r/pursuitofjade

You ever noticed that the Crown Princess’s nurse headdress has two curved tails at the back?

This little detail is actually a nod to 博鬢 (in Mandarin, ”bo bin”), a Song Dynasty headdress design reserved solely for 命婦冠服/ women with a conferred title, so think members of the royal family and others such as those who are married to very senior military figures… like a Marquis! More on that later ;)

https://preview.redd.it/xzlc47nr0ekh1.png?width=1184&format=png&auto=webp&s=747ce4e4b1a3971388245724cd5fe359408eab0d

Put differently, the bo bin/curved tails design is a sign of high status, and we actually see a full fledged version of it much later as part of Qianqian's empress look:

https://preview.redd.it/ibcav6kfzdkh1.png?width=1604&format=png&auto=webp&s=45e437f7be4228ef984d9bb512c959c372ecf001

Qianqian’s headdress and bo bin draws heavy inspiration from historical designs, such as the headdress worn by Empress Cao, the Second Empress of Emperor Renzhong.

https://preview.redd.it/hyttq2unzdkh1.png?width=537&format=png&auto=webp&s=ab6a10494093a66b44295f2fccf5ceeac7955fb8

Source: https://www.aihanfu.com/wen/3009/ (Chinese article with lots of historical details)

With that cultural understanding, the Crown Princess’s nurse headdress takes on more significance - it’s a hint at her status even when in disguise, which is also why that detail is missing from her maid/servant’s headdress.

https://preview.redd.it/tk1dppkwzdkh1.png?width=2328&format=png&auto=webp&s=c958087a644e30336d2454ea3e9d7d39ef927746

The rules around this headdress detail is also why, when Changyu appears as the Marchioness in Lin’an, you can see a similar curved tail bo bin as part of her headdress - it’s a design that she can now wear since she’s married to a Marquis :)

https://preview.redd.it/d82k0he20ekh1.jpg?width=1644&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d7164ce89552c26ce0f15e2a18c3205e52830732

Thus ends another little post about all the fun cultural details in this show.

Credit to 西陽靜兒 on XHS for pointing out this detail and its historical origins. Her post here has way more info about other characters but I just focussed on one small part and expanded it with my own research. It’s cool little details like these in PoJ that makes it so fun to rewatch. I’m learning loads about my own culture as I go. Thank you for joining me on this ride :)

Honestly I loved them🤧

I hope Kong Xueer (Qian qian) and Deng kai(Qi min) act as a proper couple in any future dramas 😭 id love to see them together 😔

Ok, ok... y'all know I love this show. But you know what bugs me a little? When Director Zeng breaks logic for aesthetics.

The one that people talk about the most is probably how in Lin'an paper windows are left open when it's snowing. Looks very romantic, but c'mon. It's winter in the northwest. It's a miracle people haven't died en masse from pneumonia!

And here's one from an otherwise nice scene when Xie Zheng and Changyu are sharing a kiss...

(Note: ball-shaped claypots are almost always used for brewing meds)

The Chinese in me: "!!!! OMGWTFBBQ that heat's on WAYYY too high on that 瓦煲 (clay pot)! It's killing the medicinal value of that brew!! Turn that down!! YOU'LL BURN YOUR MEDS!!!"

"But... look at the pretty puffs of vapour!" - Director Zeng, probably

/end rant

HE LOOKS SOOO ETHEREAL OMGGGG 😭😭

I still can't get over POJ 😭 he nailed the historical aesthetic perfectly 😭 MY SINCERE THANKS TO THE MAKE UP TEAM AND WHOEVER CASTED HIM 😭

A lot of people have been recommending the novel and I promised a few of you I'd give an update once I got the chance to check it out. FWIW, I read the Chinese version so can't say how the English versions are like. Anyway, here are some thoughts from the first 10 chapters (up to ~episode 4 in the drama):

• Cold. The novel feels colder than the drama - both in terms of Xie Zheng's personality and Changyu's relationships with fellow Lin'an residents. eg. In the novel, the person who was responsible for making Changyu's wedding outfits wasn't Mrs. Chen but some random person, but it feels way cosier that Changyu has people like Mrs. Chen looking out for her who are a regular presence in the drama.
• On that note, I'm sad that the novel only had bit roles for so many characters we love in the drama!
• They changed the name of Lin'an town! Novel says 臨安 but the drama says 林安. Pronounciation is the same but the irony embedded in the original name got lost in the change, because 臨安 roughly means "peace cometh/a place where peace is about to descend" and of course, the irony is that a massacre happened there... ;'(
• There was funny line in the beginning that was so emblematic of the type of humour we see in the drama. On the state of the man she'd just saved: 治成什麽樣了，樊長玉不清楚，不過目前還沒斷氣就是了。 (loosely: "Changyu wasn't sure if the man had been healed (by Mr. Zhao) but at least he ain't dead for now.") It sounds funnier in Chinese (and also 'cos I'm not a professional translator so please bear with me) but it's the juxtaposition of something light/casual against a serious situation that makes it funny and I'm just so glad that the drama adopted this aspect of the novel and REALLY expanded it to the point it became a signature element of the drama.
• The novel seems to adhere more to the classic Chinese wuxia novel structure where the protagonists meet side characters and move right on, never meeting them again. It contributes to the colder feel of the novel, especially if you've experienced the cosiness of the drama first.
• The drama flows so much better based on the little I've read. eg. I couldn't believe that the novel skipped right over the actual moment of CY saving XZ in the snow!! That was such an amazing character building moment in the drama and told us a lot about Changyu and her motivations, etc. The novel also skipped over so many classic/signature moments in the drama (partly because in the novel XZ warms to CY a lot slower, which I guess is more realistic).
• The author had the sense to keep the windows in the bedrooms closed for invalids! THANK YOU!!
• Had an LOL moment when in the novel Xie Zheng thought: 天降大任於斯任也，必先苦其心志，勞其筋骨…… See, the line is in Classical Chinese so it's very refined and full of dignity, etc. (definitely not Changyu's vocabulary but very Xie Zheng), and the sentence loosely translates to "those who are destined for great things must first endure hardship and adversity of the mind and body". But... Xie Zheng applied this line to work up the courage to eat a bowl of large intestine noodles! Just funny what a big deal it was to him - especially because he'd been really enjoying the noodles until he learned that he was eating large intestines.
• So interesting that novel XZ did not use Classical Chinese when he first spoke to Changyu like he'd done in the drama! I'd written about the significance of the choice of Classical Chinese in that scene in this post but one thing I refrained from saying then was how odd/out of character it was for him to be doing that with the benefit of hindsight. It worked during a first viewing of PoJ and did build intrigue around this mysterious man, but once you realise that XZ's meant to have this vast intellect and is very savvy, the use of Classical Chinese here feels odd because he's not figured out where he is and using such a specific type of speech would give away his unusual station very quickly. I kind of expect him, even if woozy from a near death experience, to have the instinct to to lie low and talk like a normal person instead of like the highborn that he is.

Overall, just based on the first 10 chapters I by far prefer the drama just because it elevated the story in so many beautiful and funny ways, so I'll probably just pick out some key scenes in the novel to read but that's about all I can do at the moment.

Let's compare notes! Of those who've read the novel, which did you prefer: the novel or the drama? What were your favourite bits from the novel that they sadly didn't include in the drama?

Let’s talk about Jin Ye (aka Jin Yuanbao) today! I love this character and how he evolved as a person throughout the show.

One of PoJ’s strengths is that the side characters are vividly drawn out - we see that they have their own inner worlds, desires, fears, etc. and the characters’ actions and reactions to events bear a consistent logic throughout. For me, Jin Ye is a prime example.

When we meet him for the very first time, he seems to just be some bog standard ruffian. The second time we meet him is when he and his squad returns to Changyu’s home to search for the house deed and Yan Zheng confronts them. That’s when you see he’s a bit more than just “ruffian”. When he threatened to break Yan Zheng’s good leg, the way YZ placidly replied was not lost on him. As early as this very moment, you see he’s different from his crew. When the rest were busy jeering at YZ, Jin Yuanbao’s eyes narrow, and moments later he smartly declines YZ’s challenge, clocking that there’s more to YZ than meets the eye and it’s best not to mess with him.

Later, during the fake Marquis scene, we see that Jin Ye is yet again ahead of his crew and in fact is the only person smart enough to figure out something is amiss. When everyone’s busy pleading with “the Marquis”, Jin Ye is the only one who casts not one but two suspicious looks at Yan Zheng. He’s the only one there who realises amidst the confusion that it’s really strange for YZ to be speaking so authoritatively to the Marquis:

https://i.redd.it/qzin1uol57jh1.gif

In fact, he’s sharp enough in his observations throughout the show that I get the sense he’s basically one of those smart kids who got bored because they were understimulated in school/life, and developed a habit of being lazy precisely because they were smart enough to get stuff done without putting in much effort then eventually got mixed in with the wrong crowds and doing unethical but highpaying work. Which is how we found him when we first met him.

You also have to feel for him, because it’s clear that he catches feelings for Changyu. After Changyu was reunited with Yan Zheng at the army camp, Jin Ye was listless - to the point where the monetary rewards the butcher squad just received didn’t give him an ounce of pleasure.

He’s evolved, and you realise that he’d been lowkey harbouring hopes of a happier outcome between himself and Changyu. But equally, he seems sufficiently self-aware to know deep down that she’s out of his league and so he keeps his feelings to himself. Jin Ye’s actor 李殿尊 (Li Dianzun) conveys all of this to us with his acting, and I love him for bringing Jin Ye to life.

And even when he realises that his feelings for her will always be unrequited, he remains loyal to Changyu and continues to fulfill his role as a protector as well as he can. And last but not least, we have him to thank for the paper window kiss. If he hadn’t insisted on toasting Changyu, Xie Zheng wouldn’t have felt compelled to drink on her behalf and then drag her away.

All in all, he’s a great character in my book - someone who's complex and intelligent... who also plays accidental cupid. ;)

What did you guys think of Jin Yuanbao as a character?

Yes, he was annoying and not as deliciously clever as Game of Thrones’ Varys, but I felt kind of bad for the messenger Eunuch, he was just doing his job and got his ear cut off. And then he became the willing scapegoat for the weak Emperor and Minister Li’s plot, and was quickly killed for his misplaced loyalty. I love me some fierce Wu’an Ho slicing, but dude! Have some compassion for the little guy?

As an artist this is the first time I have been so ridiculously obsessed with a tv character that I couldn’t help but spend days painting him to bring him to life.

Here's something I never understood and I'm curious how others are interpreting it. In the Big Reveal scene where Xie Zheng gallops onto the battlefield and whisks Changyu away, the butcher squad watches them from afar and Mandi mutters 「完了……」 - literally "(something/someone is) finished/done for"; figuratively "oh crap".

The Netflix English subs translated it to "oh no". The Japanese subs say ヤバい, which in this situation translates to "oh crap" or "damn". But what was Mandi referring to exactly? I know he was shocked by the revelation, but the comment didn't quite make sense to me. So how did you all interpret his comment? What was he referring to in that moment?