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Thread: Legend of the White Haired Maiden

  1. #621
    Senior Member Han Solo's Avatar
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    Thanks foxs.

    When i said anything is ok, i really meant that i'm happy to read whenever or whatever is available. Translating is hard- harder for some, easier for you.

    Re: unabridged thread, in reviewing this thread, thank you for translating the conversations which was left out by FaQ esp. chapter 8.

    Thirdly, which chapter or character is hard for you to translate i.e. you hate their guts out?

    Lastly, a repost of mine from 2005

    Hung Pills (Red Pills)

    The way of the Hung consisted of a secret formula for producing Hung pills, which were also known by a more euphemistic name (Hsien Tien Tan Chion). The menstrual discharges of beautiful maidens, thirteen or fourteen years old, were gathered in gold and silver vessels and transferred to a mortar, where wu mei shuei, a compote of smoked half-ripe plums, were added. In such cases, maidens with coarse hair or throaty masculine voices or those who had been sick were carefully avoided. The strange concoction was then dried seven times and finally heated after adding powdered milk, cinnabar, imported pine resin, and dried and powdered human waste. The hung pills thus produced were considered a powerful restorative pill capable of curing 5 kinds of fatigue, 7 kinds of wounds, and general debility.

    Restorative and aphrodisiacs of this nature became extremely popular in the last half of the Ming dynastry, which as marked by unprecedented cultural developments. The secrets of the Hung pills was given by Taoist Wen Chung to Tan Lun, the War minister and to Chang Chu Cheng, the powerful premier of the time. Overuse of the pills was reported to be responsible for their deaths.

    In the thirty-first year of Chia Cheng, Emperor Shih Tsu by imperial edict, had 300 maidens between the ages of eight and fourteen brought into the palace from Beijing and adjacent areas, and another 106 the following year, solely for the purpose of producing the Hung pills.

    The emperor’s addiction to Hung pills had ill and far reaching consequences. His successor, Emperor Mu Tsung became a regular user as well due to advice from his eunuchs, and let his genius run to waste. Emperor Tai Chang in whom the people placed great hope, died the same night he took these pills during an illness. Later this incident, referred to as the “Hung Pills Incident”, became a major political incident.


    - From Taisuke Mitamura, (1970) Chinese Eunuchs: The Structure of Intimate Politics, pp 121-122.

    Just some short notes on Wei Zhong Xian.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Following the Red Pill incident, the next Ming dynasty fell into the rule of Emperor Tien-chi, who was a weak emperor, more interested in sex, gambling, wood-carpentering, and arts. He left much of his administration into the hand of his wet nurse and also his chief eunuch Wei Zhong Xian.

    Wei Zhong Xian was forced to castrate himself as an adult in order to pay for heavy losses due to gambling; coming from an undistinguished background, he managed to get himself in the protection of several chief eunuch during the reign of Emperor Wan-li.

    Due to his excellent cooking skills, he was able to get special favour of the mother of the future Emperor Tien-chi. Further, he became a lover of Tien-chi's comely wet nurse, Mistress Ko after both of them got together to get rid of Mistress Ko's former lover. (It was rumored that Wei's severed part have been partially redeveloped, and that his sex drive was perhaps due to him consuming seven human brains)

    Soon after the start of the reign of Emperor Tien-chi, Wei Zhong Xian managed to become the chief eunuch. After becoming chief eunuch, he murdered all of those who's does not join his faction. In short time, he gained enormous power, earning the nickname "nine thousand lives", and personal retinue numbering 10,000.

    Despite repeated attempts by mandarins and scholars to oust him, particularly through the famous "Twenty-four Great Crimes of Eunuch Wei Zhong Xian" petition, he was able, with the help of the wet nurse to influence the emperor to reject all these accusations, and punish his adversaries through tortures in the eunuch prisons of the eastern depot.

    With these powers, all in the kingdom feared him and the officials have to divert state revenue to fund "projects" for Wei Zhong Xian. He was able to self-style himself a duke, with equal rank to imperial princes, and to issue all official proclamation under the name of the emperor and himself.

    His reign of power, infamy and corruption only ended after the sudden death of Emperor Tien-chi. The next Ming emperor, Emperor Chung-chen exiled him before he commited suicide to avoid further punishment.

    Han Solo
    Wuxiapedia

    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    I think they're probably at the same level as or one level below Ah Qing, which is about the level of a 2nd or 3rd generation Quan Zhen disciple.
    Troll Control

  2. #622
    Senior Member LuDongBin's Avatar
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    Thanks for these tidbits. Very interesting info here.

  3. #623
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Han Solo View Post
    When i said anything is ok, i really meant that i'm happy to read whenever or whatever is available. Translating is hard- harder for some, easier for you.

    Re: unabridged thread, in reviewing this thread, thank you for translating the conversations which was left out by FaQ esp. chapter 8.

    Thirdly, which chapter or character is hard for you to translate i.e. you hate their guts out?
    What ... ?!? Who says translating is easier for me? If I seem to be able to translate a lot, that's because I translate the text as it is, i.e. I am not a scholar and am never good with language, so my sentences are simple; thus, I am able to translate a little more. (I was going to say 'a little bit more than other translators, but when I visited other stories, I am floored with how much those stories have progressed since the last time I checked. Truly, Justin, Ren and Hoju! have shamed me ...)

    About the part that are hard to translate: I hate poems ... (and songs, and quotations from ancient texts ... and the list goes on and on ...) As I said, I am neither a scholar nor someone good with language. It's not uncommon that I would spend the same amount of time translating a poem as I used to translate, say, an update worth of text.

    Come to think about it, translating LOCH Chapter 34 (where Guo Jing found out about the murder of his Shifus) was depressing. Other than that, I do not recall a specific chapter or character.

  4. #624
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    I just finished this novel and cant stop thinking of how stubborn and heartless yu loucha is. They could have lived together happily, but she decides to make both of them miserable.

  5. #625
    Senior Member szfong's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by r3dthien View Post
    I just finished this novel and cant stop thinking of how stubborn and heartless yu loucha is. They could have lived together happily, but she decides to make both of them miserable.
    I believe in a later novel, Yi Han, before dying from a broken heart, tells his only disciple to give the youth preserving flower to her and also preserve his corpse well, because Yu Loucha will come for him when she is near death... In the end, she is restored to her former beauty and they are together in death (opposite of "til' death do us part", I guess).... In the latest TV series, they freeze to death on a cold mountain peak.... ...

  6. #626
    Member jotaro's Avatar
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    The translators did a good job on the translation. A great story in any language.

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