every day

in reference to this post

hi anon, I think you may have missed my point a little? there’s often no such thing as a “proper” translation, especially with something like zewu-jun, which aligns so poorly with english by nature. as i said in that post, one of the most frustrating things that happens in this fandom is the tendency to adhere to a “correct” translation, as if just getting the right translation will mean that they will be able understand the text as a whole. this is impossible. forcing one language into the shape of another is never going to work perfectly.

for example, even just translating -jun = lord, which seems straightforward, isn’t really. the same goes for -zun. just as there’s no direct translation for many japanese honorifics (-san, -sama, -chan, -kun etc.), it’s hard for chinese as well. I was part of a translation discussion recently where someone jokingly suggested translating 大人 (another honorific) as -sama, and everyone went “wait, but that IS the closest thing”, which was unfortunate, given that we were looking for an english translation lol.

all translations must fail. that’s the nature of the thing. i understand that that might be disappointing, but 🤷🏻‍♀️

i can speak a little as to how I see and understand the title, with the caveat that my interpretation is heavily personal. I’m extremely poorly read in chinese, so if there are intertextual references, chances are, I’ll miss them. I will not give you a translation here.

zewu-jun, to me, mostly manifests as a combination of an image and an emotion. i think of pools in the clearing of a forest, overrun with greenery. i think of wildflowers. i think of soft light. when I asked my mother how she felt about the character 芜, she said she thought of a very lonely atmosphere, and I feel that too. a place devoid of people, but full of life. i don’t know, a place that gives by its nature. a place you can visit, but not stay.

Jiang Cheng, constantly defined by/acting according to his desperate need to live up to societal standards, as well as by his older brother and the death thereof; makes a loud and furious show of his own power and authority at all times but is actually in control of maybe…half a scene, once, when he corners Wei Wuxian with Fairy, and then Jin Ling of all people takes it from him

VS