EclecticJello

Woo-hoo!

Yeah, that might make more sense. I remembering him cuddling the cat before and thinking, 'Yep, that is smart. Make the cat like you, so it doesn't meow if you have to break into their room later.'

Still adorable, that he brought it back for Shuai Jiamo. I also love the jailers were like 'We have straw mats!'

100%. Hengdian WS would be a fun visit. I wonder how many people go and re-enact some of their favorite scenes.

Episode 1

4:57 Hey, look it's the bridge where the Emperor hacked a man to death in the face from Episode 13 of Unchained Love.
5:09 And there is that little alcove where Bu Yinlou and Xiao Duo launched a lantern in his brother's memory at the Lantern Festival.

Cat demons, brawling with a leg of lamb and geometry battles. Synopsis needs an update!

Did Cheng Renqing just bring Shuai Jiamo his cat back, even though he is allergic? That is adorable!

... a hopeful uplifting musical score surrounding a swarm of locust. Did I call it or did I call it?

Okay, all caught up. Cackling a little at the ending...

Shi Qiang and Mu Xing’s relationship. It wasn’t romantic, but they did have an intimacy between them. And showing that loss of connection, that human spark in the wake of the war they had found themselves embroiled in was so touching.

That he knew she always had multiple recording devices. That he went and had coffee that he did not enjoy, after all her countless invitations that had turned into a running joke between them. It was particularly poignant given he had just consoled Wang Maio over the death of Shen Yufei that there was no time to mourn in war. Yet, he carved out time to have a cup of coffee. Beautiful!

There is something truly beautiful about episode 22 and ...

Triangles are for amateur dramas. We get a hexagram.

"Really, Scarlett, I can’t go all my life waiting to catch you between husbands.” - Rhett Butler

It is established very early on that County Lanxi is special. It wields an unprecedented amount of representational power. 30% of all provincial graduates of the Imperial Exam come from this County, not Jin’an Province - Lanxi County. (Episode 3) Even if we were comparing provinces and saying 30% came from 1 of the 11 provinces that would be wildly disproportionate. But 1 of the 8 counties in 1 of the 11 provinces! That is tantamount to declaring they control the country. Which given that the Emperor is a child 7 years into his reign is not a difficult claim to make (Episode 6).

We know that the county with some connection to the Mao family, controls who passes the exam (Episode 5) and that the county’s origins are rather ambiguous. There is some discrepancy as to whether it is actually part of Jin’an province or Ming province (Episode 6).

This coalition is run by the ex-Censor-in-Chief Master Fan. Master Fan has a lot of extra titles conferred by the Emperor himself: County Sage of the Censorate by Emperor and retired with honorary title Grand Master of Forthright Service.

Prefecture Huang knows there is some sort of coalition controlling something (most likely who he offended to get demoted) and he wants to use this tax matter to “break the deadlock” (Episode 2).

As with any organization, there are members that get drunk off of the political immunity and the fiscal and power benefits they derive from it, without understanding its overall purpose - Lu Feilong (a loan shark, enforcer and owner of several gambling houses) There are also those who have been strong-armed into joining it against their will - Cheng Renqing. They murdered his fiancee (Yanniang) and framed him as cheating on the imperial exam. Given that we have seen his home in Zhuge Village (he lives as a bachelor) and the story he pulled out of thin air about vengeance on behalf of parents, I would not be entirely surprised to find out they murdered his parents in addition to his love. He clearly resents being a tool of the coalition.

“Are you a good person or a bad person?”
“I am a knife. A knife only needs to be sharp.”
“Knives have thoughts?”
“That’s right. No one cares about whether the knife has thoughts. No one.” (Episode 6)

I think we can all agree, whatever is happening we are mostly not talking about literal Silk here. It is either a stand-in for market value or is a symbolic representation of something else.

So, the question is what are we talking about?

I believe we are talking about human trafficking.

In Episode 1, we are told explicitly by County Magistrate Fang Maozhen that human trafficking is illegal (he does not say since when). We also see Lu Feilong manipulate the situation with Chen Dashan to get him to sell his daughter. The very second this might come to light (he gets involved in 3 trials in 1 day) Chen Renqing shows up. And he flips this narrative on the father, saying he was debating the value his daughter was worth on the black market.

“If you want to cover something up, just bring up something else. This is a common strategy used by lawyers.” - Chen Renqing, Episode 7

Master Fan is very much connected to this tax. He has quite a few rather creepy, veiled things to say about it. “You shouldn’t touch the silk.” - Master Fan, Episode 2. And one of his minions shows up whenever it is being contested. Chen Renqing may have been hanging out in Renhua, but he only officially stepped in and went to the magistrates to help after being summoned by Master Fan.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The court ordered Renhua County to supply the government troops with provisions.

“Provisions,” but what would troops need silk for? Much less 6,000 bolts of it?

“Silk is only a cover. The thing wrapped inside is the most valuable.” - Master Fan, Episode 3

So, what was wrapped inside the silk? Food? Weapons? Undocumented untrained supplementary soldiers?

And what would the troops still need annually for 2 years after the Japanese invasion? And what would they still be paying to this day?

And here is a question: Did the “provisions” go to the troops? The government? Or the Japanese?

Why did the Japanese withdraw immediately after these “provisions” were sent?

To me, the thing that is most frequently wrapped in silk is people. Whether in blankets or clothing. The ‘thing’ inside silk is ultimately people.

There is some dark honour, some necessary evil that happened between County Renhua and the Japanese 100 years ago. Some treaty, some compromise was stuck that satisfied the Japanese and they withdrew immediately. Something creative and unethical occurred. Shuai Ducheng tells Jiamo that the number 3,530 wraps around the honor and disgrace of his lifetime.

“What do you want us to see?” “The point is not what we can see. The point is what we can’t see.” Shuai Jiamo (Episode 3)

“It was paid in silk, correct?”
“That is what is written in the registers.” (Episode 4)

During Shuai Jiamo’s presentation to Prefecture Huang he says prevailing market prices establish a bolt of silk is worth 6 tael of silver. Some voice whispered across my brain, ‘What do prevailing market prices establish a human life (i.e. prostitute, solider or slave) to be?

What I got out of that trail in Episode 3 and 4:
• Once upon a time, principal form taxes were recorded in registers, while logistical costs *were offset by the labor of the people* and recorded in corvée registers.
• The *value* of principal form taxes (goods and money) and logistical taxes (labor) were later conflated, considered equivalent and interchangeable.
• People of each individual county used to collect and transport goods to storehouses, where they were then redistributed to their final destination by the government. This changed when “government collection and transportation” was implemented, *because you can not get people to deliver their families and neighbors for slave labor and trade*.
• The way taxation was recorded was *changed within the same* year (10th), the same reign (Jiajing) and the same law (Single Whip Law) that corvée labor was outlawed.


Do I believe a single county (Renhua) can secret away 3,530 people through human trafficking annually without it being noticed? Absolutely not. Do I believe an entire country could if they manipulate gambling debts and defaulted loans? Yes, yes I do.

It becomes fairly obvious rather quickly why this “treaty” with the Japanese has to have a secret coalition facilitating it and that the visible and traceable impact needs to be diluted throughout the whole kingdom.

What I am still trying to figure out is why the Japanese wanted people? Why were they so satisfied with this solution that they immediately withdrew? And what benefit is Fengxing still receiving 100 years later, that they are still participating in this secret human trafficking treaty?

~~~~~~~~~~~

The other fascinating part in all this is the actual land.

Somehow tied up in all of this is a piece of land or pieces of land somewhere holding a secret or a value.

“Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin’ for, worth fightin’ for, worth dyin’ for, because it’s the only thing that lasts.” - Gerald O’Hara, Gone With the Wind

In Episode 1 we see Chen Dashan willing to do anything to protect his land. When his wife was ill, he approached a loan shark rather than sell his land to pay her medical expenses. And he was willing to sell his daughter into (most likely sexual) slavery rather than sell his land. And the fascinating thing was his daughter 100% had his back on this decision.

She knew something. They both knew something about this land. That it had to be protected at all costs.

When it seemed like there was no hope of escaping with his life, Chen Dashan did not protect himself - he protected the land. Hide the land. Don’t let people know it is there. Don’t let them take it. He tried to eat the deed.

And once he is brow-beaten, humiliated and shamed in a public forum into mortgaging his land to Lu Feilong, he and his daughter return to the land. It may not be his original 5 mu of paddy fields, but it is a rather particular piece of ‘obscure and unimportant land’. In the mountains of Tongyuan. Which County Magistrate Deng Siqi points out to Jiamo have dozens and dozens of irregular fields. And they are viciously protective and quite vigilant of this land.

They set up poacher traps all over it, not particularly caring if they accidentally catch a straggler. Occupational hazard. Worth it in the long run. And when one of the traps is triggered aka someone crosses the land’s boundaries, they are there almost instantly.

There is also something about that underground cellar (literally the land itself).

There are clearly pieces of land that the government has tried to hide from existing. Cut an inch from this property. A yard from that property. Irregular fields would all result in hiding specific plots of land.

But why? What value, what secret do they have? Why must they be hidden? Why must they be protected?

Is there treasure buried there? Is the land itself valuable, possessing unique soil that makes it so a particular plant can only grow in certain regions? Are there mausoleums? Are more secret registries hidden there? Is there some evil nonsense that must be prevented (think the Medjai and Hamunapra and Imhotep from The Mummy)?

And what does all this land that must be hidden and protected have to do with the human trafficking and the treaty with the Japanese?

Secret of the Silk, The Number 3, 530 & Irregular Fields (Long)

Last 2 cats I can think of that went everywhere: Uncharted (Tom Holland) and Miss the Dragon (Wáng Hèdì)

Episode 5: "I am a knife...a knife only needs to be sharp."

Dongfang Qingcang, is that you?

Is it just me or have we been getting some rather novel intro sequences lately?

● Blood of Youth feels a little GoT to me with the angled shots of weapons and architecture.
● League of Gentleman is beyond distinctive with the black and white shots and a tempo being kept by those two percussion instruments that I can’t identify and that sort of mechanical swish sound effect (I did a horrible job describing this).

And now this (Under the Microscope): a slightly schizophrenic mixture of guó huà-esque blueprints, some aerial shots and landscapes that evoke a land surveillance feel that I tend to associate with science fiction tales that have truly fleshed out in-world history that through the centuries and people’s memories playing Telephone or Chinese Whispers got transformed into religion or mythology and some intriguing modern shots, all held together by an instrumental piece that somehow manages to be both eerie and inviting.

Initial Reaction: This is going to be excellent! (Please live up to the exceedingly high expectations you instilled in me based solely on the first 1 minute and 22 seconds of the show).


What are some other Intro Sequences you guys have seen that left an impression on you (whether or not the show delivered on them)?

Yes! I was paying so much attention to the thematic elements, symbolic metaphors, healthy consent, boundaries and communication, the genealogical mysteries and cinematography, that I feel I did not appreciate the humor, beyond the superficial level of a casual viewer.

When I have time, I would love to do a second viewing focusing solely on the humor.
I think my favorite moment overall is Cao Chunang’s response to Xiao Duo saying Yinlou can put Denghuo anywhere she wants: “Oh”. I replayed that 3 or 4 times and was still laughing out loud each time.

Oh, and the running joke about the chicken!

But Xiao Duo truly has this subtle, dry, borderline British sense of humor that you really don't notice at first. He is just so bored with his existence and trying to amuse himself and then Yinlou comes along and is not only willing to play, but functionally is a walking invitation to play. I bet the earlier episodes are just jam-packed with sardonic, little, deadpan comments we didn't pick up on, because we didn't know his sense of humor yet.

What was everyone's favorite favorite comedy moment in the series?
Pop it below!

Lord and she did something at Red Coast Base and did something with her depression and hi-jacked a message and started this whole thing because she no longer trusts humanity?

What if Ye Wen Jie is...