CANNOT stop thinking about the Josh fight. Over 100 guys named josh got together to fight with pool noodles and they all decided that the winner was a five year-old so tiny the Burger King crown was too big for him. And they lifted him into the air and cheered like he was Simba. Earth is a good place to be after all
The talismans in both the live-action and animated shows originate from Daoist talismans, which in turn developed from early shamanistic traditions. Like what Lan Wangji tells Jiang Cheng in the show, real life Daoist talismans are usually made for beneficial purposes, one of which being to ward off evil spirits. Other purposes of such talismans include everything from curing illnesses to controlling floods to communicating with the gods. In order to call forth gods to accomplish these goals, writing/drawing on the talismans usually include “incantations” that start with “勅令”, or “command”, on the very top. The word can be traced back to 敕令, which refers to orders from an emperor, but since 敕 is traditionally reserved for the emperor, Daoists use 勅 on their talismans. The meaning is also slightly changed, as 敕 has 攵 on the right, implying the order is written; meanwhile 勅 has 力/force on the right, implying the order is executed by “force”.
The body of the talisman sometimes include complex combinations of Chinese characters (合体字/複文) that are more like visual symbols and do not have their own pronunciations. On a talisman these “combination characters” are usually arranged in a specific pattern. These combination characters aren’t exclusive to Daoism, however. Below is a well-known combination character created from the word 招財進寶 (lit: “gaining wealth and attracting riches”), commonly seen pasted on doors and windows around Chinese New Year for luck.
Other elements of a talisman are mostly made up of symbols such as the yinyang symbol, eight trigrams, and special strokes that also hold symbolic meaning.
A fun detail from the animated show: in the scene where Jiang Cheng shows the inverted evil-warding talisman to Lan Wangji, we can see that WWX’s addition in blood near the top turns the 人 part into 夷, as in 夷陵老祖/”Yiling Founder”, giving the viewer a solid hint as to who changed the talismans.
Sword (Jian)/剑
Jian sword refers specifically to pointed double-edged one-handed straight swords. The sword is important to religious Daoism, but its origin as a culturally-significant symbol lies in history.
The sword was an actual weapon used on the battlefield before Han dynasty (before 202 BC), and it was that time, long long ago, that the sword was associated with certain human qualities, such as an unyielding sense of justice. From there, the jian sword eventually became an ornamental item symbolizing high social status. Evidences of this can be found in the Book of Rites (《禮記》), a book detailing etiquettes and rituals for nobles of Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BC). For example, a chapter mentioned “when looking upon a gentleman’s attire, sword, and carriage horse, do not gossip about their value” (“觀君子之衣服，服劍，乘馬，弗賈”). One such decorative jian sword artifact even survived to this day:
Sword of Goujian, King of Yue (越王勾践剑), part of the collection of Hubei Provincial Museum. Note: the engraved “bird-worm seal script” (鳥蟲篆; basically a highly decorative font) text says “Goujian, King of Yue, made this sword for his personal use” (戉王鸠浅，自乍用鐱).
By the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD), Daoism had established itself as a folk religion. Many of the customs and etiquettes passed down from pre-Qin dynasty times were mystified and given religious importance in the then newly-established Daoist belief system, including the aforementioned etiquettes involving the jian sword. People came to believe the jian sword as holding magical properties, a weapon gifted by heaven itself, allowing its wielder (usually a Daoist priest) to fight and triumph over demonic spirits. As the jian sword became more and more of a Daoist ceremonial item than an actual weapon, it also slowly changed to this familiar form today:
(Modern ceremonial Daoist jian swords. Fun fact: it is widely believed that jian swords made entirely of peach wood have better demon-banishing abilities than regular swords, since peach trees were said to have demon-warding effects.)
So, a sword that was worn to show respect, used to showcase social status AND have demon-warding powers? Does that sound familiar?
It was no accident that the day WWX refused to take his sword with him (since he gave his core to Jiang Cheng so Jiang Cheng could continue to use swords) was also the day the other sects/clans started to alienate him. The sword symbolized status, and WWX was only the son of a servant, a “lone genius” (一枝独秀/”a lone blooming branch”, in the words of Jiang Cheng) among all the young nobles, so it was fitting that WWX abandoned the “righteous” sword path to walk a new and unique path in order to reach his full potential.
“Fly whisk”/“duster”/fu chen/拂尘
Remember the funny-looking duster-like objects that Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen held in the live action series? Those are called fu chen, or “拂尘” in Chinese, and hold symbolic meaning in Daoism. To explore that meaning, let’s first explain the name “fu chen”. Fu chen literally means “brush dust”, so the Chinese meaning is really more like “duster” than the common English translation of “fly whisk”. But then what sort of “dust” is it really “brushing”?
The concept of “dust” (尘) in both Daoism and Chinese Buddhism refers to the normal secular human society, with all of its material objects and worldly wants and worries. Thus, the symbolic meaning of fu chen/“duster” is to clear these worries and wants–in other words, worldly attachments–from one’s mind, allowing one to exit the secular world. For this reason, in China, the process of abandoning one’s normal life in society for the life of a Daoist priest or Buddhist monk is called “出家” (lit. “exiting home”) or “出世” (lit. “exiting world”; world here meaning society).
Since both Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen are Daoist priests (they were both referred to as “道长”), and both wandered through the world banishing evil rather than settling down somewhere and integrating into society, it was a nice choice to have them each hold a fu chen.
“Stygian Tiger Seal” or “Yin Tiger Seal”/阴虎符
This one is a non-Daoist reference, but it’s still rooted in Chinese history, so here we go.
The fact that the Stygian Tiger seal is called a “tiger seal”/虎符 and has two halves that unleash powerful resentment energy when fitted together (this mechanism is present in both book and live-action but is absent in the animated show, where the two halves appear to be conjoined), points to the inspiration being the tiger amulet. In imperial China, tiger amulets/虎符 are metal tiger figurines that split into halves lengthwise, and serve the important purpose of approving military deployment. The imperial court would hold the right half, while the left half would be issued to military officials.
When army deployment is needed, the official would bring the left half of the figurine to the imperial court, and if it combines with the right half into a whole figurine, then the military deployment would be officially approved. Historically, tiger amulets are a security measure designed to give the imperial court control over the military.
Finally, some joke talismans I found on the web:
Translation: “No need to work overtime”; “hold the talisman and chant ‘PIKA PIKA’”, “will confuse your boss so you can get off work early”.
Translation: “passes exam without studying”, “bullshitting it”, “no need to study”. (I think I’ll need one of these lol…………………………..)
Though The Untamed is a Xianxia/仙侠 drama (kind of like fantasy genre), there are some elements in it that had clear roots in Chinese culture, especially religious/philosophical Daoism. So here are some Daoist elements within the world of The Untamed/MDZS:
“Cultivation” (Dao)/道
In Chinese, the “cultivation method” is the “Dao”/“道”, which some of you may recognize as that character that sometimes stands for Daoism. Within Daoism however, that character has a deeper meaning than just a name; in fact it is one of the most important concepts of both philosophical and religious Daoism (it also has a few different meanings, but the world of The Untamed mostly focuses on one of them; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a very comprehensive article entry on Daoism that explains the concept of Dao in detail, for anyone who’s interested in more scholarly explanations). It actually translates best as “way” or “path” (note: when not referring to a specific “way”, it absolutely CANNOT be translated as “the way” or “the path”, and I will get to why that’s important), and basically means a “way” of doing something. For example, to make a salad you might rip the lettuce leaves or cut them with a knife. Both of these methods would be “ways”/道 of making a salad. And as you can see in this example, there are many different ways of arriving at a result or accomplishing a goal. Since Dao encompasses all of the different ways of doing all the different things, it cannot be translated as “the way”, since “the” would imply that “there is only one way”, or “only one right way”, of doing things.
(image credit: My Great Lakes)
This concept that there is more than one way to accomplish something is very important to the story of The Untamed/MDZS, especially in terms of Wei Wuxian. But we have to clarify the “goal” in The Untamed/MDZS first: what was it that these people were trying to accomplish with their different “ways”? Looking at the overall story, it appears that they were all generally trying to do good and uphold justice by warding off or neutralizing supernatural threats. Now that we’ve established the goal, let’s return to WWX. In the story, WWX was forced to give up the regular “cultivation”/ the “sword path”/剑道, instead founding the “demonic cultivation”/”dark path”/魔道 in order to survive the extreme environment of the Burial Mounds and acquire enough power to get revenge on the Wens. Since the Wens killed a lot of people, WWX would also be upholding justice by punishing them for their evil deeds. As the lyrics of the opening song of MDZS animated series puts it: “though his (WWX’s) ‘path’ was different, there was justice within his heart” (道不同义在心中). Conversely, this is also why the sects/clans were wrong to label different “cultivations”/“ways” as good or evil, as both WWX’s “demonic cultivation” and the regular “sword path” could be used as powerful forces for good and evil. Of course, the irony was that while the sects hailed their “sword path” as “the one right path”, they were using it to control each other, instead of using it to do good.
(The two “paths”/daos. How different are they?)
“Cultivation”/修道
Well now that we’ve cleared up what “cultivation”/道 or Dao actually is in the context of the show and what the characters were trying to accomplish with their different “ways”, this “cultivation” or 修道 becomes easier to understand. It means the development (修) of one’s skill in regard to the “path” (道) one has chosen. For example, most characters chose to develop their skills in the “sword path”. In actual religious Daoism, however, since the ultimate end purpose is to become an immortal/仙, 修道 would mean doing something to work towards that immortal status.
“Cultivator”/仙
In Daoism, the character “仙” can be translated as “immortal”, “sage”, or “celestial being”, and refers to the end goal of religious Daoists: to “metamorphose” into an immortal (羽化登仙) (also connotes transitioning into eternal afterlife through death). The characters “羽化” literally mean “to become feathery”, because at least in Western Han dynasty (202 BC-8 AD) figures and tomb murals, such immortals often appeared as humans with feathers or winged humans, and are capable of flight.
Over the next few hundred years, the appearance of immortals gradually morphed into humans that fly by floating, standing on platforms of clouds, or riding birds (often cranes)/mythical creatures.
In the drama and the animated series, 仙 is often used as a descriptor in different words (ex: 仙门, 仙家, 仙侣, 仙缘…etc), rather than a standalone noun. However, it is still a reference to this general idea of training/cultivating oneself to become something greater, and provides a strong connection to Daoism.
“Cultivators”/修士
In Daoism, this term is used less than 道士, but it still means “cultivators of Dao” (修道之人), or simply, “Daoists”. In The Untamed/MDZS, of course, it means practitioners of a “cultivation”/“path”.
“Golden core”/金丹
This one has roots in real life sects of religious Daoism. The translation “golden core” itself is quite literal. “Golden” from the descriptor 金, and “core” for 丹, presumably because it looks like a sort of core. In reality, 丹 is quite hard to translate. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy translates 丹 as “alchemy”, so I will use “alchemy” for 丹 from here on out. In religious Daoism, there are two types of this alchemy: external and internal, and both are supposed to help one towards immortality. People who practiced “external alchemy”/外丹 basically made “immortality elixirs” (in reality it wasn’t a drink like “elixir” implies, but a ball-shaped chewable) in the hopes that it would give immortality to whoever ate it. This is very much like alchemy in Europe, except instead of trying to turn things into gold, people were making things to eat for immortality. Some fun facts: these elixirs frequently contained heavy metals like mercury and lead, and ironically would shorten people’s lives instead of helping them live longer; also legend has it that an explosive attempt to make elixirs actually led to the invention of gunpowder.
(these appears to be actual products of external alchemy found in an Eastern Jin dynasty tomb, well-preserved due to its high mercury content)
This external alchemy obviously does not apply to “golden core” in The Untamed/MDZS, so let’s look at internal alchemy. “Internal alchemy”/內丹 is much more abstract than external alchemy, but in simple terms it is the practice of using meditation and similar strategies to return oneself to a state of emptiness (kind of like “one with nature”). This is probably what the show’s “golden core” was based on. Also another name for “internal alchemy”/內丹 is “golden alchemy”/金丹, literally the same characters as “golden core”/金丹 in the show.
There is one major difference though. While real practitioners of internal alchemy believe that everyone already possess a “golden alchemy” (“golden core”), in the show everyone has to “cultivate” themselves in order to have one in the first place.
(all credits on the images go to their respective creators; if this post infringes on any copyrights, please message me, and I will take it off this post)
So, most people probably know that the Chinese zodiac consists of 12 animals, and that they change yearly, commonly referred to as “year of the (animal)”. 2020 (or traditionally called the Gengzi/庚子 year, according to the Sexagenary Cycle/”Heavenly Trunks and Earthly Branches”/天干地支) is the Year of the Rat. Personally, I was born on a Year of the Rat, and I know a bunch of people who were also born on a Year of the Rat, which means that 2020 is our zodiac year/本命年!
But hold the celebrations……
Because traditionally speaking, when your zodiac year comes around, it’s actually considered to be a very bad thing for you.
Why is that?
This concept is called “犯太岁” in folk belief, which basically means “offending the reigning deity of the year”, and it originated from Daoism, where it’s called “冲克岁君” (same meaning). In religious Daoism, there is a group of 60 different deities called Taisui (太岁; all 60 are deified historical figures) who take turns reigning over the years (1 deity per year). If this next year is your zodiac year, then you have offended the reigning Taisui of that year.
You might be asking yourself, how did I offend the reigning Taisui?
Turns out it has more to do with the Sexagenary Cycle (天干地支/“Heavenly Trunks and Earthly Branches”). The Sexagenary Cycle is an ancient system for reckoning time that goes in cycles of 60 years each, and is applied to the Lunar Calendar (meaning the “years” referred to here are years as dictated by the Lunar Calendar). The 60 years are further divided into groups of 12 each, with each of the 12 being an “Earthly Branch” (地支), and each are paired up with an animal, forming the Chinese zodiac we know today. While there is a Taisui reigning over a given year, the zodiac animal of the year would assist the deity. Some people might know the pressure of working under a powerful boss who has a lot of credentials, and this is presumed to be how it is for the zodiac animal of the year. So for example, people who were born in Year of the Rat might be punished (this “punishment” usually manifest as extremely bad luck, for example, getting into a serious accident, losing a lot of money, etc) by the reigning Taisui along with the Rat, should anything go wrong.
Thankfully, tradition says that there are some things we can do to avoid an impending year of misfortune. Traditionally, people would burn offerings and pray to the reigning deity of the year to show their piety and appease the reigning Taisui. These rituals are called “安太岁” (or “摄太岁” in Hong Kong), which literally means “calming Taisui”, and are still practiced in parts of China today. However, in modern times, the more common method is to wear red-colored clothing items (usually belts or undergarments) when the person’s zodiac year comes around (at least from the eve to the 1st of the new year), in an attempt to gain back the “lost” luck (red is traditionally seen as a “lucky” color symbolizing all good things).
But regardless of whether you live by these traditions or not……
Yuan Zai in the drama was arguably even more manipulative than Lin Jiulang, and this is somewhat historically accurate, though like Lin Jiulang’s historical counterpart Li Linfu, Yuan Zai also had some accomplishments, like promoting people who were good at finances. However, after he became the chancellor during Emperor Daizong’s reign (Daizong is the eldest son of Suzong), he became extremely corrupt, only giving promotions to people who gave him gifts. While chancellor, Yuan Zai was also a major political opponent against Li Bi. But because he was corrupt, and because people envied his power within the court, Yuan Zai gradually fell out of favor with Emperor Daizong. Eventually, Yuan Zai (and his entire family) was ordered to commit suicide.
Yuan Zai’s relationship with his wife Wang Yunxiu, however, was very different from the depiction in the drama. Yuan Zai married Wang Yunxiu even before he came to Chang'an in pursuit of a better career. In fact, Wang Yunxiu was the one who encouraged him to do so. Before setting out for Chang'an, the pair exchanged poems with each other (both poems are in the collection “Complete Collection of Tang-era Poems”, or 《全唐诗》), so the love was probably mutual and not manufactured for a purpose.
Yao Runeng (姚汝能):
Historically, Yao Runeng was not the descendant of the famous Tang dynasty chancellor Yao Chong (姚崇). Actually, he was a relative “nobody”, just like Zhang Xiaojing. So it was fitting that the real Yao Runeng would be the author of the book (“The Deeds of An Lushan”) that contained the only real record about Zhang Xiaojing.
About that book he wrote: it’s been speculated that the big boss behind the Persian gold coins was An Lushan, who was the perpetrator of the rebellion that destroyed Chang'an a mere 10 years later. Since Yao Runeng was given a gold coin in the last episode, him being the real-life author of a book about An Lushan and the rebellion becomes rather interesting.
Cheng Shen (程参)/ historical: Cen Shen (岑參):
Like He Zhizhang, Cen Shen was also known more for his poetry. While He Zhizhang was more well-known but only has 19 surviving poems, Cen Shen has a whopping 360 surviving poems, mostly about his travels near the border.
Yan Yuhuan (严羽幻)/ historical: Yang Yuhuan (楊玉環):
Yan Yuhuan’s historical counterpart, Yang Yuhuan, is arguably the most historically famous female from the drama. Heck, she might be one of the the most famous women from Chinese history, period. Her fame came from her looks, so much so that she became one of the four most beautiful women of Chinese history. It was no wonder that Li Longji/Xuanzong (the emperor depicted in the drama) was captivated by her. She was also distantly related to Yang Guozhong, the treacherous chancellor that Zhang Xiaojing killed (according to Yao Runeng’s book).
Unfortunately for Yang Yuhuan, during the rebellion, everyone thought she was the cause of the unrest (not true; there were many many other causes) and a “bad influence” for the emperor , so the emperor ordered her to hang herself. In short, she became another sacrifice in a society controlled by men.
Xu Hezi (许合子)/ historical: Xu Hezi (許鶴子):
If the real Yan Yuhuan’s story was the tragedy of a beautiful Tang-era woman, the real Xu Hezi’s story was the tragedy of a Tang-era female entertainer. The historical Xu Hezi was also a famous singer of commoner descent, but when the rebellion happened, she was forced to escape Chang'an, and died a lowly entertainer/prostitute.
Guo Lishi (郭利仕)/ historical: Gao Lishi (高力士):
Li Bi’s “uncle Guo” wasn’t explicitly mentioned as a eunuch in the drama, though his headwear gave it away (his headwear is called “long jin”/籠巾, and is usually reserved for eunuchs in historical dramas). Historically, Gao Lishi was a powerful eunuch who was first favored by Wu Zetian (the first and only female Chinese emperor), then Li Longji/Xuanzong. Gao Lishi was very corrupt: rumors suggest he had more money than the national treasury. However, he was also very loyal. Upon hearing of Li Longji/Xuanzong’s death in 762 AD, he fell ill out of grief, and died.
Others:
(These people who appeared in the drama were also taken from history, and because their roles in the drama were small, I will only list their names here. It is worth noting, however, that although their roles seemed small in the drama, they were all influential people in Tang court in 744 AD)
Gan Shoucheng (甘守诚/甘守誠)
Mao Shun (毛顺/毛順)
Jiao Sui (焦遂)
Chen Xuanli (陈玄礼/陳玄禮)
Ji Wen (吉温/吉溫)
Luo Xishi (罗希奭/羅希奭)
Wang Hong (王鉷)
Chen Xilie (陈希烈/陳希烈)
Pei Dunfu (裴敦复/裴敦復)
Wei Jian (韦坚/韋堅)
Huangfu Weiming (皇甫惟明)
Li Jingzhong (李静忠/李靜忠)/ later changed to Li Fuguo (李輔國)
About a month ago, I finished The Longest Day in Chang'an, a period cdrama set in mid-Tang dynasty, 744 AD to be exact. Since it is a period drama, there’s bound to be characters adopted from history, so here’s a list of all the characters (that I could find) who actually existed:
Zhang Xiaojing (张小敬):
This one came as quite a surprise, because in traditional Chinese historiography, only people who significantly impact an era get to be recorded, but then the name “Zhang Xiaojing” appeared in one line of The Deeds of An Lushan (《安祿山事蹟》), by Yao Runeng of all people: “cavalryman Zhang Xiaojing shot Yang Guozhong off his horse, then proceeded to decapitate and mutilate his body”. Considering that Yang Guozhong (楊國忠) was regarded as a “treacherous” chancellor and this was roughly a decade later from when the story took place, when the An Shi Rebellion was in full swing and Chang'an had fallen to rebel forces, this almost vigilante-like “Zhang Xiaojing” seems to be the historical original that inspired the character.
Li Bi (李必)/ historical: Li Bi (李泌):
In stark contrast with the “obscure hero” Zhang Xiaojing, Li Bi was very much famous. Why? Dude was an important adviser to 3 different Tang emperors, basically a chancellor without an official title, and actually became a chancellor for the third emperor. For that reason, he has 2 official biographies in The Old Book of Tang (《舊唐書》) and The New Book of Tang (《新唐書》), some records in Zizhi Tongjian (《資治通鑑》), a rather fantastic account by his son while his son was on death row (《鄴侯家傳》; surviving version: 《鄴侯外傳》), and an English Wikipedia page. On a side note about the Wikipedia page: it says Li Bi was a “controversial figure”, but never quite pointed out why. It’s because in historical sources, people praised Li Bi for his abilities, but often add how he was a Daoist and “loved to talk about the supernatural”. This wasn’t surprising, since Daoist ideas were often looked down upon by Confucian scholars. Despite getting unfairly judged for his personal beliefs, Li Bi was still a brilliant strategist, involved in everything from war to politics to foreign policy.
He Zhizheng (何执正)/ historical: He Zhizhang (賀知章):
At first people only suspected that He Zhizheng was He Zhizhang, because of how similar the names sounded, and this was 100% confirmed when the drama attributed the poem lines “Who knows who the tailor is, who’s cut your leaves so fine? It’s/ The vernal winds past February, sharp as the scissors’ blades” (不知細葉誰裁出 二月春風似剪刀; translation courtesy of Andrew W.F. Wong) to him. The lines come from the poem “An Ode to the Willow” (《詠柳》) by He Zhizhang, known by most Chinese people in China due to it being in the elementary school literature textbooks. He was definitely more famous for being a poet than for being a scholar-official. Unfortunately, only 19 of his poems survived to the present day. He Zhizhang has official biographies in Old Book of Tang (under the “scholars” section), and New Book of Tang (under the “secluded literati” section). He also has an English Wikipedia page.
Lin Jiulang (林九郎)/ historical: Li Linfu (李林甫):
Like the character Lin Jiulang, Li Linfu was also a chancellor (for 19 years!), and arguably just as sleazy and manipulative. As an example, the Crown Prince Li Ying, Prince Li Yao, and Prince Li Ju were killed because of a scheme that he participated in. In the story, the Crown Prince Li Heng was rightfully intimidated by Li Linfu, since Li Linfu caused the death of his brothers. Li Linfu did have a more endearing side: while not busy doing his chancellor day job or concocting schemes, Li Linfu was apparently a pretty good painter. Li Linfu was also a descendant of the royal family, but this wasn’t obvious in the drama, due to the different surname.
Li Linfu had an official biography in Old Book of Tang and a Wikipedia page.
Li Longji (李隆基) (posthumous title: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang):
Li Longji was a prominent emperor of the Tang dynasty, so he has a very detailed Wikipedia page, but his reign was significant in other ways too. His reign was simultaneously regarded as a “climax” of the Tang dynasty, and also the start of its decline, marked by the An Shi Rebellion. Since the story took place roughly a decade before the rebellion, smack-dab in the “good days” of the dynasty, it portrayed many of the problems that led to its decline.
After the An Shi Rebellion officially began, Li Longji fled with his court to the mountainous Sichuan when Chang’an fell. Though his son, Li Heng, did eventually take back Chang’an, the city never quite recovered after that.
Li Heng (李亨) (posthumous title: Emperor Suzong of Tang):
Being another emperor of the Tang dynasty, Li Heng also had a pretty detailed Wikipedia page, so I’m going to relay a fun little (and probably not real?) story between him and Li Bi that came from the aforementioned account by Li Bi’s son’.
After the An Shi Rebellion began, Li Heng went to Ling Wu and went through coronation there to become the emperor. Soon after, he sought out his friend Li Bi for help in putting down the rebellion. Li Bi came and like a few other people, proved to be of great help, so Li Heng was worried about how to reward them for their irreplaceable contribution. Li Heng went to Li Bi one day and asked him what he would want for his reward. Li Bi’s answer was surprisingly simple: “I am a devout Daoist, so I don’t care about worldly rewards of money or political status. I only want to take a nap on Your Majesty’s legs.”
So one day, when Li Bi went to take a nap, Li Heng came to his place, told the servants to leave, and snuck into Li Bi’s bedroom to sit at the edge of the bed. Then he moved Li Bi’s head onto his legs, so Li Bi would have his wish fulfilled.
The above story may have been just a story made up by Li Bi’s son, but the official history texts did mention (in Li Bi’s biography) how Li Heng and Li Bi were such good friends that they always went out together on the same carriage, so hey, there’s a possibility.
Do you compulsively attach “lol” to 90% of text messages you send out? If yes, you are in good company (I’m also guilty of it), and after reading this post, you can “lol” in Chinese too!
We all know LOL in English is short for “Laughing Out Loud”, and in informal settings like texting or internet forums or social media, a “lol” can convey many different meanings, ranging from the simple “that’s funny” to a passive aggressive “I’m done with you”.
The Chinese equivalent of “lol” is “呵呵" (written same way in traditional Chinese), pronounced “hē hē”, and like “lol”, it’s also used for a wide variety of situations online, including passive aggressive social media comments.
The most notable difference between “呵呵” and “lol” is between the words themselves. “LOL” is an acronym of the description of laughing. “呵呵” is an onomatopoeia, and is more like “haha” in this regard.
A second slight difference is that while lol can be attached to beginning or ends of sentences as is, “呵呵” is usually separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma. Also, from personal experience, “呵呵” is now used more for sarcasm than to convey laughter, so it’s much more like “lol” in usage.
Finally, some fun stuff:
The most notorious “呵呵” abuser in history was the poet Su shi (蘇軾). He’s famous for his epic and serious poems, but if his letters were any indication, dude was actually quite a mischievous person among his friends and family.
Personally, I think the most modern usage of “呵呵” in history was in the Ming-era letter from a painter to his poet friend (picture below with “lol” circled in pink), which ran roughly as follows:
“Read your latest work as a big fan, and I must say, you are way better than some famous poets of yore! I love it! But of course, those promises of royalties will mostly turn up empty, and you’ll only be seeing a couple hundred bucks at best lol. Anyway sorry for the brief reply, we can talk more in person”.
