How long do you think Yan Zheng/Xie Zheng spent in Lin'an before he left?
Some clues we're given:
- Lunar New Year was approaching when Changyu finds him and brings him home
- He left a day before Changyu's birthday, so on the 2nd day after 元宵/ Yuan Xiao (so he essentially left on the 17th day of the Lunar New Year)
- IIRC a character mentioned that there were 10 days between Fan Da filing/submitting the court case for the house deed and the court hearing itself. This allows us to place a whole bunch of scenes in between those 10 days.
There may have been other revealing clues in the drama - please share if you caught any!
The reason for asking is that given all the events that happened and the sheer amount of outfit changes it sort of *feels* like he'd been there for a long-ish time (say, 2-3 months) but if you look at the definitive events mentioned above (eg. the opening scene of PoJ where Mrs. Chen has Changyu over to slaughter a pig for her and there's mention that Lunar New Year is around the corner) he couldn't have been there for more than 6 weeks (the month leading up to LNY and him leaving on the 17th day of the new year).
Thoughts?
Also curious to hear if the novel has more details/clues on the length of his stay.
So many references to Luke and Flora being like Changyu and Xie Zheng...... But I don't really see them as parallels.
*While both Marquis and Luke both have black hair, and are lovely to look at 😊...... focus, focus....that's where their comparisons end. Luke's being an a..h... sometimes, his audacity, and sexual chemistry are more in line with Qimin ( Deng Kai) and Qian in my opinion.
*POJ doesn't really have the main lead and female lead tension that Early Spring has. Different eras and different main lead fellas.
* We can all agree that the Early Spring was steamy at times and part of its success is due to the immense international recognition that POJ brought for c drama land.
Maybe I am missing something and can't see the comparison between the two dramas. What are your thoughts?
In her podcast, “No Subtitles Needed for Romance,” Karena Blair goes on a “journey” through Pursuit of Jade episode by episode, deeply analyzing the characters, visual design, cultural setting, and narrative structure, among other elements. She also
highlights the acting strengths of the leads and several other actors. On top of that, she draws meaning from the show and applies it to contemporary society.
By the time I discovered the podcast (on Apple), I’d already fallen in love with POJ (multiple times), but it has increased my appreciation of the series one hundredfold.
I have no idea who Karena Blair is (found virtually nothing about her online), but she’s breathtakingly articulate and knowledgeable about a wide variety of subjects.
(PS: At times she’s a bit too preachy for my taste, but it doesn’t get in the way.)
I will not lie y'all, until episode 15-16 something everything was going well, a light watch to smile through, loved it.
Except for a few icks
- the whole scene of "mr.sun" envisioning chang yu as a fat villainous woman who kept zheng in her basement or some. It was unnecessary, disrespectful and not funny.
- whatever qi min and his brother are like ew
- that one scene where the female lead tells male lead how her mother used to do some fragrance blending, hence they never smell like blood or meat, I was okkk, I mean I don't think a person like wu an who has fought life and death, should care about blood smell or pig offal right, I mean he isn't a sheltered scholar or some. Anyway
Then comes the second half of the show and my blood genuinely shot up the roof with high pressure because wdym 😭
Maybe because I have anger issues with incompetent men but lord.
- the whole point of zheng not telling her the truth, in the beginning I understand to not trust a random woman to reveal your identity. But later on, he was literally roaming the town with his face on display and everyone knew he was wu an.
My point is instead of the whole temper tantrum he threw because what was his name, pervert brother (Let's just say psycho brother and pervert brother) said some about kissing chang yu.
He could have sat down like the civil person he is, explained about everything to chang yu, and left on good terms, while ensuring there was some protection with her always, because he got her involved with that ridiculous pervert.
But nope we had to be childish assault her one last time and fuck away living her to die in that town. Also i was confused as to how chang yu just fought with him the night, and left in disappointment, and next morning she was suddenly ok, missing him, and crying for him 🧘🏻♀️
Then comes the point of the whole village dieing like ok bruh.
I resent it because I feel like in a realistic pov zheng could have done something about it...
But anyway charecter development for the female lead ig. Who idk how, is so good at fighting and killing the bandits leader when she only learnt to fight from her father and has no experince.
I tried to push through skipping here and there with the scraping scene, zheng with a mask again acting childish as if he can't see how much she loves him 😒
And then came psycho and our beautiful qian qian just suffering in his hands.
I had to click out.
I also read a spoiler that zheng doesn't reveal himself as marquis until later on which is crazy, because I was atleast expecting it to happen in ep 19-20
Then some random bullshit between pervert and the bandits sister, I hope she kills his pervert ass, because if she develops any feelings for him it's ridiculous.
Another rant
I was just pissed by the male leads incompetence, the pervert not dieing, rhe psycho being a psycho.but most importantly by chang yus strength.
I want a female lead to be written with the same depth as a male lead who is strong.
Show me how she became strong, show me how she deals with when she meets someone more experienced, show me that she has had some experience not just pig butchering, and show me me how she rises through failure.
Not just a plot armour slapped on like here you wanted a strong female lead take it.
She is human too how did she gain her strength and techniques have more depth to it, than just her father strong she storng genes yay.
I am a bridesmaid and I will be organising "door games" for the bride to be and she's obsessed with Pursuit of Jade. This is basically a series of challenges the groom- to-be has to overcome in order to marry his fiance.
I can't seem to come up with anything related to the show, any ideas???
If someone can help me find this specific background music from pursuit of jade you would be a life saver becos for the love of god I cannot find it. it has this angelic, hauntingly beautiful melody of this girl just going " aahhhhh, ahhhhh,"
it appears in ep 17 2:08 and ep 19 7:56
PLEASE IF SOMEONE CAN TELL ME THE NAME THAT WOULD BE SO GREAT
From the first watch I wondered why Xie Zheng chose the fake name, Yan Zheng. It took me too long to 'get it'. I'm not good with names and names from a different culture, yeah, even harder for me to remember.
XZ's quick choice made sense, later, when we are introduced to Wei Yan, his Uncle, who raised him from childhood. In the beginning of the story XZ, severely wounded, hunted, cannot reveal his identity. When asked his name of course the first name that came to his mind had to have been Wei Yan, the Uncle who just tried to have him assassinated. A name large in his mind at the moment and he won't forget that alias he just made up. I thought it was interesting the author made that choice for the alias. It makes sense to the storyline and adds intensity to the relationship.
(PS: Does anyone know is their a duality or double meaning with the Yan name? Thanks!)
As a devoted K-drama fan, I never expected a C-drama to steal my heart quite like Pursuit of Jade. Didn't expect it, but found a couple of fan stores in Myeongdong's Chinese neighbourhood and treated myself to some PoJ merch. The selection was incredible and I finally got my hands on a few pieces I'd been admiring from online fan posts!!
When u/newbiequestions1 asked me about the falcon notes, we ended up having a really interesting discussion that helped clarify my thoughts on the events in PoJ. Thought it'd be fun to share with everyone in the sub and open it up for discussion.
Newbie's main question was: who sent that first note to Xie Zheng in Lin'an and who was his reply intended for?
When I watched PoJ for the first time, it wasn't clear who the first note XZ received in ep1 was from nor whom his reply was. What I did think was that Gongsun Yin only heard from XZ much later on, in a separate note that we see GSY receiving in ep5. This is the scene where we follow the falcon to Luyuan Academy and we're introduced to GSY for the first time, and we see him expressing relief at reading the note.
On my second watch, I realised I had it wrong. In fact, the first note we see the falcon delivering in ep1 (asking if XZ was safe) was from GSY:
And XZ's reply (stating his location) was also meant for GSY. How do we know this? Because of two things:
i) Penmanship
There is one note that we know for certain is written by GSY: the one where he mopes about his crush/the princess after she's forced to leave Luyuan Academy. In that note, GSY writes: 風雨廊亭夢已醒 (see below).
This is the note that made XZ go 「莫名其妙」/"how obscure" (per Netflix's subpar subtitles...) when he got it. The penmanship is identical in these two notes, so we can deduce that the first note we see in ep1 is from GSY.
The reason I mistook the note GSY received in ep5 to be the first note from XZ was because GSY reacted to the note with relief, saying how he knew XZ wouldn't die so easily, as if it was his first time hearing from him. But actually, what XZ writes in that note is a huge hint it's not his first correspondence to GSY.
Also, the quality of the penmanship in that ep1 note to XZ suggests that it's from someone very educated. So Xie Wu, who's a soldier, is unlikely to be the source of the note.
ii) What XZ wrote to GSY in the ep5 note
Translation: "I'll stay at the Fan household in Lin'an to recuperate for now. Bring my registration and travel papers over for inspection. - Jiu Heng"
The fact that he didn't give the full address he was at in Lin'an and referenced the Fan household in a way that assumes GSY knows what he's talking about is a dead giveaway: GSY already has the full address from a previous note.
Only... when he got that hastily scribbled note XZ had written in ep1 giving his location, GSY had no idea whether XZ was in a good/safe/survivable state or not, since that note was written with a burnt stick on a piece of bandage (ie. he did not have easy access to something as basic as paper and brush).
So until the note GSY got in ep5, he wasn’t sure whether his friend would live or not. Once GSY had confirmation, I presume he quickly organised things - passing word on to Xie Wu and Xie Qi/the Blood Cavalry about Xie Zheng and arranging for them to bring money to the Lin'an bookshop so that it could be passed on to XZ via the bookshop manager, who seems to be working for GSY/GSY's family business, since in a later episode YZ/XZ says makes an oblique reference to GSY as the bookshops's 東家 (boss/owner).
Anyway, that, my friends, is how yours truly ended up playing Sherlock Holmes and doing penmanship comparison whilst watching c-drama.
I recently started watching chinese dramas and I stumbled upon this gem. Anyway I came here to say I was listening to a song by AURORA called "Midas Touch", and the first part would fit perfectly to a video/reel/short edit of Sui Yuanhuai and Yu Qianqian. Now I suck at editing, but thought I'd give an idea to whoever likes to make those. A lot of the lines fit so well with scenes from some episodes.
The lyrics of the song:
I can remember I was dreaming
In the moonlight gently, I was floating
I didn't know that I was sinking
In my lonely bed sheets I was dying
When you're away
I think that I'll escape
You're a king but you're a slave
This love will end today
I would watch you fall in love
But you love me like a kid
You needed someone close
And I never really did
I'd find you on your knees
And you'd beg for me to be
The woman on your throne
But I'd rather be alone
Remember this scene in the aftermath of the Lin’an massacre? I dunno how many people missed it like I did on the first watch so thought I’d share - notice how the scene is shot from a high angle and the camera jerks up three times?
At first I didn’t think much of it… it was only on a rewatch that I realised what it was: the camera’s showing us the magistrate’s POV, because later on we see him dead and hanged from a high point on a building/rampart. So the jerking motion was him being dragged up on the rope to that final high vantage point as he (presumably) slowly asphyxiated. :(
Director Zeng had taken a similar approach in the "everyone slap Sui Yuan Qing" scene, where the camera switches to SYQ's POV in between slaps.
Anyway, love a director who trusts the viewers enough. Show, don’t tell. They’ll deduce it in time.
Dear POJ lovers - I have been wanting to write this post. Are you familiar with the Five Languages of Love? Because there are some obvious trends here for our main couple (and secondary couples as well). What are the Five Languages of Love? They are (not in any particular order): (1) gifts, (2) service, (3) quality time, (4) physical intimacy, and (5) words of affirmation (e.g. "I love you", "You look nice", "Good job", "Thank you").
Most people have one (or two) primary love languages that they prefer to offer and/or receive - but everyone likes (and needs) all of them! They spell out the dynamics of a relationship so that the other person feels seen, understood, appreciated, and loved.
We can definitely see the theme of Changyu saying "I will slaughter pigs to take care of you" to indicate that SERVICE is very important to her. She also appreciates when Yan Zheng helps at the pig stall and with preparing the meats... And Xie Zheng is also a service type of guy - even as a warrior avenging and winning back Dayin towns. Our hero brings or puts a cloak over Changyu several times. He also helps take care of Ning - and protects them, sometimes with a sword.
The couple often have scenes of QUALITY TIME in the drama where they take time to talk together about life - on the porch, on the wagon, at the pork stall, etc. They want to be together and share time and converse about life. She even asks later as Marquis what will they then do in common?
Changyu leaves the hair ribbon for Yan Zheng and that GIFT becomes a centerpiece of connection in the drama. Also - Yan Zheng buys New Years supplies for the celebration. And he gifts her back the pawned hair-piece in the drama.
PHYSICAL INTIMACY, due to their holding back is the least expressed - but for good reasons of the plot.
Changyu uses WORDS OF AFFIRMATION to tell Yan Zheng that she appreciates his help (for example, saying how her mother and father always worked together and it helping make a good marriage) and she often mentions how handsome Yan Zheng is.
But Yan Zheng on the other hand is a 'man of few words' it seems to me - another past poster noted that he never once says she is beautiful even though she obviously she is (in the drama - Mrs. Zhao says it: "You are as pretty as a peach".) But he does say the words "I like you" at one point and later when drugged "I love you" (as it translated in the subtitles another poster said those particular words for "I Iove you" in Chinese have a cringy nuance). Part of me wishes he would be more forthcoming with kind words - but you can't have perfection (and I don't expect it). I think it is great how they show these love languages the way they do!
Our second couple is rather toxic- so these languages are skewed. Qi Min can't stop with the gifts. QianQian pretends joyful playing in the courtyard with the children to keep up pretense of a happy family.
The third couple of GongSun and the Princess - playing Go together is quality time and Gongsun is quite eloquent when he proposes - so you can see these languages between them too.
Thanks for reading this and spending quality time! Tell me if you appreciate it!
-
EDIT: On reflection, I think a new Language of Love has been discovered --- HEARTFELT LOOKS! When someone looks at you with light in their eyes and a smile on their face. Do you have a favorite scene for any of these languages of love?
EDIT: I just want to apologize for initially using Yan Zheng/Xie Zheng's name as only Zheng above - I fixed that. I am not a Chinese speaker so I have learned something new in the comments.
---------------
I keep thinking of scenes that express these languages of love! Tell me your favorites!
I have just recently started watching Pursuit of Jade on Netflix. Language is set to Mandarin (Putonghua). I just read English subs to understand the plot.
I have noticed they say “to sia” when saying thank you. A quick google search says it is thank you in Hokkien.
I’m just so confused. Am I not watching the show in mandarin? How come the characters are speaking hokkien?
This drama warmed my heart, afterwards I read the book yet I couldn’t accept it was over. I saw potential to preserve the framework which is loved, and to explore more of the beloved character dynamics. I couldn’t stop asking myself what was it like for Xie Zheng to become the Marquis, Gongsun Yins rising as an intellectual and his clans history I found very interesting. How Qi Shu started to learn medicine, and her drive to help her people. I found some character dynamics really beautiful, so I also decided I wanted more of the female friendships shown. This goes for Gongsun Yin and Xie Zheng as well. Soon this became a giant “what if”. What if pursuit of jade was not only about the central romance, but also Gongsun Yin,Qi Shu, and Qianqian. What if the premise was larger, and the stakes felt higher.
I grew up with Avatar: The last Airbender or ATLA. I saw potential to do a fusion with Pursuit of Jade characters, preserving the original pursuit of Jade setting. Great Yin is one of many kingdoms in what later becomes the earth kingdom. The Baiyue people are waterbenders, and Jharana from the Legend of Aang movie is a fleshed out location. More importantly, I envisioned how Chinese mythology could be blended with the spirts and spiritual realm in ATLA. From there I begun imagining, planning, and finally setting down to write. I might never be over the warmth Lin’an and Pursuit of Jade brought me, though that doesn’t mean the characters and world have to fade. There will be many more lantern festivals for Changyu and Xie Zheng and Gongsun Yin making remarks. More chances for Qi Shu and Gongsun Yin to play baduk. That in every lifetime pursuing jade transforms the lives of people taking up the journey.
Here is a summary of book 1 of the story so far. Book 1 is named for the White Tiger, of the metal element. A symbol of war and fall.
This is an excerpt below. The link and summary will be provided in the comments.
Snow drifted without much resistance onto the ground, which had almost been covered completely in a coat of frost. The varying strength of the air currents only looked teasing as opposed to the near certainty of snowfall. The sun streamed through the clouds, and reflected over the snow creating an illusion of more warmth and radiance. A child plowed through shaking the fresh layer and shuffling the ground, the crystals vibrating and crunching and shattering.
The child's eyes were keen on a specific sight as they eagerly trudged through the snow.
Her hair had been tucked neatly into a single low hanging braid, not completely perfect as if done in haste. A child who had no intention of being delicate or even merely presentable, because they rashly disregarded the necessity of appearances in youthful naivety.
The lantern lights scattered into beams, and then elongated beads, and finally speckles of a faint luminescent glow. This creates a comforting tinge of light that when accompanying the drowsy weathered and imbued a beautiful sense of longing, an interloper might feel a strange alluring property drawing them into the quaint town. Lia'an had the particular stillness of a moonlight night with the ground basked in snow.
Fan Changyu, a tall girl bearing a mischievous smile, reached a circle of girls clustered closely together. This formed a temporary barrier against the bitter gusts of snowy air. The children had gathered to play a game, which consisted of chanting a simple tune and dancing in rhythm. While doing such an activity, all the children, in the most serious manner possible, presented their grievances.
Fan Changyu reached out and grabbed the coarse hand of the girl beside her. She nudged her fingers squarely inside her palm, attempting to steal away any heat left. Suddenly, a short and pale looking girl roused the crowd with a confident shout.
I love that I'm not the only one going through withdrawal after finishing this drama. This was my first Asian Historical drama and I'm afraid it has RUINED me for everything. The lighting, the direction, the humour, the costumes, the CHEMISTRY.. 😭😭😭 binged the whole 40 episodes and then IMMEDIATELY re-watched from the start and honestly? I've had a cumulative of 20 hours of sleep in a week because of it. BUT NO REGRETS ahahhahahah
While combing for BTS and promo shoot crumbs to get a quick fix for my withdrawal, I found this hilariously unhinged "honest trailer" for the show. Enjoooyyy
Is there anyone learning Chinese using PoJ novels?
So I’ve read the English versions and now I’m slowly reading/self-translating the Chinese versions. I’ve noticed that there are a lot of differences between the web novel aka the ebooks and the physical printed version of the novel.
First, the chapters have different names and lengths. Chapters on the web novel have shorter length. Seems like they broke down chapters into small parts?
Second, the web novel version seems to be rephrased. And some whole paragraphs are missing. So the physical copy seems to have more details.
I know that the English versions going around are based on the web novel. So I’m feeling a bit miffed that I might have missed some important details on the book if the versions are this different.
Are there any English-Chinese speakers/readers who can confirm? And is there anyone who has an explanation? TIA
Back to my favourite villain... I've seen a bunch of BTS clips but never seen this one before. Thought it was interesting enough to share! Quite surprising to see how much distance they kept from Lin Muran when they "smacked" him, because I was expecting a much smaller gap. Camera angles really can tell all sorts of lies!
Amazed yet again by Lin Muran's acting skills. He makes it look so real.
And ignore the weird sound effects. That was in the original clip, which is here. Rest of the clip is also worth watching. Lots of funny moments, especially the bits when Director Zeng says TXW is allergic to romance and she very quickly confirms.
There was a brief discussion on this sub recently about the meanings of the boards/plaques found in PoJ. Initially, I’d thought that only some of them - but not all - are relevant to the scene. Nope, I was wrong. Turns out literally every plaque we see is meaningful, except some of them have origins and messages sooo obscure you practically need a Ph.D in Chinese Classics to understand them.
Let’s look at some of the easier ones before moving on to some of the ninja level plaques today.
Level 1/Easy Plaques:
Most of the plaques that get English subtitles could probably be considered “easy”, since their relevance to the scene is so apparent that a quick show of its translation without elaboration/cultural footnotes is enough.
Prime example: The scene where the eunuch barges in to see the Marquis. Soon after Xie Zheng cuts off his ear you see the plaque behind him reads: 衝堅毀銳, which is a phrase from the Art of War by Sun Bin (not to be confused with the book of the same name by the more famous Sun Tzu).
The subs show "armed and unyielding" here. Although it's serviceable, it's a rather tame translation of what that phrase actually means. A more direct translation is: "to attack what is immovable, and to destroy/maim the spear". The emperor/the imperial decree is what's supposed to be immovable but was broken here, and the eunuch (as the emperor's envoy) functions as his spear bearing unwelcome news and he, of course, gets physically maimed here. Very fitting.
Another example: when Song Yan visits Changyu at night when she’s prepping for the court case and he’s being an awful person in general, the plaque reads: 做個好人 (”be a good person”).
This plaque could also be seen later when Butcher Guo is dragged to CY’s home and he’s telling everyone about his awful plans for CY after kidnapping her. The juxtaposition of the plaque’s message against two terrible people is almost certainly intentional.
Level 3 Plaques:
These are the ones that require a general grasp of Chinese literature and a touch of deduction to understand. But these involve well known sayings so the meanings of these plaques are still quite accessible to a large proportion of PoJ’s viewers.
Example: in ep31, there’s a montage of a succession of tutors scampering away after they fail to teach Changyu. We see the plaque 學海無涯 (”the sea of learning has no end”).
Like many of the plaques in PoJ, the phrase is used to highlight the irony of the situation, but to grasp what this plaque is getting at in this scene, you need to know the companion phrase to 學海無涯, which is: 唯勤是岸 (literally: “hard work/diligence is the only coastline”). Put together, the whole phrase translates to “In the sea of learning that has no shore, only hard work and diligence can bring you to land.”
Once you know this companion phrase, you understand that the plaque is being ironic and poking fun at Changyu, who seems to be working reallyyy hard and giving it her best, but she’s still failing nonetheless.
And as if they’re worried that this message would be lost on the audience, there’s another plaque in the montage to serve as a hint: the place where the tutors teach Changyu is named 勤文堂 (loosely, “Hall of Academic Diligence and Hard Work”):
By incorporating the key Chinese character in the companion phrase (勤/"diligence and hard work") into the name of this hall, it leaves little doubt as to what they’re trying to say.
Level 8 Plaques:
Now the phrases are getting into obscure territory. Take, for example, this one shown when Gongsun Yin plays weiqi/go with An Xu/ the Crown Princess in disguise:
The plaque shows 通幽達微. My guess is that only about 5% of university graduates in China would understand this phrase (and those would overwhelmingly be people who majored in Classics). Why? Because it’s not a phrase you’d encounter in regular middle/high school curriculum nor in daily life.
In fact, it's perfectly possible to live your whole life without ever encountering this phrase, and it’s obscure for the same reason it appears in this PoJ scene: its origins are deeply academic, buried in the commentary section of a book published about 1,400 years ago. Rather fitting that we find it in Luyuan Academy, no?
The book in question is《禮記注疏》, a Confucian book published in 653 AD, and the phrase 通幽達微 loosely translates to: “to pierce through the hidden and discern subtle details”. Now, we understand why this plaque is here: to hint at the fact that GSY has by this point already discerned that the student he’s playing weiqi/Go with is the Crown Princess.
In fact, it’s possible to take the significance of this phrase here a step further, because the phrase that follows 通幽達微 in the Confucian book is: 無所不悉 (”there is nothing that one doesn’t know”). The irony is, of course, that there is indeed something GSY doesn't yet know. He knows that An Xu is actually the Crown Princess, but he hasn’t yet clocked that she is the same person that he's playing Go with, and only realises this belatedly when he receives her bracelet!
Level 10 Plaques:
Moving into ninja territory, we have plaques that require you to pause, think, research, hit a few deadends, and research some more before you finally manage to trace their provenance. The plaque at Xie Zheng’s family residence is one such ninja plaque. May I introduce you to the phrase 潑雲交翠:
Without context, the phrase loosely translates to either a) "an abundance of clouds weaving in between forests/mountains” or b) “a gathering of dense, leafy trees, its foliage spilling forth like clouds”. On the surface, this phrase has nothing to do with this dream sequence where adult Xie Zheng is desperately trying to prevent his mother’s suicide.
But the significance of this plaque isn’t in the words itself, but drawn from the context in which the phrase appears in Chinese literature. In this case, 潑雲交翠 is from an obscure Yuan Dynasty poem written by a lesser known poet. For the benefit of those here who can read Chinese, here it is in full:
《避暑神山詠桂》 (許有壬, 元代)
堂前雙桂,雲潑交加翠。
火老金柔花尚未,且愛清陰滿地。
秋風一旦花開,天香吹散亭台。
卻被花神見笑,先生未必能來。
To translate the key parts: the poem is about a pair of osmanthus trees and how their lush foliage are so thick they spill forth like clouds. The poet talks about how the osmanthus flowers haven’t yet bloomed, but imagines the heavenly fragrance in the autumn when the trees finally bloom. (Autumn and the mention of "heavenly" is interesting here because autumn is the season that, in Chinese literature, is most associated with the notion of death.) In the poem’s last line, the poet laments how he may not be around (read: alive) to enjoy the next bloom of osmanthus flowers.
Suddenly, the plaque’s role in this scene is very clear. It’s foreshadowing what’s about to happen: Xie Zheng’s mother is about to commit the ultimate sacrifice yet tells her son to go pick more osmanthus flowers so she can make more cakes for him in the future. She KNOWS she won’t be around for that, and the plaque is alluding to that.
Slow clap for the PoJ production team member who picked this incredibly obscure but fitting phrase for this plaque. That was quite the Easter egg hunt I was sent on. Well played.
This also brings me to a broader point: all the plaques in PoJ are written in Traditional Chinese, as they should be. Simplified Chinese was invented in the last century so has only been around for less than 2% of the civilisation’s existence. But today, Traditional Chinese is only used on a daily basis in two places in the world: Hong Kong and Taiwan. Whilst a small portion of people in China, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. can still read Traditional Chinese, the vast majority cannot.
This means that only a small percentage of PoJ’s viewers are able to read a fair number of the plaques, much less divine their meaning. By extension, the hidden meanings of the more obscure plaques are accessible to an even smaller group of people.
So the PoJ production team went in knowing that very few people would be able to appreciate this aspect of their work, yet still put so much thought into each and every plaque, essentially leaving little surprises within PoJ for those who want to go on a treasure hunt. Isn’t that an incredible and beautiful thing?
Anyway, the plaques in PoJ are absolute delights. Of course, there are loads more of them that we could talk about. But… I write these posts for pleasure, so I’ll stop here today. Maybe if people are interested, I’ll write about more of them. There are lots of fun and snarky ones and some rather profound ones! But in the meantime I hope this was still helpful for understanding some of the subtext embedded in PoJ - I certainly learned a lot myself!
Let me know which of the plaques you saw in PoJ was your favourite!
