Kat_o_nine_Tails

Tens of thousands of years ago people foraged and hunted for their food and ate whatever they could. Among their forage were wild cereals, which included the ancestors of modern cultivated wheat, barley and others.

People like sweet things. Grains are starchy, but if sprouted they start converting those starches to sugars, so people would've left grains in water to sprout. These sprouts are also easier to digest, thus more nutritious, which bestowed an invisible advantage on those sprouting their grains.

If grains are left in water too long, however, they begin to ferment. Alcohol is produced. People like alcohol.

In ancient Mesopotamia the fermented grains were experimented with, resulting in an early form of beer. The process of making that beer was quite complicated and involved a combination of sprouted and mashed grains.

People wanted beer all year round, but early beers did not have long shelf lives and the grain could only be harvested at certain times. So the ancient Mesopotamians invented a way of storing the ingredients for beer.

It was made of the grain mash, honey, dates and spices that were fermented to make beer. For storage, prior to fermentation, the mixture was baked dry, cut into smaller pieces and baked again to remove all water. This produced bapir, a product very much like biscotti, which could be stored for later rehydration and fermentation. Sometimes it was eaten instead.

I've made bapir, and I've eaten it. It is brittle but delicious. It's also a form of unleavened bread.

Bread was invented as a way to store the ingredients for beer, which was most likely a development from a chance discovery. Leavened bread (that is, with bubbles) may well have been discovered when a mixture like that for bapir was accidentally allowed to ferment before baking. Yeast is responsible for both alcohol production and leavening.

This little guy here is Remus. A year ago, he contracted Feline Leukemia Virus from Baby Kitten, who passed it on to him and Caramel.

Baby kitten passed away before we even knew what was wrong. When Caramel got sick, she got really really sick. We tried everything, from Virbagen to blood transfusions, but nothing worked. Two weeks of running to the vet every day, and all we were left with are broken hearts.

And now Remus is sick. He has a limphoma in his chest and he's probably going to need surgery. We can't afford to not try to save him.

Quite frankly, the treatment isn't cheap. Just the ultrasound, the blood panels and the biochemistry analysis cost 600€. The CT scan is going to cost more. And all of our credit cards and savings are thinning out.

And listen, I know we're all broke here. But if I can trade some cute cat pictures for a few bucks, even that will help.

My brand new Kofi account.

And some pictures of my poor, beloved, idiot son doing what he does best: sleeping.

The twelve shengxiao took shape in the Han Dynasty, a time when divination and astrology were thriving. They're closely tied to China's unique sexagenary cycle—each shengxiao animal has its own heavenly stem and earthly branch based on the year. Archaeological evidence from a Qin tomb (217 BCE) in Shuihudi, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, supports this. The earliest complete record of the twelve shengxiao is found in Wang Chong's Lunheng论衡 (1st century CE), which lists basically the same twelve animals and their earthly branch matches we use today. The system first emerged in the pre-Qin period, became largely fixed and widespread in the Eastern Han, and has stayed stable for over 2,000 years.

First, you need the core formula: A complete gan-zhi year = heavenly stem + earthly branch. Its five-element property = stem's five-element + branch's five-element.

The ten heavenly stems: 甲 (jiǎ), 乙 (yǐ), 丙 (bǐng), 丁 (dīng), 戊 (wù), 己 (jǐ), 庚 (gēng), 辛 (xīn), 壬 (rén), 癸 (guǐ).

The twelve earthly branches: 子 (zǐ), 丑 (chǒu), 寅 (yín), 卯 (mǎo), 辰 (chén), 巳 (sì), 午 (wǔ), 未 (wèi), 申 (shēn), 酉 (yǒu), 戌 (xū), 亥 (hài).

The five-element properties of the ten heavenly stems are divided into two types: Yang and Yin. This determines the strength or nature of the element's energy.

Wood: 甲 (jiǎ)= Yang Wood, 乙 (yǐ)=Yin Wood Fire: 丙 (bǐng)= Yang Fire, 丁 (dīng)=Yin Fire Earth: 戊 (wù)= Yang Earth, 己 (jǐ) =Yin Earth Metal: 庚 (gēng)=Yang Metal, 辛 (xīn) =Yin Metal Water: 壬 (rén)= Yang Water, 癸 (guǐ) =Yin Water

The five-element properties of the earthly branches are more complex, because each branch, besides its main energy, also hides other heavenly stems. But when determining the main five-element property of a shengxiao year, we usually just look at its "main energy" (本气). The main energy of 午 (wǔ) Horse is Fire.

The main five-element energies of the twelve earthly branches are as follows:

Water: 子 (zǐ)=Yang Water, 亥 (hài)= Yin Water Earth: 丑 (chǒu)=Yin Earth, 辰 (chén)=Yang Earth, 未 (wèi) =Yin Earth, 戌 (xū)=Yang Earth Wood: 寅 (yín)=Yang Wood, 卯 (mǎo)=Yin Wood Fire: 午 (wǔ)=Yang Fire, 巳 (sì) =Yin Fire Metal: 申 (shēn)=Yang Metal, 酉 (yǒu) =Yin Metal

The correspondence between the Twelve Shengxiao and the Twelve Earthly Branches is like this:

子 (zǐ) = Rat 丑 (chǒu) = Ox 寅 (yín) = Tiger 卯 (mǎo) = Rabbit 辰 (chén) = Dragon 巳 (sì) = Snake 午 (wǔ) = Horse 未 (wèi) = Goat 申 (shēn) = Monkey 酉 (yǒu) = Rooster 戌 (xū) = Dog 亥 (hài) = Pig

(If you’re already confused at this point, just skip to the part below. These lists are only for your future reference and easy lookup.)

These are the major Horse years(manian马年) from the early 20th century to the late 21st century, based on the Gregorian calendar (starting from the Chinese New Year)(Note: The Gregorian calendar is used to make it easier for you to look up. These dates have been converted from the Chinese nongli calendar system):

20th Century

1906 (丙午bǐng wǔ year, 1906.1.25 – 1907.2.12) 1918 (戊午wù wǔ year, 1918.2.11 – 1919.1.31) 1930 (庚午gēng wǔ year, 1930.1.30 – 1931.2.16) 1942 (壬午rén wǔ year, 1942.2.15 – 1943.2.4) 1954 (甲午jiǎ wǔ year, 1954.2.3 – 1955.1.23) 1966 (丙午bǐng wǔ year, 1966.1.21 – 1967.2.8) 1978 (戊午wù wǔ year, 1978.2.7 – 1979.1.27) 1990 (庚午gēng wǔ year, 1990.1.27 – 1991.2.14)

21st Century

2002 (壬午rén wǔ year, 2002.2.12 – 2003.1.31) 2014 (甲午jiǎ wǔ year, 2014.1.31 – 2015.2.18) 2026 (丙午bǐng wǔ year, 2026.2.17 – 2027.2.5) 2038 (戊午wù wǔ year, 2038.2.4 – 2039.1.23) 2050 (庚午gēng wǔ year, 2050.2.1 – 2051.2.18)

Friendly reminder: Since the Chinese New Year usually falls between late January and mid-February in the Gregorian calendar, people born in early or late years must determine their shengxiao based on their exact Chinese calendar birth date, rather than simply by the Gregorian year. For example, those born between January 1, 2003 and January 31, 2003 are still in the Year of the Horse (Renwu 壬午 Year) according to the Chinese calendar. Only those born on or after February 1, 2003 (Chinese New Year) belong to the Year of the Goat. Chinese people refer to newborns born in a particular shengxiao year as “[Shengxiao Animal] + baby”. Many even plan their pregnancies and childbirth carefully to ensure their baby is born in a specific shengxiao year. For example, babies born in the Year of the Horse are called mabaobao(Horse babies), and those born in the Year of the Dragon are called longbaobao(Dragon babies). (So go figure out which baobao you are…

Now let's look at the three closest Horse years, including 2026. First thing to be clear: every 午wu (Horse) year has the earthly branch element of Yang Fire. So the main difference comes from the heavenly stem's five-element property.

First example: 2026 (2026.2.17 – 2027.2.5). According to the table above, it's a bǐng wǔ (丙午) year. 丙bing= Yang Fire, 午wu = Yang Fire. So the five-element combo is heavenly stem Fire + earthly branch Fire. Both are Fire, both are Yang. That makes the energy very pure and strong. That's why 2026 is called a "Fire Horse year." Plus, we have entered the Nine Purple Li Fire period starting in 2024 (from February 4, 2024, Start of Spring, to before Start of Spring in 2043), making it fire on top of fire. Many feng shui commentators believe that starting this year, all pretense will be burned away, and a lot of truth will be revealed to the world.

2002 — rén wǔ year (2002.2.12 – 2003.1.31) Heavenly stem "rén": from the table above, rén = Yang Water. Earthly branch "wǔ": wǔ = Yang Fire. Five-element combo: stem Water + branch Fire. This combination is known as "heaven overcoming earth", indicating an inherent tension and conflict in the energy of the year. Since the earthly branch Wu Fire represents the core nature of the shengxiao, we generally still refer to this as a Water Horse year (led by the heavenly stem), while recognizing its internal characteristic of "Water and Fire in conflict".

1990 — gēng wǔ year (1990.1.27 – 1991.2.14) Heavenly stem "gēng": from the table above, gēng = Yang Metal. Earthly branch "wǔ": wǔ = Yang Fire. Five-element combo: stem Metal + branch Fire. The heavenly stem is Metal, and the earthly branch is Fire; Fire restrains Metal. This combination is called "earth overcoming heaven" or "refining true metal through fire", meaning the environment (earthly branch) serves to temper and test the dominant energy of the year (heavenly stem). We refer to this as a Metal Horse year.

When people see terms like "Water and Fire conflict," they might feel a bit apprehensive and wonder what about someone born in the 2002 Water Horse year? Is there something to be concerned about? Actually, no need to worry. According to traditional Chinese metaphysics, Ren Water is the ceaseless, rushing water of rivers, lakes, and seas (Yang Water), and Wu Fire is the blazing noonday sun (Yang Fire). This creates a balance and tug-of-war between two potential dynamics: "Water and Fire in harmony" (水火既济) and "Water and Fire in conflict" (水火相战). It gives Water Horse people a complex, tension-filled character and fate.

Personality-wise, Water Horse people are outwardly calm but inwardly active, outwardly gentle but inwardly strong. They're quick-thinking: Water rules intelligence and flow, so they're usually smart, flexible, adaptable, good at communicating and improvising. They're not as flashy as Fire Horses in terms of shengxiao—instead, they might seem quiet and easygoing on the outside. But inside, they burn with the Horse's natural passion, competitiveness, and impatience. They're like "deep, still water with a strong current"—calm on the surface, but clear goals and strong drive underneath.

Water's cool-headed planning combined with Fire's action-oriented intuition means they tend to think before they act. Unlike pure Fire Horses (like Bing Wu), who act impulsively, or Earth Horses (Wu Wu), who are overly steady, they find a good balance between thought and action.

Also, in terms of temperament, Water's inclusiveness and Fire's infectious energy make them natural team lubricants and motivators. They understand different perspectives and use their passion to get others going.

The "Water and Fire conflict" dynamic also means they're prone to inner contradictions—clashes between reason and emotion, long-term planning and urgent action. Their emotions may ebb and flow like the tide. They feel more internal pressure and tension than other shengxiao Horses, so they need to learn how to channel their emotional energy. If they can perfectly blend Water's wisdom and Fire's passion—achieving that state of "Water and Fire in harmony"—then they've really mastered their path in life, and things will go smoothly for them in just about every way.

If you want to know the traits of other Horse types, here's a quick reference:

Fire Horse(huoma) – Image: blazing sun at noon / wildfire. Passionate leader type. Extremely energetic, confident, and dazzling, but may be too impulsive and blunt.

Earth Horse(tuma) – Image: volcano / fire brick. Practical and steady type. Fire produces Earth, so their actions are sustained—more grounded and enduring, but may lack the Water Horse's flexibility.

Wood Horse(muma) – Image: forest fire / burning pillar. Pioneering and devoted type. Wood feeds Fire, so their energy has constant support. They're generous and have leadership skills, but may burn themselves out.

Metal Horse(jinma) – Image: steel furnace / sword being forged. Achiever through tempering. Fire overcomes Metal, meaning they grow strong through pressure and forging—great perseverance, but the process is tough.

But none of this is absolute. Once you add in other factors—like your birth month, day, hour and minute, as well as your birth location and true solar time—the picture becomes pretty complex.

Many people believe in the compatibility and conflict of shengxiao, with sayings like "Rat and Dragon are compatible, Horse and Ox clash". In fact, these are the results of traditional Chinese culture being simplified, symbolized, and even entertainmentized during its spread among the public. They are easy to remember and share, but are far removed from real metaphysical analysis. Put simply, it ignores many other variables, so the idea of shengxiao compatibility and conflict is open to debate.

In China, some superstitious people avoid those born in the Year of the Goat. This makes no sense at all in traditional Chinese metaphysics and is just a baseless rumor passed down through generations. Besides, countless people were born in the Year of the Goat, so avoiding them is totally pointless. On a side note, quite a few of my friends are Goat shengxiao—and I think they’re the GOAT.

Yet Chinese metaphysical systems such as Five Elements & Bazi, Plum Blossom Divination, Six Yao, Liu Ren, Qi Men Dun Jia, and Tai Yi are truly remarkable. They have been shown to resonate perfectly with cosmic energies. When you consult a genuine expert—someone who truly understands and can practice these arts—they can give you astonishingly accurate readings.

That said, Chinese tradition also advises against fortune-telling casually. It is acceptable to consult for major life events or to find lost items, but you should not do it constantly or obsessively. And all this only applies to Chinese metaphysical arts, because they’re on the level of heavy artillery—you wouldn’t use a cannon to kill a bug. Many bloggers think that with Tarot and similar tools, you can read as you please because tools like Tarot also align with cosmic energy, but they are relatively lighter in nature (of course, becoming too obsessed with anything is never healthy.

The difference is roughly this: tools like Tarot focus more on the present moment. They rarely give rigid outcomes such as “something will definitely happen on a specific month and day.” Instead, they act more like a mirror reflecting your current state, showing you the likely outcome if you take one path, and how things might change if you choose another. Strictly speaking, therefore, they do not predict a fixed future.

However, the internal logic of traditional Chinese metaphysics is completely different. It is a system of time patterns and life trajectory deduction, based on the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches calendar, Yin-Yang and Five Elements, and cyclical timing. It calculates fluctuations in fortune, types of events, and their timings corresponding to specific time periods. It can often determine things like: which years bring financial risks, which years bring major life changes, and which periods are suitable for marriage or business. It is closer to a cyclical projection of one’s life path, which is why many people experience it as actually “seeing the future.”

Tools like Tarot are light, gentle, and suitable for daily guidance. Chinese metaphysics is a vast, logically rigorous system for life analysis. Neither is inherently superior—they simply serve different purposes. Neither can lock in one’s life 100%, as a person’s mindset, choices, and environment always shape the final outcome.

（Peking Opera performance at the 2014 Chinese New Year Gala)

Hellooooooo~

Oh, goodness, that's a deep well to dive into xD There's a lot to know about Chinese opera.

Chinese opera incorporates every kind of opera that exists in China, pretty much every local region has their own style of Opera, there's about 360 different ones. There's Peking Opera, Huangmei Opera, Yue Opera (Shanghai/Shaoxing), Yue Opera (Guangdong province), Yu Opera, Chuan Opera, Kunqu Opera, Ping Opera, the city I'm in (Yangzhou) has Yang Opera, etc.

Out of all of these, the most famous would be Peking Opera (京剧/Jingju), it's recognized nationally as 国粹/Guocui meaning it originated in China and has deep cultural roots, representing a cultural heritage of the people. It has also been recognized by UNESCO as an international Intangible Cultural Heritage.

I'll focus on Peking Opera (my favourites are Peking Opera, Yue Opera (Shanghai/Shaoxing), and Huangmei Opera).

Peking Opera was created in the Qing Dynasty (last imperial dynasty of China). Back then, people in the performing arts were viewed as the lowest tier of society, parents did everything they could to prevent their kids from entering into a profession performing. Only when households were incredibly poor, did kids get "sold" into opera troupes. Yes, sold, like property. These kids would learn various skills like singing, acting, martial arts skills that would be used on stage. It was very brutal, getting up at dawn to practice splits, flips, and teachers back then would hit if you didn't meet their standards. No such thing as child labour laws back then.

There's a saying in China, "台下十年功，台上十分钟", behind the scenes ten years work, on stage ten minutes. Meaning For ten minutes on stage, a performer needed to work and practice for ten years, and this absolutely applied for Opera performers. Even today in China, it's well known that opera performers need decades of work before being able to perform on stage (yes, most opera performers even today got into it as children, not sold into a troupe like in the past, but being signed up for classes when they're very young to practice all the skills needed, kind of like ballerinas, there are certain skills that you just need to practice from young to learn for this artform).

Currently there's several major schools of Peking Opera. This refers to their singing style for particular characters. For example, for characters in the "Dan" category (旦角/Danjue - referring to young woman of wealthier families, elegant and well-mannered) there are 4 major schools: - Mei School (梅派) - Cheng School (程派) - Xun School (荀派) - Shang School (尚派)

The names refer to the person who created each school:

Mei Lanfang (梅兰芳)

Cheng Yanqiu (程砚秋)

Xun Huisheng (荀慧生)

Shang Xiaoyun (尚小云)

No worries if you dont want to answer this or if you have no clue what i'm talking about because of how badly i wrote the words.

There are...a lot (too many) ways you can use to address an emperor or refer to an emperor. For the sake of not confusing you, here are the most basic/common.

Huangdi 皇帝: Literally is the title 'emperor' but this is usually only used to refer to the position of emperor in general, and rarely to refer to the person currently holding that position, or to address them. The only exception is the empress dowager (the emperor's mother) might use huangdi as a form of addressing the emperor, or to refer to him specifically in the third person. This is because all other words used to refer to the emperor or to address him with usually carries connotation of the emperor being in superior position to the speaker, which he is, to everyone, except his mother, so his mother uses 'huangdi' as a more neutral form of address.

Huangshang 皇上: This is the most common way everyone else would address and refer to the emperor. This word consists of 皇 (imperial) and 上 (above), and it's usually translated as Your Majesty. Basically, by using huangshang to refer to the emperor or address him, the speaker is acknowledging that the emperor is in a superior position to them.

Bixia 陛下: This is a word used to address the emperor directly. As in "Bixia, please do XYZ." Bi 陛 refers to the dias on which the throne is placed/the steps leading up to the throne, and xia 下 means 'lower'. By using bixia to address the emperor, the speaker is positioning themselves as being below the throne, or implying that the emperor is speaking from the throne down to them.

(Now that I break it down like this...it feels like the word would be better used to refer to the subject than the emperor but...I guess not?)

(Dianxia 殿下, used to address princes/princesses, use the same principle, where dian 殿 means palace.)

There are also other ways to refer/address the emperors, varying across different dynasties, but these are the basic.

Leaf-bladed swords are a very popular fantasy style and were real, though unlike modern hand-and-a-half longsword versions, the real things were mostly if not always shortswords.

Here are Celtic bronze swords…

…Ancient Greek Xiphoi…

… and a Roman “Mainz-pattern” gladius…

Saw or downright jagged edges, either full-length or as small sections (often where they serve no discernible purpose) are a frequent part of fantasy blades, especially at the more, er, imaginatively unrestrained end of the market.

Real swords also had saw edges, such as these two 19th century shortswords, but not to make them cool or interesting. They’re weapons if necessary…

…but since they were carried by Pioneer Corps who needed them for cutting branches and other construction-type tasks, their principal use was as brush cutters and saws.

This dussack (cutlass) in the Wallace Collection is also a fighting weapon, like the one beside it…

…but may also have had the secondary function of being a saw.

A couple of internet captions say it’s for “cutting ropes” which makes sense - heavy ropes and hawsers on board a ship were so soaked with tar that they were often more like lengths of wood, and a Hollywood-style slice from the Hero’s rapier (!!) wouldn’t be anything like enough to sever them. However swords like this are extremely rare, which suggests they didn’t work as well as intended for any purpose.

I photographed these in Basel, Switzerland, about 20 years ago. Look at the one on the bottom (I prefer the basket-hilt schiavona in the middle).

A lot of “flamberge” (wavy-edge) swords actually started out with conventional blades which then had the edges ground to shape - the dussack, that Basel broadsword and this Zweihander were all made that way.

The giveaway is the centreline: if it’s straight, the entire blade probably started out straight.

Increased use of water power for bellows, hammers and of course grinders made shaping blades easier than when it had to be done by hand. This flamberge Zweihander, however, was forged that way.

Again, the clue is the centre-line.

Incidentally those Parierhaken (parrying hooks - a secondary crossguard) are among the only real-life examples of another common fantasy feature - hooks and spikes sticking out from the blade.

Here are some rapiers and a couple of daggers showing the same difference between forged to shape and ground to shape. The top and bottom rapiers in the first picture started as straights, and only the middle rapier came from the forge with a flamberge blade.

There’s no doubt about this one either.

The reason - though that was a part of it - wasn’t just to look cool and show off what the owner could afford (any and all extra or unusual work added to the price) but may actually have had a function: a parry would have been juddery and unsettling for someone not used to it, and any advantage is worth having.

However, like the saw-edged dussack, flamberge blades are unusual - which suggests the advantage wasn’t that much of an advantage after all.

Here’s a Circassian kindjal, forged wiggly…

…and an Italian parrying dagger forged straight then ground wiggly…

There were also parrying daggers with another fantasy-blade feature, deep notches and serrations which in fantasy versions often resemble fangs or thorns.

These more practical historical versions are usually called “sword-breakers” but I prefer “sword-catcher”, since a steel blade isn’t that easy to break. Taking the opponent’s blade out of play for just long enough to nail him works fine.

NB - the curvature on the top one in this next image is AFAIK because of the book-page it was copied from, not the blade itself.

The missing tooth on that second dagger, and the crack halfway down this next one’s blade, shows what happens when design features cause weak spots.

So there you go: a quick overview of fantasy sword features in real life.

Here’s a real-life weapon that looks like it belongs in a fantasy story or film - and this doesn’t even have an odd-shaped blade…

Just a very flexible one…

If you want more odd blades, Moghul India is a good place to start…

宋朝 - 裤子 - 裈, 袴 (1/2) Song Dynasty - Pants (1/2)

Pants were a popular garment to wear during the Song Dynasty, both as inner and outer wear for men and women. From artefacts currently discovered, there were 3 main types of pants:

1) Inner pants (close-crotched) (裈 (读鲲))

worn against the body

2 styles found: a) Half-pants (犊鼻裈/Dubikun) b) Full pants

can be worn by men and women

2) Outer pants (mostly open-crotched)（袴 (读库)）

worn layered over the inner pants

open-crotched version did not expose private area due to large amount of fabric and the way it draped around the hips

can be multi-layered for colder weather

can be worn by men and women

some even have foot straps (吊敦裤/Diaodunku)

Demo of how to wear open-crotch pants (1st part of video):

"Huang daopo, b. c. 1240 (Southern Song-Yuan dynasties), most probably came from a place called Wunijing, in the Shanghai District of Songjiang. Her given names are not known. She gained fame for her innovations in cotton-textile technology, and later generations honored her with the folk title daopo (crone of the Dao). 

According to the late Yuan-early Ming scholar Wang Feng, Huang daopo was born into penury. While still young she traveled to Yazhou on Hainan Island (the present-day city of Sanya), far from her home village. There she engaged in the flourishing cotton industry, becoming involved in both growing and spinning cotton. Around 1295–1296, when she was possibly about fifty years old, she returned to her home village, bringing with her the specialist techniques in cotton textile manufacture she had mastered in Yazhou.

The soil in Wunijing, which was on the eastern seaboard by the Yellow Sea, was very poor, so that with no agriculture to speak of the people did not have enough to eat. Nor were there any who were skilled in spinning cotton. There was no treadle system, and the cottonseeds were extracted by hand by beating the cotton buds on a long table with a bamboo bow and string to separate the fibers from the seeds, an extremely difficult task. 

Huang daopo adopted a revolutionary approach, starting with improving the seed used in Wunijing cotton production. She had returned from Hainan with a very fine grade cottonseed that could be adapted for local cultivation, and she proceeded to make both machines and tools more efficient, teaching the local people all she had learned of textile technology in Hainan. Instead of discarding the cottonseeds by hand, she used a cotton gin, possibly the kind of dual-roller gin said to have appeared in India and China between the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries; for fluffing the cotton, instead of a small bow measuring less than a meter (over 3 feet) long, she used wooden clappers over a meter-and-a-half (almost 5 feet) long and tied to a large wooden bow to hit the string; instead of twisting the yarn by hand or using an old-style single-spindle hand-turned spinning wheel, she built a three-spindle treadle spinning wheel.

The special Wunijing fabric that this area began to produce was a direct descendant, through Huang daopo, of Hainan cloth. It was exquisite, due to the skillful interlocking, color matching, healding of the thread, and printing techniques used. The cotton was made into padded mattresses, belts, and handkerchiefs with a range of patterns, including what is described as “cut flowers, circular phoenixes, checks, and Chinese characters” referred to as “cloud cloth,” which became the most sought-after fabric of that time. With Wunijing cotton cloth in such demand, the lives of the workers and families in the region were much improved. Villages and towns in the area soon became known as rich and populous, with over a thousand families making their living from the cloth. 

The methods Huang daopo had devised were passed on in their entirety to neighboring Songjiang and Qingpu near Shanghai, so that the cotton industry in the whole region thrived. Songjiang very quickly became the national center of the cotton industry—Songjiang cloth was worn by everybody—and remained the national center of the textile industry in China until well into the Ming dynasty. Huang daopo’s innovative technology for the manufacture of textiles was passed down from generation to generation so that her production methods were still used for the extremely expensive cotton material featuring dragons, phoenixes, fighting bulls, and unicorns that was in vogue during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Not long after passing on her skills, Huang daopo died from illness. The local people felt such gratitude to her that there was much shedding of tears. Money was collected to erect a monument and shrine to her, incense was burned in front of her statue, and sacrifices were made to her spirit as though she were a deity."

So, in Chapter 20, when the realms merge starts happening, it says pretty much the entire sect seems to converge on Qiong Ding after an alarm goes off:

The ringing grew increasingly urgent, both loud and insistent, its echo resounding without pause, lingering and reverberating throughout the entirety of Cang Qiong Mountain’s summit. Disciples from every peak streamed toward Qiong Ding Peak via the Rainbow Bridges for the assembly. The area outside Qiong Ding Peak’s main hall was crowded with people, yet it was dead silent.

Yue Qingyuan then orders, “All peak lords, select two-thirds of your inner disciples to move out with you". Later, he gives out instructions to the remainder:

“Request assistance from the masters of Zhao Hua Monastery,” Yue Qingyuan said to that An Ding Peak disciple in charge of logistics. Then he turned and raised his voice. “Hear me, disciples on watch: the moment the barrier breaks, drop everything and leave the mountain immediately!” The thousand-plus disciples on the field answered as one: “Yes!”

So a thousand, just to split it even, divided by the twelve peaks is about 83 people each.

But presumably there's not an even distribution between all the peaks (Ku Xing's peak lord gripes in the Extras that his peak is thinning out compared to others), which seems backed up by the fact that Liu Qingge shows up with this many disciples:

After pondering for a while, Yue Qingyuan said, “When the first wave of demons from the southern border breaks through, Bai Zhan Peak will meet them.” Only forty people had come from Bai Zhan Peak.

(tbf I'm not sure if the wording is supposed to imply that forty is a small amount of disciples to have brought, or if only having forty people against the entire southern border invasion is worrisome.)

If that solid 40 is 2/3 of Bai Zhan's inner disciples, then he's got at least 60 in total.

Let's say this was the average across the sect, for the sake of easy math. That'd 480 inner disciples alone at the battle, holy crap! And if 20 out of those 60 Bai Zhan disciples were left behind, then that's 240-ish inner disciples left behind for defenses.

So of that speculated 1k+ disciples who answered YQY back, an average 760 would be outer disciples (or, again broken up into a dozen, about 60-ish per peak again). And this isn't including any hall masters, any residents who fit some other role, the peak lords themselves, or the very youngest disciples who likely got told to go bunker down and hide... dang!

But I suppose that makes sense, looking all the way back to volume one where it did say how many disciples got into the Immortal Alliance Conference when Binghe got yeeted:

The cap on the number of spots was nevertheless high—naturally, the more the better—and in the end, around one hundred well-equipped individuals set out in grand style for Jue Di Gorge.

So if there are, at the very least, 1000+ disciples alone all across CQMS, 100 or so going to the conference would make sense. That's their top ten performers at the very least.

I'm going to start off with a fair amount of introduction here, but this guide is mostly aimed at other writers, who are presumably not put off by long block of texts.

Why write this guide? Mostly because no one else has (that I've seen) (yet.) I've seen no end of guides to writing, and a fair amount on the topic 'how to leave a comment,' but I have yet to see one aimed at replying to reader comments.

Why should we take advice from you? Well, I've been a fanfic author in fan spaces for twentysomethingplus years, and through that time I've seen pretty much every configuration of positive and negative interactions between fans, fan authors, and fan readers that you can imagine. Mostly through trial and error in that time I've worked out my own system of when and how to respond to readers in a way that will make them feel welcomed and encourage them to come back. You can try my methods, or you can develop your own, whatever suits you! But if you've been looking for ways to deepen that connection, and find yourself at a loss, maybe these suggestions will help you.

Why bother to reply to reader comments at all? Because we fanfic authors are (with some exceptions) of the opinion that we're here for community and conversation! A fanfic by itself stands alone; a reader, commenting, has started a conversation. That puts the ball back in our court if we want to keep that conversation going and foster those warm social connections!

Also, it's been my twentysomethingplus years of experience that if you reply to comments, people comment more.

OK, well, I've either convinced you or I haven't. So let's get into some broad principles.

Principle 1: Don't be afraid of repeating yourself.

I've seen this comment repeated a few times: "I feel stupid saying the same thing over and over again, but I don't know what else to say!" Don't worry about that! You are replying to each reader as an individual; they aren't actually part of a hive mind. Very few readers are going to read the entire comment section, and the ones who do are usually dedicated fans who are not here to criticize you! If you get twenty comments that are all some variation on "great story," then don't hesitate to reply twenty times with "glad you liked it!"

(Personally, I have "Thanks for reading!" hotkeyed.)

Along the same line, you can repeat longer responses between commenters if it's relevant -- if more than one reader has asked a similar question, feel free to copy-paste your response from an earlier comment thread rather than typing it all out again. Nobody is plagiarism-checking here.

Principle 2: Match the specificity of the reader's comment.

If all a reader has to say is "great chapter" or "more kudos" or a line of emojis, then a simple thank you is all that's required. If they have more to say, then maybe you have more to say in reply. If they comment on a character's behavior, you can give your own thoughts on blorbo's behavior. If they liked some passage particularly, you can say that you are proud of that passage. If they wail and cry over a sad part, you can offer tissues; if they post a string of LOL's, you can crack another joke. If they went into a mini-essay about blorbo's motivation and how this ties into the canon, then you are being given a blank check to gush about the same! And if they ask a question, then it's probably a good idea to answer it -- even if the answer is "you know what, I didn't even think about that" or "you'll find out later. :)"

(Personally, my stance is that suspense is only for the sake of the reader's enjoyment; if a reader asks a question that would be a spoiler for a later development, I will assume they don't care about suspense and usually answer them truthfully. Your own personal philosophy may vary.)

You gotta manage your own time and spoons but in my opinion, even short comments are worth replying to. It is still an indication that someone engaged with your story and wanted to reach out.

Principle 3: Stay positive.

This is just a principle I keep for as many fannish interactions as possible, really, but the comment sections of your fanfic are not a good place to get into arguments. If a comment is positive, match it with positivity. If a comment mixes positive comments with some kind of cold takes or bummers, you can reply to the positive parts and just ignore the rest. And if a comment is downright nasty, don't get drawn in; it's your AO3-given right as an author to delete or freeze it and go on with your life.

Principle 4: So long as you both want to be here, you can both be here.

I definitely know I've seen, and lived, variations on 'I let the comments pile up unanswered and now it's been months! I'd be mortified to respond to them now!' I won't say it's never ever too late to reply, but I will say that as long as you the writer and they the reader are both active in the same fandom, it's still appropriate to reply. That may be days, weeks, even months after the comment was left. Maybe not years. Case by case.

Also, if it's a chaptered fic, the best time to reply to the comments on the last chapter is right before you post a new chapter -- what better time to remind readers that your story exists? :)

Principle 5: Remember the regulars.

If the same readers regularly comment on chapters or on multiple stories, remember their names and icons and try to get to know them! A regular reader has made an investment in you; it's worth making an investment in them. With regulars, you get the privilege of being a little more informal with them -- you can let down the customer-service level of positivity and vent a few complaints about how much of a fight this chapter gave you, or crack off-color jokes, or the like.

Regulars who leave only very brief comments are still worth cultivating. The more you reply, the more likely it is that they will return and, over time, they may open up to more interaction. I had one regular who commented with a single emoji on every single chapter over the course of several stories and then, on the second to last chapter of my last fic in the fandom, left a long comment about how much my work meant to them.

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Some specific tips or scripts you can use under the cut, if you want to fluff out your library: