#firecat17

I mean...the point of dubbing in drama is actually usually to homogenise accents and voices, not to create racial/locational distinctions. So...

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ETA: Okay just so I don't come off as being flippant about this. I honestly think that you have to manage your expectation regarding things like this in cdramas. Aside from their entertainment value, dramas are a tool of propaganda in a country like China, which is the reason why censorship is a thing and there is such a controversy around Zhang Linghe's pretty boy general image recently that even the CCP got involved. Why do you think CCP cares what fictional generals look like in a drama? Because it reflect the trends and definitions of masculinity in real life, and China does not want to create or convey an image of its men being in any way feminine, which is why CCP has to condemn pretty actors wearing make up playing fictional army generals in an idol drama.

Being aware of that, you can't expect this kind of racial/diversity representation, or even, for example, for a Hui actress to play a historical character like Consort Rong, because it goes against the messages that the government would like to promote. Yes, a drama like Longest Day in Chang'an is going to show the diversity of races that did historically exist in this period of the Tang dynasty, but that showcase of mixing races is more to serve the purpose of conveying how prosperous the Tang dynasty was (look how rich and powerful we were, even all these foreigners wanted to come and trade and live here), not to give opportunities and representation to actual racially-diverse actors, or to celebrate diversity in and of itself. Ethnic and racial diversity can exist in dramas because ethnically and racially diverse people have always existed, but they are more often than not played by Han actors (at least in terms of ethnically diverse characters) and dubbed by actors speaking standard accents, because the message is other ethnic groups are just lesser types of Han. Han supremacy and the assimilation/conforming of non-Han groups into Han identity is actually the point. This is why ethnically diverse actors like Dilireba rarely actually play non-Han characters. This is why they're not going to go accurate on the representation even in a drama where there is diversity like Chang'an, because the representation is not the thing that actually matters.

Hi! Thanks for the question, and sorry for taking ages to reply! (depictions of weimao/mili in Chinese paintings & figurines via):

As far as I'm aware, there's no historical record of Chinese Muslim women wearing weimao/帷帽. It's definitely possible that some Chinese Muslim women wore weimao for purposes of sun/wind/dust protection and modesty in public, just as their non-Muslim counterparts did, but there's no evidence that they ever wore it for religious purposes, if that's what you're asking.

The weimao originated from the mili/幂蓠, and was borne out of practical needs to protect the wearer from the elements and to fit in with social customs. It hid women from the outside world and protected their modesty. For men, who also wore weimao-like hats, social rules dictated that when meeting someone face-to-face, one had to greet them or avoid them according to rules; covering the face avoided many formalities and made things easier. Below - paintings of men wearing weimao-like large hats with skirt-like brims (x):

While changes in society and fashion rendered the weimao obsolete, its practical functions ensured its survival, in a way, in the form of the Hakka liangmao/涼帽 (lit. 'cool hat'), which is believed to have evolved from the weimao. Liangmao is traditionally worn by Hakka women while performing manual work, such as farming and fishing, in order to protect themselves from the sun and insects. Below - Hakka women wearing liangmao (1/2):

As for Chinese Muslim women, historically they would have followed the fashions of their time period, class, and ethnic background. They may or may not have veiled for religious purposes, depending on the sartorial customs of the time. If they did veil for religious purposes, whether or not they used a weimao/mili would have depended on their socioeconomic background. The main wearers of weimao were Han Chinese noblewomen of Buddhist or Daoist belief.

For some ideas on what Chinese Muslim women used as veils historically, below are photos of Hui Muslim women in 1950s China (it's been extremely difficult to find reliable photos/depictions of Chinese Muslim women wearing veil-like garments from earlier time periods). Note how their head garments resemble the traditional fengmao/风帽 (wind hat) more than anything else (1/2/3):

It is, in fact, very similar to the fengmao worn by Chinese Buddhist nuns, as seen below (x). It seems likely that the fengmao was the de facto head garment for Chinese women's religious veiling, regardless of religion, at least up until the modern era:

For more references, please see Wikipedia's articles on weimao and mili, as well as my weimao, mili, and fengmao tags.

ohhhh big enough to ride while also being a herbivore, prehistoric giant horse, somewhere between a large camel and a elephant.

Wonder how things would have worked if Hannibal had these guys instead of the elephants.

I was looking for another image since it appears they've gone through lots of changes since first being discovered and I landed back on tumblr though the google image search @alphynix on here, for this post which I'll be linking got some good info on this dude. If you're interested at all.

and honestly a quick skim through their page, really cool art of various critters with a good deal of information about them as well, A+ page for this both the art and information from what I can see.

Which this is likely more information than you wanted for a 'what's your favourite dino' ask, but I really liked that image and always do my best to credit artists if I can, thankfully they made it easy and made it even better by having information in post to go with the illustration.

How wishful thinking-ly wrong we were.

???? Oh wow she gives up watching a TV show so that her brother and uncle don’t get eaten. How impressive. Not like her continuously making him feel bad about his interests is half of why the conflict happens in the first place.

Babes, as noted in the follow up post I made to the post you’re presumably angry about, Mabel has a lot of things going for her and I don’t hate her. She just suffers from bad writing that ends up making her really unlikable in some ways.