I Just Have A Lot Of Jiang Cheng Feelings Today, Okay??

do you have any thoughts on yunmeng bros and moral differences? like, golden core/shijie/broken promises aside, what about the fact that jc (and every other cultivator) was ready to let all wens be killed? like i love my sibling to death but if i found out that she was okay with standing aside while innocents were slaughtered (or even if she wasn't okay, that she WOULD) and telling me to just not care about the injustices in the world, i would never be able to look at her the same way ever again

god, do I have feelings about these moral differences or what...

so first of all, let’s start with a quick acknowledgment of cultural bias when it comes to morality and moral priorities in CQL; for those of us in the U.S., we’ve been having a lot of conversations lately about silence and complicity and the responsibility of the individual to effect change in the society they participate in. Let’s take a moment to recall that this is a very U.S.-centric conversation, and thus, cross-applying our standards of complicity vs. action and the relative moralities thereof to a fundamentally non-Western text is already something that should be raising eyebrows.

You with me still?

Great, now let’s talk about young sect leaders Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng, and why they cannot make the same decisions that our protagonists can make.

One of the things I find most compelling about Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng as characters is that their lives are not their own. I think it’s important to realize what it means for those two to be sect heirs: they are born into leadership. They carry responsibility from the moment they come into the public eye. This is something that is especially important to grasp if you’re coming from an environment like, say, the U.S. -- because democracy, there is generally the assumption that if someone is a politician, it’s because they chose to become a politician. They wanted to do this. No one is forcing you to run for office; no one is compelling you to take up the burdens of governance and administration. You choose this fight.

This is not so with hereditary sect leadership.

Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen are born into their roles; they are trained for this from birth, told that the purpose of their lives will be to lead their sect, and lead it well. Don’t mistake me -- it is undoubtedly an honor and a privilege to be a sect leader, for material reasons and power/influence reasons and fame/legacy/reputation reasons, but the key thing to note here is that, from birth, sect heirs are defined not by their individuality, but their future role.

This is why Jiang Cheng is such a killjoy in Gusu summer school and evil Wen summer camp; sure, Wei Wuxian is just being Wei Wuxian, and that’s just how he is -- lovable, mischievous, a bit of a scamp and a troublemaker -- but Jiang Cheng is the future sect leader of Yunmeng Jiang. Wei Wuxian’s conduct reflects on Jiang Cheng, and on Yunmeng Jiang’s reputation.

Jiang Cheng’s life is not his own.

In 《清平乐》Qingpingyue / Serenade of Peaceful Joy, a period drama about the life and times of 宋仁宗 Emperor Ren of Song, the narrative (at least for the first ten episodes, tbd if I make it through the next, uh, sixty) is heavily preoccupied with the question of how personhood can survive in the stifling environment of leadership. Time and time again, our young emperor has to confront the consequences of his actions, the limitations of his freedom, because he is never just Zhao Zhen, a boy who wants to see his birth mother just once before she dies -- he will always be the son of Heaven, the Song Emperor, a model of behavior for all under heaven. He must be careful with what foods he favors -- rumors that he prefers a certain delicacy can kick off a craze among the nobility and wreck havoc on the part of the economy surrounding fruit import and preparation. His empress is chosen for him -- she must be virtuous, and capable, and most importantly, not so beautiful that she would distract him from his civic duties (this being a cdrama, they take certain liberties with this last one).

Okay, you say, but he grows up in an environment of lavish privilege; he will never want for anything materially; he has armies of servants to reshape the world around him to his will.

Yes -- but all of this comes at the cost of his personal happiness. Always, always, he will be forced to put the good of his people, the governance of his dynasty, before his own desires, because he takes his role as emperor seriously. Leadership is an honor, a privilege, a burden -- and most of all?

It is not one he chooses. It is one he’s born into.

(can you nope out of this role, abdicate and abandon your position? perhaps -- but the precedents are few, the journey afterwards unknown, and one should not underestimate the pressure to perform as others demand, hope, expect you to)

We see this dynamic -- personal, selfish preference pitted against ‘the good of the many’ or ‘the good of your constituents’ -- play out on a smaller scale with Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen. They aren’t emperors, sure, but they are given the same privilege, the same honor, the same burden of leadership. They can’t do things just because they want to; they always have to consider the future of Yunmeng Jiang, the wellbeing of Gusu Lan. They have the immense power and wealth that comes with being able to mobilize an entire cultivation sect to do your bidding; in return, they are responsible for the safety and protection of their people.

This is, of course, in stark contrast to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, our protagonists and moral centers in CQL. They are the second(ary) sons, unbeholden to the same demands and responsibilities of sect heirs. This is why the two of them can swear on a floating lantern to protect the weak and eliminate the wicked, why they can truly live by the principle of 问心无愧 wenxinwukui. It’s why they can put their personal principles and desires before their pre-existing loyalties and responsibilities; it’s why Wei Wuxian can tell Jiang Cheng to cast him out from the Jiang Sect; it’s why Lan Wangji can leave Gusu during those sixteen years to appear wherever the chaos is.

Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen do not have the same freedom of movement, freedom from obligation, freedom to do as they like.

Their lives are not their own.

The problem of the Wen prisoners-of-war post-Sunshot may be a question of simple morality to Wei Wuxian -- right or wrong, black or white -- but not so for, well, literally every other character in the room. The facts are these: the Qishan Wen sect just tried to eliminate the other cultivation sects through blood and the blade, through massacres and monstrous cultivation. In fact, Qishan Wen has personally tried to kill over half the people in this room. Cloud Recesses was set ablaze. Yunmeng Jiang has been decimated. For better or for worse, Lanling Jin has emerged as the most powerful cultivation sect post-Sunshot, as a center of both economic wealth and power.

Both Yunmeng and Gusu are in sore need of both wealth and power.

Neither Lan Xichen nor Jiang Cheng are in a particularly good political position at the moment -- in Guanyin Temple, Jin Guangyao says to Lan Xichen: and when Gusu Lan re-built Cloud Recesses, who was it who sent you aid? In all these years, have I ever sought to suppress Gusu? Have I ever done anything except support you through every means possible?

Since the sets for Lotus Pier and Cloud Recesses remain identical before and after Sunshot for budget/logistics reasons, we don’t really feel the scope of the devastation, the sheer scale of what was lost. Jin Guangyao’s words offer us insight as to exactly what Lan Xichen and the Gusu Lan sect were going through in the slow process of rebuilding, the long road to recovery.

Lan Xichen is clearly troubled by the treatment of the Wen sect prisoners; in episode 23, he is the one who pushes back against Jin Guangshan and Nie Mingjue, arguing for clemency. But in deciding how to handle the question of the remaining Wens, Lan Xichen has more to consider beyond the morality of the situation -- he has to assess the aid that Lanling is sending his sect, whether Gusu can afford to anger Lanling at the moment. Lan Xichen, because he represents the interests and wellbeing of his people, has to remain silent, smile mirthlessly, make nice with people Lan Wangji would sooner stab with Bichen.

Lan Wangji can take his sword and stalk out of a cultivation conference, can burn bridges as he likes. Lan Xichen cannot, because those are not only his bridges he would set fire to, but Gusu Lan’s.

How old is Jiang Cheng, when his parents are killed, his home destroyed, and the burdens of rebuilding and leadership laid heavy on his shoulders? Eighteen? Nineteen? Twenty at most -- he is floundering in the dark, trying to do the work of experienced leaders and politicians while his own trauma sinks, heavy and leaden, to form the foundation of the bitter, wounded person he will become. We know Jiang Cheng has self-esteem issues -- compound that with a public role of leadership he wasn’t remotely ready for and the political, paternalistic pressure from Lanling Jin to conform and fall in. Meanwhile, back in Yunmeng, they are still scrubbing the blood from the floors of Lotus Pier. The bridges Lan Xichen does not dare burn? Are the same bridges Jiang Cheng hesitates next to, torn between his separate loyalties.

Jiang Cheng has lost so much, already, and is spread so thin -- he can’t protect everyone he needs to, everyone he wants to (and he wants to protect Wen Qing, the comb, track the comb!) and so, Slytherin primary that he is, he settles. My siblings, he thinks. Let me have these two.

And Jiang Yanli marries out (to Lanling Jin, no less; another reason to stay in Lanling’s good graces). And Wei Wuxian turns Jiang Cheng down, turns Jiang Cheng away when all Jiang Cheng wants to do is to bring Wei Wuxian back to Lotus Pier and keep him safe, and that rejection breaks something in Jiang Cheng, too.

It’s also important to realize that we know that the Dafan Wen are harmless, that Wen Qing and Wen Ning are good people who helped the Yunmeng trio in their time of need, but others don’t know this. In the multi-clan debate on the floor of Douyan Hall in episode 27, Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng both try to vouch for the Dafan Wen. It’s Nie Mingjue, of all people, who argues against them; Nie Mingjue who considers the Dafan Wen just as guilty as the Qishan family, Nie Mingjue who argues that because they were silent, because they were complicit, because they didn’t actively fight back against Wen Ruohan, that they do not deserve mercy.

(are we seeing the underlying themes and parallels here?? are we seeing them???)

We, as the audience, positioned from Wei Wuxian’s perspective with his particular insight and knowledge, are inclined take his side, to favor his actions and admire his decisions. At the same time, we see the brutal, ruthless cost Wei Wuxian’s heroism exacts on him and his loved ones -- sticking his neck out for the Wen refugees might be the right thing to do, but it costs him almost everything. It takes a special type of courage, a particular strength of will, to die for what you believe in; even Lan Wangji, Hanguang-jun, our bearer of light does not step out to protect the Wen refugees the same way Wei Wuxian does.

Wei Wuxian may downplay his heroism as the right thing to do, anyone would have done the same in my place, but I think that it’s incredibly important to realize how exceptional Wei Wuxian is, and that holding every other character to this standard is both unrealistic and unfair. The narrative casts Wei Wuxian’s actions as going above and beyond -- his remarkable ability to sacrifice is precisely what makes him so heroic to us. But his sacrifices are not bloodless or wholly unproblematic either. These choices are not made in a vacuum, and the particular balance of relationship and obligation, responsibility and leadership, makes both the issues and the characters grappling with them complex and compelling.

Wang Zhuocheng for Echo-7s Magazine (2021)

The sign of high quality is the fact the book was banned by the government. Trash literature NEVER EVER had any troubles with the law.

Oh God!!!

Now they’re all dead hearts to you

Untamed Fall Fest: Day 28 - Decay

i feel like as a fandom we do not spend enough time dissecting how fucked up the scene described here is.

“Young Master Wei, that night, you took the two halves of the Stygian Tiger Seal and pieced them together. After you were satisfied with the killing, you were a spent arrow as well. WangJi was injured on your rampage. He was in no better shape than you, barely supporting himself by leaning on Bichen. In spite of this, as he saw you stumble away, he immediately followed.

“Right then, not many people were still conscious. I, too, was almost unable to move, and I could only watch as WangJi, whose spiritual powers were clearly about to be drained, staggered towards you. He brought you onto Bichen as soon as he grabbed you, and you two left.”

just. the mental image of lxc being so injured and so drained of spiritual energy that he can only watch helplessly as his brother continues to aid the man who did this to him - to all of them - is fucking breaking me.

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so here’s the tea sis-

I assure you, brother. The sun will shine on us again.

Top MCU dynamics voted by my followers:

↳ 3. Thor Odinson + Loki Laufeyson/Odinson

Been doing some thinking. One of the Qin Su & Lan Xichen parallels is that Jin Guangyao saves their lives, and I’m thinking how Jin Guangyao is technically their 救命恩人 (“jiùmìng ēnrén” - something like “life-saving benefactor”). That’s considered a debt that can’t really be repaid, and the ēn of ēnrén is actually used in a bunch of expressions linked to debts of either gratitude or resentment/revenge. But there is one way to repay it, and that’s by dying for your benefactor if the situation demands or you’re asked to. I’m currently struggling to not apply that to Qin Su’s extremely convenient suicide and to Lan Xichen agreeing to stay and die with Jin Guangyao…….

dong shik & ju won | beyond evil fmv