#all posts from here on are for mdzs fandom

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Wei Wuxian eats a watermelon. Yep!

[sunbunnyyy]

i know i just got here, but seeing all of the laughably bad takes from both sides of the spectrum is convincing me that no, i don’t actually need to be on social media again.

[gentil-minou]

sharing my wangxian phlebotomist!wwx/blood donor!lwj au from twitter here (a summary here if you wanna see)

--

The hardest part of the adoption process was supposed to be endless paperwork and screenings and the anxiety of not being good enough to meet high standards of the court.

It wasn't supposed to be A-Yuan's first doctors appointment.

His pitiful screams fill the small doctor's office. He's clinging to Lan Wangji's shoulders like there a lifeline, hiding and all LWJ wants to do is bundle up his son and carry him back to safety.

But these are mandatory vaccines he needs in order to attend pre-k. So he cant.

Nurse: Shots are never fun at this age, huh He would beg to differ; they're never fun at any age But see lwj isnt afraid of the shots themselves. Hes terrified of the sight of blood. His BFF loves horror movies & he watches them with her bravely by staring at the corner of the tv

When lwj gets his blood drawn, he looks closes his eyes and imagines being in a cold pond somewhere. But he's never been afraid of just the shot before.

He's helpless in the face of his son's distress. The nurse sighs, saying theyll have to try again another day.

A-Yuan sniffles into his baba's shirt, exhausted from the crying fit. His eyes are still watery and he looks around the room with such fear in his eyes, before withdrawing back into the safety of his baba's chest.

Lan Wangji has no idea what to do, only cradles him closer

Thankfully, LWJ has someone who can help. His best friend, Jiang Yanli is a child therapist and has been helping him prepare his home for A-Yuan.

If anyone knows what to do, it's Yanli-jie

JYL: Zhanzhan, have you tried showing him its not scary?

LWJ has not, bc he's terrified

JYL is the only one allowed to call him Zhanzhan. In Uni she was the one who mentored him his first week of school. Someone slipped him alcohol and he got deliriously drunk.

Yanli-jie was the one who found him and took him home. This is what they told the cohort but actually…

JYL: seeing his Baba get a shot and be okay might motivate him to be more brave

LWJ certainly doesn't feel brave. He's thinking of the blood flowing from his veins and then LEAVING them to go who knows where. It sounds barbaric

He has the distinct memory of learning what a period is in middle school and promptly passing out

He is not a fan of anything related to blood

But LWJ has learned that Yanli-jie knows what she's doing, so, despite the way he can swear he feels his blood pumping with fear, he agrees...but there's a problem.

LWJ: I am up to date on all my shots. How can I show him it is safe?

JYL: Hmm....I have an idea. My brother is a phlebotomist! He can help.

LWJ is confused. Last he heard, the younger Jiang is a prosecutor who makes a living viciously yelling in a courtroom.

JYL: Not him, Zhanzhan. My adoptive brother, A-Xian. I bet he would be happy to help you. He works at the blood bank at Yiling Clinic! The perfect exposure!

For who?, LWJ wonders. A blood bank sounds like a house of horrors to him. And a person who chooses to stick a needle in people and remove the very force that gives them life? He cannot imagine getting along with this person at all.

--

Yiling Clinic is a community clinic in a part of town Lan Wangji has never been to, especially since the Gusu Group has their own private hospital.

But this is where Yanli-jie's phlebotomist little brother works.

A-Yuan clings to the back of his legs as they approach the receptionist, a young man with amazing cat eye makeup named Mo Xuanyu

These two definitely do not fit the bill for their usual patients, with their designer clothing, so he asks with some skepticism: Um, can I help you?

LWJ has spent the last two hours siking himself up for the blood part, he isn't prepared at all for social interactions. He flounders like a fish.

LWJ: …I am…We are here for…

A shout comes from behind them: Ah! A-Yu, is that A-jie's friend? Zhanzhan?

LWJ flinches until he sees a man sprinting towards them. The 1st thing he notices is this man is wearing lilac scrubs with little white rabbits on them.

The 2nd thing he notices is this man has the most enchanting smile he's ever seen. Already, LWJ feels more relaxed.

The man winks at him: You like the scrubs? A-jie said A-Yuan liked bunnies, I figured this would help keep him calm.

LWJ does not blurt I like bunnies too. But only just.

Beside the man is a pediatric nurse named Wen Ning, no relation, who says he's here to help with A-Yuan

Yanli-jie's little brother, the phlebotomist, introduces himself: Ah! Sorry, Lan Zhan. Jiejie always calls you that so it just stuck. I'm Wei Wuxian. You can call me Wei Ying if you wanna make it even.

Strangely, LWJ feels no need to correct him: Lan Zhan is fine, Wei Ying.

WWX smiles so brightly, LWJ feels dizzy with it.

WWX: Now where's the little bunny himself?

A-Yuan has been clinging behind LWJ's pant leg, tilting around just enough to peek with one eye at this strange gege.

WWX: Maybe not a rabbit then, a radish who likes to hide away!

A-Yuan becomes offended: I don't like radishes!

WWX laughs: Me neither! But Qing-jie says they help us grow big and strong, so they can't be all that bad huh?

WWX is crouched in front of A-Yuan, draping both arms across his knees and resting his chin in one hand. He waits.

LWJ admires his patience. The longer WWX waits, crouched and rocking back and forth in front of A-Yuan, smile gently and welcoming, the more A-Yuan's natural curiosity gets the better of him.

Eventually, his son comes out from behind his leg to touch a black bunny on his sleeve

A-Yuan: I like this one. We only have a white bunny at home.

WWX: I like the black bunny too! What's your bunny's name?

A-Yuan: Banana, bc she tries to eat Baba's banana every morning, and you are what you eat.

He recites this with all the solemnity a 4 yo could possess

WWX's laughter echoes through the lobby: Well! You're very right, A-Yuan. Maybe you aren't a radish after all then. Tell me, what do little boys eat?

A-Yuan: I'm not little! I'm 4 and a half!

WWX: Right, right, I sincerely apologize for my mistake. What do big boys eat then?

A-Yuan purses his lips and taps his chin, pondering his question carefully: Hmm… jelly beans?

WWX looks like he wants to laugh more, but instead says: I see, I see. Thank you for your wisdom A-Yuan.

He looks up at LWJ, dark eyes dancing. LWJ's heart rabbits against his chest

WWX: If your baba is ready, we can head down to my cave if you'd like. I have a lot of cool machines I'd love to show you.

A-Yuan's eyes widen into saucers as he gasps: A cave? Wowww

They grin conspiratorially at each other, before turning bright eyes up at LWJ

LWJ feels warm and much more relaxed inside, so he nods: Mn. We may go.

A-Yuan cheers and holds WWX's hand as the head downstairs.

LWJ trails behind making small talk with WN, watching WWX and A-Yuan swing their hands and skip ahead, feeling something warm blossom in his chest.

The hallway to Wei Wuxian's lab isn't anything like Lan Wangji expects.

The rooms at Gusu are all perfectly pristine and sterile, painted white to promote serenity, rest, and healing.

For one thing, he'd raided a Halloween store at some point and hung up all sorts of decorations, mostly vampire themed. There's one that's says "I vant to suck your blood!" except suck is crossed out and replaced with "donate". Wwx and A-yuan giggle together at wwx's fake accent

It's definitely not up to Gusu General's strict standards. For one thing, there're beanbag chairs in the hall outside. Wwx says it's to feel more comfy while others wait, as he's the only phlebotomist on staff and it can take a while. A-Yuan personally tests each one.

His lab is…adequate if far too small. There's a desk that's overrun with stacks of papers and textbooks and a shelf that's filled with even more. The actual space where blood is drawn is, thankfully, sterile and clean. Though he's decorated with demons demanding blood for food

There's a temp controlled room where the blood is stored, with a red door and the words "Blood Pool" written in menacing barely legible font

Despite the…interesting decor, the room is homely and, surprisingly, welcoming. A-Yuan at least is having a very fun time getting a tour

Wwx patiently answers all of A-Yuan’s questions, even the endless why's, with utmost sincerity, even when his answers are purely nonsense.

Lwj can't stop the fond smile from lifting the corner of his lips. A-Yuan had never warmed up to a medical professional so fast.

He's pulled from his musings when A-Yuan grabs his sleeve: Baba! Blood-gege says this machine makes blood spin around!

Wwx burst out laughing: Blood-gege? I love it!

Lwj is enchanted, head repeating those last 3 words again and again as wwx fondly ruffles A-Yuan's fluffy hair

Wwx: alright, now that you're familiar with my beauty Chenqing (referring to his bloody spinny machine lwj does not want to think about), shall we get down to business?

He says this with his bright dark eyes glittering at LWJ. Right. The blood donating part.

Lwj gulps, nodding. A prisoner walking up to the gallows.

TBC

(If you're interested, I'm probably going to continue at least up to the end of the first part before i just make it into one long fic! You can follow it on my twitter!)

[nebulathunderwave]

This post is out there to make me cry and @eternal-brainrot and @reblorzelska have teamed up to give me the final blow

it truly cannot be overstated how completely bereft lan xichen is of meaningful, supportive connections post-canon.

even pre-canon*, the number of characters in his life who seek out his company without placing any expectations upon him is very, very, very low. (in fact there is only one character who does this. you know who it is, i'm just not saying who it is because i don't have to.)

post-canon, what indication do we have in the text that anyone is making his welfare anything close to a priority?

he has been totally abandoned by both the jianghu and the narrative.

[doufudanshi]

ON GHOSTS AND DEMONS: Wei Wuxian's "demonic" cultivation?

There are a few big misconceptions I have repeatedly seen in English-speaking fandom about things that are fundamental to the story of MDZS. One of them is this—

Wei Wuxian is not a demonic cultivator.

To prove this, let's take a deep dive into the original Chinese text of MDZS.

(Adapted from my original gdoc posted on Twitter on May 27, 2022. All translations my own unless otherwise stated.)

Demon vs. ghost

Let's start from the very basics. In addition to orthodox cultivation using spiritual energy and a golden core, there are two other forms of cultivation that are mentioned in the novel:

魔道 (mó dào), or “demon cultivation/path.”

鬼道 (guǐ dào), or “ghost cultivation/path.”

To be clear, 魔 mo "demons" and 鬼 gui "ghosts" (and thus their respective cultivation/paths) are not interchangeable because of the in-universe worldbuilding within MDZS. Using the characters in the term 妖魔鬼怪 "monsters," MXTX created four distinct categories of beings, each of which has a strict definition in the novel. From chapter 4 (jjwxc ch 13):

妖者非人之活物所化; 魔者生人所化; 鬼者死者所化; 怪者非人之死物所化。 Yāo (妖) are transformed from non-human living beings; mó (魔) are transformed from living people; guǐ (鬼) are transformed from the deceased; guài (怪) are transformed from non-human dead beings.

And of course, WWX hoards all the ghost-type pokemon monsters at the Phoenix Mountain tournament, and he only exerts control over corpses, spirits, and the like (aka people who have already died). (As opposed to Xue Yang, who appears to have been actively trying to make 魔 "demons" out of living people with those "living corpses" of his, perhaps.) (And, ironically, in order to avoid showing necromancy / zombies on screen, CQL technically does show WWX practicing demon cultivation because everyone is "supposedly alive" even when they're corpses? Which is, funnily enough, far worse morally in the MDZS universe, lol.)

So, intuitively at least, we know that WWX must be practicing ghost cultivation—now let's look at some concrete examples from the book.

Running the numbers

1) 魔道 (mó dào) means “demon cultivation.” As such, it must use living humans.

魔道 appears one (1) time in the novel.

Yes, once. The only time it appears is in the term 魔道祖师 modao zushi, or the namesake of the novel, in chapter 2. This is a title the general public has given him through rumors:

魏无羡好歹也被人叫了这么多年无上邪尊啦、魔道祖师啦之类的称号，这种一看就知道不是什么好东西的阵法，他自然了如指掌。 Wei Wuxian wasn’t called titles like “The Evil Overlord,” “The Founder of Demon Cultivation,” and so on over the years by others for nothing—he knew these sorts of obviously shady formations like the back of his hand.

2) 鬼道 (guǐ dào) means “ghost cultivation.” As such, it must use dead humans. 

鬼道 appears 12 times in the novel.

Here is the first instance that 鬼道 appears, which I believe is the first time Wei Wuxian's method of cultivation is properly introduced. From chapter 3 (jjwxc ch 8):

蓝忘机 […] 对魏无羡修鬼道一事极不认可。 Lan Wangji […] had never approved of the fact that Wei Wuxian practiced ghost cultivation.

Here's another quote from chapter 15 (jjwxc ch 71) for funsies:

蓝忘机看着他，似乎一眼就看出他只是随口敷衍，吸了一口气，道：“魏婴。” Lan Wangji looked at him as if he saw through his half-hearted bluff. He took in a breath, then said, “Wei Ying.” 他执拗地道：“鬼道损身，损心性。” He stubbornly continued, “Ghost cultivation harms one’s body, and harms one’s nature.”

3) 邪魔歪道 (xiemowaidao) means heretical path/immoral methods/evil practices/underhanded means/etc—e.g., lying, cheating, stealing, bribery, and so on.

It appears ~24 times in the novel.

I mention this last term because it is often used to refer to Wei Wuxian's cultivation, but as a pejorative. Every instance of 邪魔歪道 is said by or to quote someone looking down upon Wei Wuxian’s cultivation (Jin Zixun, Jin Ling, etc.) and referring to it derogatorily, whereas every instance of 鬼道 guidao/ghost dao is said by someone discussing it neutrally and/or factually (Lan Jingyi, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian himself, random cultivators at discussion conferences, the narration, etc.). Here is a pertinent example with Jin Ling (derogatory) and Lan Jingyi (neutral) in chapter 9 (jjwxc ch 43):

金凌怒道：“是在谈论薛洋，我说的不对吗？薛洋干了什么？他是个禽兽不如的人渣，魏婴比他更让人恶心！什么叫‘不能一概而论’？这种邪魔歪道留在世上就是祸害，就是该统统都杀光，死光，灭绝！” “We are discussing Xue Yang,” Jin Ling said angrily. “Am I wrong? What did Xue Yang do? He’s scum that’s lower than a beast, and Wei Ying is even more disgusting than him! What do you mean ‘don’t make sweeping generalizations?’ As long as those practicing this kind of demoniac, heretical path are alive, they’ll continue to bring disaster. We should slaughter all of them, kill all of them, annihilate them once and for all!” 温宁动了动，魏无羡摆手示意他静止。只听蓝景仪也加入了，嚷道：“你发这么大火干什么？思追又没说魏无羡不该杀，他只是说修鬼道的也不一定全都是薛洋这种人，你有必要乱摔东西吗？那个我还没吃呢……” Wen Ning shuffled around. Wei Wuxian gestured at him to stay still, only to hear Lan Jingyi also cut in loudly, “Why are you getting so riled up? It’s not like Sizhui said Wei Wuxian shouldn’t have been killed. All he said was that people who practice ghost cultivation aren’t necessarily all like Xue Yang. Do you have to go around breaking things? I didn’t even get to eat any of that yet…”

Tl;dr—Wei Wuxian does not 修魔道 practice demon cultivation. When Wei Wuxian’s craft is discussed in a neutral and factual manner, it is referred to as 鬼道 ghost dao. 

In fact, Wei Wuxian’s imitators are also referred to explicitly as 鬼道修士 ghost cultivators.

魏无羡早就听说过，这些年来江澄到处抓疑似夺舍重生的鬼道修士，把这些人通通押回莲花坞严刑拷打。 Wei Wuxian had heard a while back that over the past few years, Jiang Cheng had gone around snatching any ghost cultivator suspected of being possessed or reborn, detaining them in Lotus Pier to interrogate them using torture.

So why the confusion?

Of course, there is the matter of the novel's title, which I will get into in a second. But the real issue is a matter of translation.

The idea that WWX uses "demonic cultivation" is a misconception in English-speaking fandom due to issues with the translation of terminology. Of note, EXR actually did translate 鬼道 guidao as "ghostly path" most of the time, though there were at least 3 instances of "demonic" and 1 instance of "dark," especially regarding the first few.

However, this misconception was perpetuated (and arguably worsened) by 7S's official translation, which not only mistranslated additional terms as "demonic cultivation/path" (at least in book 1), but also consistently mistranslated every instance of 鬼道 as "demonic cultivation/path."

So why is this book called 魔道祖师, commonly translated as "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation?"

One possibility is one posed in Chinese-language meta online, which often cites that WWX himself is a sort of 魔 demon. While this may be true—after all, he can hear the voices of the dead—it doesn't quite explain the fact that the title sets him up to be the 祖师 or "founder."

My take is that this novel is very much concerned with hearsay vs. truth. This is one of the many monikers WWX is given by the public, who collectively view him as evil. (Also of note is that the non-cultivator public is not aware of all the nuances that cultivators learn re: distinctions between the 妖魔鬼怪 monsters.) In the quote from earlier, note that the first title we're given is actually 无上邪尊 “The Evil Overlord,” then 魔道祖师 "The Founder of Demon Cultivation." Like, what can that be other than MXTX telling us, "please take both of these with a HUGE grain of salt, lol."

(And not only the title, but the very first line—"魏无羡死了。" / "Wei Wuxian is dead."—is a lie.)

I think the title is genius, honestly. It intentionally makes readers come into the novel with preconceived notions that Wei Wuxian practices 魔道 demon cultivation and evil techniques—just like the public in the novel. What better way to tell a story warning about the dangers of how easy it is to fall for misinformation and jump to incorrect conclusions?

(Though, in our case, perhaps it worked a little too well.)

[fateandloveentwined]

wuxia, xianxia, and cultivation differences meta

translations: wuxia 武俠, xianxia 仙俠, and cultivation 修真/修仙 (xīuzhēn/xīuxiān)

think i've seen posts on this eons ago, and i'm pretty sure there are tons of these online, but since this has been written up already let's just have another one.

wuxia 武俠

wuxia and xianxia sound similar, but basically for wuxia it is about the pugilistic world (江湖 jiānghú). It is relatively more down-to-earth, and people practice martial arts ("kungfu") in their current life -- they do not do it to become xians (仙) and gods (神) however.

Like Thousand Autumns and Faraway Wanderers/Word of Honor, it has more historical background and ties to the current court and kingdoms, because people are living in the moment and concern themselves with worldly issues.

Martial arts may seem unrealistic, but in view of chinese fantasy it would be considered "real". It consists of fighting moves and internal energy, which they call qi or nèigōng (內功), and at times you see people flying around, climbing hills and jumping across rooftops which is qīnggōng (輕功).

xianxia 仙俠

A level up would be xianxia, where characters in the story cultivate to become xians (and gods, like in the heaven official's blessing). They don't really care about earthly issues here now, because their ambitions lie beyond the current world, and cultivation, getting stronger, and an immortal life are majorly all their goals.

You may not always see them working towards that purpose, such as in mdzs they are considered a lower-xianxia society (低魔), meaning people don't go through all the steps of cultivation and only stay at the stage before the "golden core" stage.

In xianxia, characters still learn basic fighting moves aka. martial arts, but to direct the internal energy they use línglì (灵力), zhēnqì (真气), and fǎlì (法力), all xianxia terms you commonly see. "neigong" is practically nonexistent in this genre. That's why people building up their "neigong" instead of "lingli" are likely never going to be able to cultivate.

cultivation 修真/修仙

A subgenre in the xianxia category would be cultivation. Characters actively go through the stages of cultivation, and likely for the MC, because they are the main character, they successfully become a xian and exit the world at the end of the novel.

There are many stages of cultivation, usually defined at the beginning of the novel in the synopsis, and a typical example of the different levels would be this:

练气，筑基，金丹，元婴，化神，炼虚，合体，大乘，渡劫

And with a cursory search, an English translation would be something like this, albeit not with all the cultivation ranks identified.

Qi condensation (练气), Foundation establishment (筑基), Core Formation (金丹), Nascent Soul (元婴), and the names after that vary too greatly with translation and fandom so I'll jump straight to Immortal Ascension

extra info: getting into the philosophy of it all

It'd be interesting to note that the word "xiá" (俠) permeates all these genres. This is something akin to the concept of "hero", but not at all also, and I'd love to speak more on this but this post has already gone way longer than I hoped it would be, so perhaps another day.

Regardless, it is interesting to note that wuxia has a greater emphasis on "xia" than xianxia. (some joke that cultivation doesn't have the word "xia" in it, and much of that is because characters have foregone heroism and focused on gaining powers and working towards ascension instead). As a result, wuxia is more confucianism-oriented, though not without its taoism and buddhism influences.

xianxia, on the other hand, is mainly derived from "dào" (道), from taoism, which is another lengthy concept if I ever get to it.

And some may have heard of the "farming" genre, 种田 (zhòngtián). This has to do with golden fingers (mary sues) in imperialistic china, earning a wealth of money, and all that. It has nothing to do with cultivation, alike they sound in english.

that's it for now, hmu if you wish to ask/discuss!

(and apologies for the pinyin translations, hope it's understandable still! formally writing pinyin they are supposed to be two separate words not one.)

[pumpkinpaix]

Chapter Spotlight 4:

"Iterative Violence: English (mis?)Translations of Modao Zushi and Chen Qing Ling" by Chant Y. Ng

Describe your topic/chapter in one sentence/one meme/140 characters.

A work by any other translation would NOT smell as sweet!!! In fact!!!!

What drew you to this topic?

Hi yes it's me, your pal cyan, you may know me from such hit posts as 8k words of rage-crying about the translation of 知己 as soulmates (which is about translation as violence), or maybe that other one about translation as violence (shockingly, it's really about translation as violence), or perhaps even that other other one about how one might translate Lan Xichen's title— (you know, I think this one is also about translation as violence)

If there’s one thing you hope the fandom takes away from your article, what would it be?

I hope that people think harder about how impossible it is to translate a text, and that they choose to extend more grace and compassion to authors and translators alike. A translation is not a window but a painting. Also, I'm manifesting better pay and respect for the work of translation into the cosmos. Please consider this a memo I am posting on the great message board of the universe. Thank you.

What is your MDZS/CQL origin story? (i.e. how did you come to this text?)

Started watching, made some gifs, read the book. Had a breakdown. Bon appetit.

Favorite adaptation, if any?

Audio drama! The love, care and effort put into it continues to astound me. Sometimes, to get the sound of a dizi hitting the ground, you gotta throw a dizi on the ground, y'know?

If you were isekai-ed into MDZS/CQL, what sect affiliation would you choose and why?

Please let me live my life in peace, I am but a feeble scholar.

Most compelling relationship in the text?

Twin Jades!!!!

Chaotic one-sentence pitch to get your friends into MDZS/CQL?

*gripping you tightly by the shoulders* don't

If you could ask MXTX one question, what would it be?

你最近怎么样啊？

Anything to say to potential readers of the collection?

Thanks for checking us out! It's been a wild and unpredictable (four-year!!) ride but everyone worked very hard on their parts. Means a lot even if you're just here for our little promo. :) If you'd like a copy of my contribution for classroom use, please do reach out!

You can find Chant (cyan) here on Tumblr @pumpkinpaix.

(FAQ) (all posts on Catching Chen Qing Ling)

[wangxianficrecs]

Another Fandom Event Dropped!

~*~

Hiya! Mod for the MDZS Big Bang 2025 here, we're now open for sign-ups for writers, artists, and betas! All art types accepted from illustrations to podfics etc! Writer sign-ups close on April 25th, with artist and beta sign ups running through April 30th. Find information pinned at @mdzsbigbang! @intheeveningsunrise

MDZS Big Bang 2025

Exciting news everyone! I have linked the pinned post with all information above, please make sure to check out @mdzsbigbang's Tumblr and be sure to sign up for the Big Bang!

*** REBLOG so everyone enjoy! ***

Wangxianficrecs doesn’t coordinate anything in our Eye on Events segment, we’re just letting everyone know about them.  If you have an event you want the fandom to participate in or know about, let us know, and we’ll make a post about it.

[qiu-yan]

fuck it we're doing lan wangji apologism now

(aka: reposting my apologism reply as it's own post now)

i know that lan wangji catches a nonzero amount of flak from the fandom for "not standing by wei ying's side during his first life," but i think we're being a bit ungenerous here. in my opinion, this was not something that he could have easily done; before pointing fingers and casting unilateral value judgements (which in this case seem to also result in the unusually high number of bastard boyfriend lan wangji fics?? fascinating events going down in wang and xian land), one should first consider all the ways in which a character's actions are not free.

first, let me restate a previously established belief of mine: jiang cheng could not politically afford to protect the wen remnants or to remain publicly tied to wei wuxian after wei wuxian attacked lanling jin's labor camp. could jiang cheng have encouraged wei wuxian to try and fix his shitty reputation himself? could jiang cheng have tried to visit more often in secret? maybe, maybe not. but the fact is that the postwar yunmeng jiang was still in the beginning stages of rebuilding from a near-complete annihilation, that it was the one great sect not included in the venerated triad's sworn brotherhood and therefore stood relatively alone, and that lanling jin by contrast was the strongest and richest sect in in the postwar period. standing by wei wuxian and in the process alienating lanling jin was not something yunmeng jiang could afford.

now, i will argue something similar for lan wangji as well: that, despite his later regrets, "standing by wei wuxian's side" is not something lan wangji could have easily afforded to do. the idea that lan wangji could have easily dropped everything to support wei wuxian, and the fact that he did not was purely due to his ~moral cowardice~ or whatever, is incorrect.

to begin, let's consider gusu lan's situation. while gusu lan did not suffer the same scale of near-complete massacre that yunmeng jiang suffered, the cloud recesses were still burned and a good portion of its priceless library lost. thus, we can conclude that postwar gusu lan also sorely needed funds, both to rebuild destroyed infrastructure and to try and replace/rewrite the books lost when the library burned. as your meme states, these funds most likely came primarily from lanling jin - due in no small part to the sworn brotherhood between gusu lan's sect leader, zewu-jun, and lianfang-zun of lanling jin. in fact, i think it's reasonable to conclude that lianfang-zun specifically played a major role in bankrolling the rebuilding of the cloud recesses.

now, how reliable is this financial support? can this financial support weather scandals - such as gusu lan's hanguang-jun publicly siding with someone who lanling jin considers to be an enemy? i don't know. on one hand, if jin guangshan is smart, he should know that having another one of the great sects owe lanling jin a tremendous and publicly known debt of gratitude is a tremendous political advantage and would help him seize the dominance over the jianghu he clearly wants. on the other hand, an ally who owes you yet will slap you in the face like this might not be worth spending that much money to support. furthermore, jin guangshan clearly thinks nothing of lianfang-zun: lianfang-zun's obvious personal investment in helping his sworn brother, then, might actually push jin guangshan away from supporting gusu lan, just to be a dick to his beloathed bastard son.

from this, i think we can conclude that gusu lan's leadership, at least, has a vested interest in keeping lanling jin happy. and keep in mind that this is not merely a "morally cowardly" position for them to take, no matter what the text of MDZS itself insists: after all, sects are not shiny baubles kept around for the enjoyment of their leaders, but rather organizations comprised of flesh-and-blood human beings who are capable of suffering and dying. gusu lan getting cut off from lanling jin's funds translates into gusu lan's infrastructure not being rebuilt, its disciples potentially not having enough housing to live in, enough clothing to wear, enough equipment to stay safe during night-hunts, or even enough food to eat. the first and foremost duty of gusu lan's leadership is towards ensuring the safety and happiness of its own people.

so where does lan wangji fall into all of this?

well, first let us consider what lan wangji is capable of doing for wei wuxian. lan wangji is not the sect leader of gusu lan; therefore, he has less power to enact change than a sect leader does. lan wangji cannot command the entire sect to take a certain course of action; he cannot directly command the funds, manpower, and other resources of gusu lan in the same way that lan xichen can. thus, if he stands with wei wuxian, it will be just him and not all of gusu lan.

but this does not rule out all possible actions lan wangji could have taken to help wei wuxian. for example, as he himself notes later on in the story, he could have chosen to stand with wei wuxian in the burial mounds. so let's consider why he did not do this.

it must be said here that lan wangji not being a sect leader means he also has more freedom to act, which is why it is more possible for him than it is for characters like lan xichen or jiang cheng to have joined wei wuxian in the burial mounds. a sect leader represents the will and intention of their sect. if someone like lan xichen takes a certain major course of action, the rest of the political world understands this to mean that said action was not just lan xichen's own will, but gusu lan's will as a whole. meanwhile, because lan wangji is not the sect leader of gusu lan, his actions do not represent the will of his sect in the same way lan xichen's actions do. lan wangji choosing a course of action entails him made a choice for himself only, not that he made a choice on the behalf of everyone in his sect. therefore, lan wangji does not have to worry as much about his actions dragging his entire sect down with him.

however, lan wangji at this point already has work he's obligated to do for his own sect. since gusu lan is actively rebuilding at this point, lan wangji has certainly been assigned a decent amount of important work essential to gusu lan's recovery. all of the work ranging from training new disciples and teaching classes to night-hunting so that gusu lan has enough of an income is necessary for gusu lan to rebuild; since lan wangji is a prominent and capable member of gusu lan, he (along with characters like lan xichen and lan qiren) is certainly responsible for a decent chunk of that work.

if lan wangji leaves gusu lan to stand in the burial mounds with wei wuxian, then he will no longer be available to do the work gusu lan has assigned him to do. this isn't even getting into the fact that if lan wangji actually did this, gusu lan would either try and force him to come home or cut him out of the sect eventually to avoid political backlash; the simple fact is that lan wangji cannot also do work for gusu lan if he is physically in the burial mounds. therefore, lan wangji going to stand with wei wuxian in the burial mounds entails lan wangji becoming unavailable to help gusu lan rebuild. and, given the fact that gusu lan raised, fed, clothed, trained, and still financially supports him, lan wangji abandoning his duties to gusu lan like this would in fact be a dereliction of duty.

therefore, lan wangji also has reasonable concerns explaining why he did not straight up leave gusu lan to go stand with wei wuxian in the burial mounds: he can't abandon his duties to his own sect.

however, these concerns do not preclude other courses of action lan wangji still could have undertaken to help wei wuxian. namely, lan wangji could have leveraged his own sterling reputation to speak for wei wuxian and help clear wei wuxian's name.

this one is honestly the hardest for me to be an apologist for....after all, lan wangji knows that wei wuxian is not raising a wen army in the burial mounds. he knows that the wen remnants are harmless, that wei wuxian does not want to hurt anyone, that wei wuxian only wants to live peacefully with the people he's protecting. lan wangji, therefore, knows that almost everything the public is saying about wei wuxian is wrong.

and lan wangji is actually someone people listen to. first of all, he's the highborn, highly capable, and quite famous member of one of the great cultivation sects. second, at this point in the story, people already hold lan wangji's honesty and moral character in high regard. the entire gusu lan sect is already viewed by the rest of the jianghu as a sect deeply concerned with righteousness and proper behavior; lan wangji specifically is respected as the honorable hanguang-jun even in comparison to the rest of gusu lan. all this goes to say that lan wangji should logically be someone whose words and opinions have weight. when he says something, especially something pertaining to morality, people should logically stop and listen in a way they would not do for many of the other characters.

since the majority of the publicly-voiced complaints against wei wuxian center around his perceived-to-be unethical behavior and his violation of social norms, if someone as heavily associated by the public with righteousness and honor as lan wangji were to speak for wei wuxian, then it is decently probably that his words might have some non-zero impact. that is not to say that wei wuxian's shitty reputation would reverse itself overnight, but it is still possible that people's thinking might change, even if only temporarily, as they struggle to understand why hanguang-jun is publicly defending the yiling patriarch. at the very least, people would talk about it.

and lan wangji doesn't have to leave gusu lan in order to do this. all he has to do is write a speech and then deliver it at the next public-enough social event; this does not entail cutting ties with gusu lan.

(i would go as far as to say that, after wei wuxian's expulsion from yunmeng jiang, lan wangji publicly defending wei wuxian would be more effective than jiang cheng publicly defending wei wuxian. for one, jiang cheng isn't held in high regard as a beacon of righteousness as lan wangji is; the fact that lan wangji gets a "-jun" title and jiang cheng doesn't already speaks volumes about how they're perceived by the public. for two, people just don't respect jiang cheng in general, while they still have some modicum of respect for lan wangji because lan wangji has gusu lan behind him. that's why lan wangji was present at the jin party wei wuxian crashed, while jiang cheng was not. for three, people are more likely to dismiss jiang cheng's hypothetical defense of wei wuxian as being unreliably biased, since jiang cheng is wei wuxian's (former) sect leader and therefore may personally benefit from defending wei wuxian; meanwhile, the fact that lan wangji is unaffiliated with wei wuxian would, in the eyes of the public, lend his defense a level of credibility born of its perceived objectivity.)

of course, none of this is guaranteed. it's entirely possible lan wangji writes a passionate op-ed in the jianghu newspaper defending wei wuxian's moral character, and everyone just assumes he's gone insane. but even if success isn't guaranteed, one might still expect someone with lan wangji's personality to try.

however, if lan wangji did in fact try to publicly speak for wei wuxian, or at the very least correct some of the misconceptions surrounding wei wuxian, we.....do not see it. in fact, if i'm recalling correctly, the only time we see lan wangji verbally defend wei wuxian in wei wuxian's first life is during that one meeting in which everyone grills jiang cheng about wei wuxian's attack on the qiongqi pass labor camp. when jin guangshan says that wei wuxian publicly disrespected jiang cheng, lan wangji spoke up to say that didn't happen; after that, lan wangji doesn't say anything else in the discussion. luo qingyang says more on wei wuxian's behalf.

(of course, it's possible that lan wangji did try to publicly speak for wei wuxian after his visit to yiling, and it all just happens offscreen because wei wuxian isn't around to see it....but i find that rather hard to believe.)

so lan wangji does not really publicly defend wei wuxian from criticism. nor do we really see him try to correct the misinformation surrounding wei wuxian, especially after he visited yiling. lan wangji has the righteous reputation but he doesn't really use it. but - is it fully reasonable to say that his silence was unambiguously wrong? should we not also consider that lan wangji probably also had decent reasons for his silence?

first, there's the fact that lan wangji is not good at public speaking. he already barely talks, which means he has next to no social skills; he also has zero experience in the political arena. he certainly does not strike me as someone with a lot of experience debating others, refuting the arguments of opponents, swaying people to his side with his words, and stopping people from turning his words against him.

therefore, it would be decently reasonable of lan wangji to fear that any potential defense of wei wuxian's character he mounts not only be ineffective, but also be turned against him.

second - and more importantly - i think that lan wangji has to consider how any potential words or actions reflect upon his entire sect. i said earlier that, because lan wangji is not the sect leader, he does not have to worry about directly dragging everyone in gusu lan down with him when he makes a decision. however, this is very much NOT to say that lan wangji doesn't have to worry about how his actions reflect upon his sect at all. though he isn't the sect leader, lan wangji is still THE hanguang-jun of gusu lan, one of gusu lan's treasured and very famous twin jades. he is also a direct member of gusu lan's main ruling line; in fact, if we go by typical male primogeniture rules, then until lan xichen marries and has a legitimate son, lan wangji is just straight-up the gusu lan sect heir.

which is all to say that, if lan wangji pulls something and the rest of the jianghu gets upset with him - if he gives an incendiary enough speech in wei wuxian's defense, for example - then there will be consequences for not just him but potentially all of gusu lan as well. as stated earlier, gusu lan on this point is dependent on financial support from lanling jin in order to rebuild. if lan wangji speaks too stridently in wei wuxian's defense and thus offends lanling jin, what will happen to that financial support? if lan wangji pisses off jin guangshan enough, lanling jin will at the very least demand that lan xichen punish lan wangji - what should lan wangji have his brother do then? and what if lanling jin instead levies more drastic consequences, such as lessening or fully cutting off their financial aid to gusu lan? what is gusu lan supposed to do then?

this is not to say that lanling jin will cut off all financial support the moment lan wangji dares say that wei wuxian doesn't eat children for dinner or something. however, lan wangji himself is someone with basically no political experience, who does not know what sorts of comments might fly and what sort of comments might not. fearing that his words might have negative consequences for his sect, therefore, is a reasonable concern for someone in his position to have. this does not necessarily justify his silence and inaction; however, it does provide an understandable reason for his choices.

thus, lan wangji also has political consequences for his entire sect to consider. though he is not the sect leader, he is still a high-profile direct-family-line member of his sect, so his words and actions still do reflect on his sect to a certain extent. and it is not "chicken" to be afraid of how one's actions or words might impact one's entire family and sect. rather, lan wangji - as someone gusu lan has raised from birth, fed, clothed, trained, and fully financially supports - has a moral obligation to consider how his actions might impact his sect.

moreover, regarding not just lan wangji's silence but also his actions in general, one must also consider the issue of filial piety. filial piety - the obligation to respect and care for one's elders, especially the people who raised you - is centrally important in chinese culture. it would be especially important in a sect as confucian as the gusu lan sect. therefore, we can expect that lan wangji was raised to hold filial piety as a key virtue to guide his behavior.

as stated above, gusu lan's leadership should logically have a vested interest in not alienating lanling jin; therefore, the elders of gusu lan, as well as lan xichen and lan qiren themselves, probably all do not want lan wangji to endanger the entire sect by publicly defending wei wuxian. if lan wangji brought up his concerns about the minsinformation surrounding wei wuxian and the wen remnants after his visit to yiling, it's highly likely that some of these leaders told him to keep his head down and mouth shut in order to avoid potentially alienating lanling jin.

therefore, it is highly plausible that lan wangji then weighed his opposing moral obligations - his duty to correct this misinformation about an innocent wei wuxian, versus his filial duty to mind the wishes of his elders and to heed their words - and decided that the latter was more important. and no matter how we as the audience feel about this choice, the fact that filial piety is something that exists and has moral weight cannot be ignored.

of course, we all know that lan wangji eventually did in fact epically yeet his filial obligations towards his elders, when he injured 33 of them after they tried to (and succeeded in) stop him from saving wei wuxian. evidently, by the time the situation had gotten that drastic, lan wangji had decided that his filial obligations were less important than saving wei wuxian. though how much of this was a moral decision versus how much of it was instead motivated by his own love for wei wuxian is debatable.

that lan wangji only acted after shit got really bad then leads me into my last point. moving away from the apologism, i also think that lan wangji......just did not expect the situation to get this bad? lan wangji is rather lacking in political sense in favor of idealism, so perhaps, when and after he visited wei wuxian in yiling, he legitimately thought that wei wuxian could just keep peacefully living in the burial mounds with the wen remnants until the jianghu forgot about them.

to explain what i mean, i think the lan wangji immediately after the sunshot campaign ended still believed in some version of the just world fallacy. sure, bad things happen to good people - the wen burned down his home and killed his father, for one - but those injustices are ultimately corrected. qishan wen attacked so many other sects and caused so much suffering, but then in return the other sects banded together and defeated the evil. now all the remaining sects are united through the wartime alliance, and there is hope for a better future.

romantic attraction towards wei wuxian aside, lan wangi probably could not initially fully condone wei wuxian's actions. wei wuxian's usage of heretical cultivation, abandonment of the proper path, and increasingly aggressive and belligerent behavior (ie. threatening to murder everyone at that one jin banquet he crashed) meant that lan wangji could not justify to himself fully supporting wei wuxian. however, when lan wangji visited wei wuxian in yiling, lan wangji then saw that wei wuxian was genuinely good: he wasn't raising an army but rather defending the innocent and downtrodden, and he relied so much on heretical cultivation because he needed it to protect the innocents depending on him. the rest of the world was wrong about wei wuxian.

but lan wangji at this point still had faith in the world. lan wangji at this point still had faith in his society. the public might make mistakes, but they're still by and large reasonable and kind; they wouldn't be led so far astray by false rumors as to actually tear apart someone only seeking to do the right thing. injustices may happen and good people may suffer, but the universe still tends towards justice: so long as one is good, one will not continue to suffer. the universe will not allow someone with purely heroic intentions to suffer and die. wei wuxian is good. society is fundamentally good. the universe is fundamentally good - therefore, lan wangji simply could not imagine that wei wuxian might actually be destroyed.

of course, he was wrong.

i think what died that day was not just lan wangji's love or his happiness, but also his fundamental faith in a just and fair universe.

anyways. this is all to say that, from my point of view, lan wangji had decently defendable reasons as to why he did not do more to support wei wuxian the first time around, and it isn't entirely fair to criticize him for his failure. lan wangji (like many of the other characters) had political concerns that the could not ignore - concerns involving other people to whom he bore a duty - and those concerns necessarily constrained his actions.

note that all of the above is not directly stated in the text, but rather the conclusions i drew myself from the facts given in the text. of course, some people who really hate lan wangji might accuse me of "making up my own version of the story" and "ignoring canon." i, however, think that reading a work of fiction entails not just blindly accepting only the facts the author spoon-feeds you, but rather drawing your own conclusions from what the story tells you. i do not need there to be a direct quote from the book saying verbatim "lan wangji was concerned about his obligations to his sect and family" to come to those conclusions myself. in fact, if the book instead tried to tell me that "lan wangji had no political or filial concerns and simply didn't help wei wuxian because he didn't like wei wuxian's demonic cultivation," then i would reject that claim wholesale as illogical.

also, lan wangji himself clearly spent 13 years beating himself up over his choices, so let's cut the poor guy a break.

[dephoraowo]

Lan Wangji and a List of his Fanon Tropes

For some reason, Lan Wangji is also misunderstood by the fandom. Luckily, he isn't that badly misunderstood as Wei Wuxian is 😅. Here is a list to help you understand Lan Wangji, one of the best characters in mdzs, better.

List of Fanon Tropes:

Lan Wangji only loves once. Side note: This can apply to all the Lans.

Lan Wangji is repressed / struggles to express himself.

Lan Wangji has a speech impediment.

Lan Wangji adopted A-Yuan as his son.

Lan Wangji mourned Wei Wuxian or played for Wei Wuxian for 13 years. (+ this, this, this.)

Lan Wangji saved Wei Wuxian in Nightless City because he loved him.

Lan Wangji learned how to be righteous from Wei Wuxian. (+ this, this, this, this, this.)

Lan Wangji wore mourning robes after Wei Wuxian died.

Lan Wangji is Chief Cultivator.

Lan Wangji loves Wei Wuxian, even more than his own morals. (+ this.)

Lan Wangji confessed to Wei Wuxian after saving him at Nightless City.

Lan Wangji cares about his own reputation. (+ this.)

Lan Wangji expects Wei Wuxian to return his feelings.

Lan Wangji is a stickler for all the rules.

Lan Wangji fought his clan elders in a cave in the Burial Mounds. (+ this.)

Lan Wangji isn't that smart. (+ this.)

Lan Wangji’s family approved of Wei Wuxian.

None of these posts belong to me. Please support those who have written the posts. As usual, if there are any more fanon tropes about Lan Wangji, please do tell 😁.

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Current Fandoms (that I am likely to post about)

DTPPF (Li Yu is the bestest boy)

TGCF (FENGQING!!)

SVSSS (Shen Qingqiu deserves a harem)

MDZS (Nie Huaisang is my blorbo)

2ha (Domesticated Chu Wanning Cinematic Universe)

Star Trek woke me like a sleeper agent just now

Merlin BBC deserves a mention since I revived my main mbbc wip from the graveyard a bit ago

Published Works (and their status)

An Ding Almanac (ongoing on side blog)

Current WIPS (in order of something, but don't ask me what)

Note: highlighted in green is my main wip for a specific fandom.

[ the root of the problem (is my love for you that grows) ] the fengqing hanahaki fic that is my love child with satan.

[ roots dug in the ground (buried beside my broken heart) ] the companion piece to the previous fic with extras of the rest of characters watching the shit show go down.

[ though the stars walk backward ] an academy era spirk au where the Kobayashi Maru is replaced by a new test called the Tarsus IV

[ deep in that darkness peering (as the darkness peers back) ] the huan hua trial au that spirals into an identity and system reveal.

[ in inevitably, eternal ] an existential look into Mo Xuanyu's cycle of death and rebirth as he fights against time and god itself for a chance to escape his fate and maybe just once deserve love.

[ my soul is painted like the wings of butterflies ] the huaqing brother au I've mentioned involving prophets, pathological liars, a lot of chess metaphors, heavy angst, and time loops.

[ currently untitled dream curse au ] a fengqing romantic drama filled with domestic fluff, mutual pining, quite a bit of domestic sex, a conglomerate of mixed feelings and denial, and many MANY misunderstandings.

[ across an ocean of time, the wind still sings your name ] a beefleaf time travel fix it featuring amnesia and lots and lots of mutual pining (they pine so much I could warp them in Christmas lights and hang ornaments on them).

[ stardust burns gold in our veins ] a merthur fic of tragedy and angst because I'm evil like that. You're welcome. “Magic comes from the stars, I think. That’s why it burns gold.”

Feel free to ask me about any of my wips. I have way more in my folder I sometimes drag out, dust off, and work on, but I figured for brevity (I have well over 120 wips okay we're not listing them all here EDIT: link goes to the time I listed a lot of my wips with their silly doc names), I'd only list the ones I'm at the point of naming.

Below the line will be a list of fic's (with links) I've info dumped about at some point. The links will go to the first post I made of each.

The OTHER SVSSS Huan Hua Trial au

TGCF Qi Rong Transmitigation au

SVSSS random NPC transmitigates into SVSSS (a.k.a. Shen Yuan has selective amnesia, time travels, and thinks his memories are a book)

TGCF dream curse au post 1, post 2

SVSSS deep in the darkness peering fic

SVSSS qijiu broken soulmate bond au angst no comfort

TGCF post canon shi brother ghost king

[tiltedsyllogism]

For All Mankind fanwork offers in FTH2025!

Folks, we have THIRTEEN fanworks on offer in FTH this year! That means you have thirteen chances* to win a fanwork auction and request the FAM fanwork of your dreams.

(what is Fandom Trumps Hate?)

fic offers

@havingbeenbreathedout is offering a fic of 5-10k words, up to an E rating. breathedout is interested in writing about tangled and complex sexual/romantic relationships between women. This is a multi-fandom offer, which means it's not going to be FAM unless one of us wins!

@chelsieheartstriker, aka coffeeandchocolate, is offering fic of up to 5k and up to an M rating. She's also offering in multiple fandoms, so this is another one we have to be proactive about!

@purereflectionsworld is offering a fic of 5-10k words, up to an M rating. PRW is especially interested in writing about FAM's many wonderful female characters and in exploring family dynamics.

I, tiltedsyllogism, am offering a fic of 5-10k words, up to an E rating. I generally prefer writing canon-compliant or canon-compatible fic, but I am open to a lot of things.

gifsets

@thinkmanythingsofit has a special fondness for Margo/Sergei but is happy to gif any part of the show. Get the details here.

@midnight-els is also offering gifs for FAM (or for a couple of other fandoms, oh no!) and is interested in the possibility of creating more ~artistic~ gifsets. Read their offer here.

podfic

@avawtsn, who has already recorded a couple of stunning podfics for FAM fandom, has two podfic offers in the auction this year! Both of these offers are for fics of 10-15k words. They're also both multi-fandom offers, which means we'll be competing with MXTX and k-pop fans. Be prepared to fight hard for these two!

video

@josephpaine , aka themysterybox, is offering a pairing-centered fanvid, and is open to lots of ideas. (Also to multiple fandoms -- not just ours -- so we're going to have to fight for this one too!) See themysterybox's offer here.

fan labor

@fireandsoup is offering to typeset your FAM fic for you! The finished typeset will be given to you as a PDF, which you can then print off and bind into a physical book. This offer is to typeset a fic of yours (or someone else's, with their permission) of 12k-100k words.

@trickybonmot is offering beta reading, as well as some limited Chinese-to-English translation (which is probably more interesting to MDZS bidders -- this is a multi-fandom offer -- but you never know!) Tricky is a very skilled and experienced beta reader who writes "Omg PLEASE let me beta your weird smut."

I, tiltedsyllogism, am offering a beta read and/or Yankpick and/or Moscowpick (and/or "I was alive in the 1980s"-pick) of your FAM fanwork. Details are here.

and finally, fic with a twist....

I (still tiltedsyllogism) have one other sort-of fic offer: I will write a remix of a FAM fic of your choice. (Or actually I will need a couple of options to choose from, because remixing is an unpredictable business and it's hard to know what will catch fire.) If you're not familiar with fic remixing -- or if you are and you're excited to bid on one -- you can read more on the offering post.

--

That is so many awesome things! And so many different kinds of things!

Bidding for Fandom Trumps Hate begins Tuesday, February 25th at 8am ET and runs until Saturday, March 1st at 8pm ET.

*There are also literally hundreds of "any fandom" offers which could become FAM auctions if one of us wins them! You can browse those offers here.

[mxtxdiaspora-may]

The 2025 MXTX Diaspora May collection is now complete!

We'd like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of our participants this year! We have a wonderful assortment of fanfic and fanart from Chinese diaspora creators in the MXTX fandom!

Check out the 2025 collection here!

We also hope you take the time to check out the past years' collections, which also contain many amazing works by various Chinese diaspora creators!

2024

2023

2022

2021 (MDZS only)

Please feel free to boost this post, browse through the collections, and enjoy and rec any fanworks. Comments and kudos do wonders!

We'll see you again next year!

[roseclaw]

Okay sangchengies, let's talk. As people tend not to notice the absence of things, I will straight out say that I have been posting less sangcheng. Fewer fic promos, fewer WIP Wednesdays. That sort of thing. I have not stopped writing (and drawing) sangcheng. I still post things to ao3. But I'm not posting here. Because no one engages with my work. And it is work. This year I wrote a 165k-ish fic in two and a half months. That's a lot. I put it on the internet for free. I will continue to do so and go down with my ship, because that is who I am.

However, why should I make more work for myself and post it here if no one sees it? Why did I say see instead of like or comment? Because if no one does either of those, how do I even know if anyone has seen it? It's just shouting into the void, and I do have a day job.

I know this is a dying fandom. I am aware that every time I post a fic two or more people unsubscribe from my ao3. But let's take a moment. I am a Fandom Old. I have been in many, many fandoms in my fannish career. The life of a fandom depends on its fans. While there's always that bell curve of fandom life, all that matters are a few fans keeping things going.

I would love to know people are still out there and talk with them. Because that is the point of fandom. A conversation, a community. If you want to keep a fandom alive, especially a small part of a much larger fandom, it requires reaching out. Nothing big. I know fandom is made up of introverts. Even a "hey, like the new fic" or even just a <3 is great.

And yes, there is a sangcheng discord server. Only one now (that I am aware of). And even there, there is very little engagement.

This is not to shame anyone. People have lives, and MDZS was very much a pandemic lockdown fandom. However, fandoms stay alive because of the fans. That's us. Because if it's just me shouting into the void, why would I make more work for myself? But if I'm squeeing with another person about our blorbos...that's different. That's what fandom is all about.

[onnahu]

I've been in many fandoms, but no place has worldbuilding on fics as great as MDZS fandom.

To prove it, I hereby present two mdzs fics that are excellent examples. And mind you, there are many more. It's just i'm now on the wave of those 2. Those are one of my favourite fics in MDZS and actually just ever in existence, so like, this is the strongest power of reccomendation i can give to you. They are brilliant, read them.

The Shade of Old Trees by Kryal - it's so good and I am not joking here. In modern china, people find a man perfectly preserved in ice from 1500 years ago. Surprise surprise, he's not as dead as they thought. The author did so much reaserch and they incorporated it into the fic flawlessly. Be warned, however, there are end notes so long they didn't fit into ao3's limit, so they are in the word count. And it's not like i counted, but i wouldn't be surprised if 1/5 of the count were just notes. They are really interesting tho! It's amazing to see into the author's mind and there are some great character analisys. It's also great how they can balance the personalities - Kryal acknowledges their flaws and is sometimes harsh if you look from a point of one's fan, but there's no bashing and they don't forget about their good sides too. The whole thing is pretty slow, but it's perfect for the story - after all, it's about a man from ancient china who needs to learn how to fit in the modern world - it includes technology, culture, and language, bc apparently chinese from 1500 years ago isn't all that close to modern chinese. Maybe it's common knowledge, but my own country's old language is pretty similiar to today's. Anyways, pretty peaceful for the most part, but also some reeeeeally cool action scenes. In short: we get slowburn Wangxian, intrigue, excellent foreshadowing, cute Juniors, Cool Guy Nie Mingjue, Wen Qing fighting all the old men who think they're all the smartest guy in the room, and absolute badass Wei Wuxian! And also scarily canon accurate characterisation. Really, only positives. Also, just to sell it more, here is an advertisement doodle created by yours truly.

Building it back, stone by stone and seal by seal by KizuKatana - goddamn, isn't it a masterpiece. It's set in a vaguely canon-universe world, but our cast is from a few generations after the war, when the Emperor was not so happy with what the sects were doing and cultivators are now illegal. Slow pacing found family with action elements, everything has a post-apo feeling to it. The intrigue is great, the relationships too. It is really heartwarming, reading about the ostricised group finally getting some happiness! This one i hadn't reread in a while, so i have a little less to say, but it left an impression. Also, it's so comfy. One of the comfiest of comfortable fics. Advertisement doodle for this one too:

[danmei-hot-takes]

I'm tired of people who have a problem with everything even little bit toxic in danmei. It's a book not a guide to life and relationships. why take it so seriously? The worst are new readers who have only read TGCF and MDZS and find out that not all danmei are just rainbows and pink bubbles and that not every character has to have a moral play out at the end. Also the problems with age, racism and the status of women - you read books inspired by history so what you expected?

Literally one of the worst takes I have ever seen is that tgcf is better because it doesn’t have smut in it. For one because that’s called censorship, not an intentional choice and for two because of the Puritanism of it, which is never a good look.

I mean, I’ve only been doing danmei for a year, but I’ve been into bl since 2015 and from what I’ve noticed there is a significant portion of the English speaking fandom that got into danmei through cdramas rather than bl as a genre and so I think they lack an appreciation of the genre and knowledge of common tropes.

Toxic yaoi is a tale as old as time!

Also, I will never understand someone picking up a book that is labelled Boys Love in search of well written female characters. That’s not what anyone else is here for.

I’ve seen some posts really shocked about character ages which is bizarre to me considering high school is probably one of the most popular settings (god knows why but that’s a story for another day).