janeway asks him to ready phasers

michael getting slurped at by the tardigrade

free-range tardigrade in the spore garden!!

#trekathon #discotrek #discotrek spoilers #star trek discovery #i feel now is the time for someone to overlay captain georgiou's goodbye speech over a montage of all the ways michael lives up to it

17 notes · View notes