They opened my eye to the beautiful light and showed me
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reconditarmonia just reminded me of the existence of Esther Eng, the butch Cantonese-American filmmaker and restaurateur who was the first female director of Chinese-language films in both the U.S. and Hong Kong and may be relevant to some of your interests on grounds of dapper alone.
"Eng dressed in men's attire and was quite open about her several lesbian relationships. The latter was especially closely followed and reported on by the Hong Kong media. Sophisticated magazine editors often referred to her romantic interests as her 'bosom friend' and 'good sister.' Perhaps because all-female opera troupes with male-impersonating actresses were quite popular in the 1930s, Eng's appearance and relationships did not cause much controversy."
That record scratch you are hearing is my complete ignorance of all-female Cantonese opera in 1930's Hong Kong—and beyond; further research is obviously required—followed by the lurching to speed of my surprise that I haven't been recommended the romance novel already.
Two out of Eng's eleven films survive. I have seen neither; I had read of them, but I had never made the connection that her American films of the '40's fill the gap between Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino. I shall hope the rest turn up in closets in Argentina or permafrost in Canada. History is more fragile than nitrate.
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I wonder if it also influenced the Takarazuka Revue in Japan, although the latter pre-dates the 1930s and does a lot of Western-influenced musicals:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takarazuka_Revue
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I am more inclined to suspect parallel evolution than influence, but part of what blew my mind was that I've known about Takarazuka for years and I've known about all-male Peking opera for years and I had never heard about all-female Cantonese opera (there was all-male Cantonese opera, too), much less that there were stars like Yam Kim-Fei who ran parallel careers as male leads in both mid-century stage and film. I clicked through to the official social media of contemporary performer Lau Wai Ming and she looks very fine in her suit and tie. It's a phenomenon. It's just a phenomenon I had missed by a mile.
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I believe I got them originally from the household of
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After seeing the different translations of 知己 in a show I recently finished (the subtitles use 'soulmate', Netflix's summary decided on 'bosom friend' for some reason) I'm kinda curious what wording they used.
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Oh, interesting! It looks as though it should be possible to find out from this program since all articles in it are bilingual in Chinese and English; I am just not linguistically equipped to run it down for myself. You would want to look in S. Louisa Wei's "'She Wears Slacks': Pioneer Women Directors Esther Eng and Dorothy Arzner," which repeats the citation of "bosom friend." Assuming it's a direct quotation from the Sing Tao Daily in 1938 and there isn't an additional translation issue at work, this looks like the relevant passage:
作風比較穩重的雜誌編輯 們,通常對於伍錦霞的性取向採取模糊表述,比如把韋劍芳稱 為她的「密友」,把後來熱烈追求她的女演員林小妹稱為她 的「好姐妹」。但是給1938年創辦的《星島日報》之「娛樂 版」撰稿的年輕記者雷群不這麼看,他用一種完全不同的語 氣,決心要撇清伍錦霞的同性之戀:
我們以前說韋劍芳是伍的密友,這是不妥的,韋劍芳應 該說是伍錦霞的戀人的!『戀人?』你覺得奇怪之至嗎?可 是,我們不說謊的。世界上『同性戀』的可能性,韋伍給我們 證實着。
When I did another search to see if zhiji could be used in queer contexts, I got a potential hit in the footnotes of an article on Leslie Cheung and otherwise a million gifsets on Tumblr.
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Cool! And yeah that does look like the relevant section. My linguistic skills outside of English are basically limited to sticking stuff in online dictionaries, but it does seem like 密友 and 知己 can be used in similar ways.
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What is the summary on Netflix and what is the actual summary?
My linguistic skills outside of English are basically limited to sticking stuff in online dictionaries, but it does seem like 密友 and 知己 can be used in similar ways.
Neat!
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If I was writing a non-spoilerly blurb, I'd go with something along the lines of: 'An assassin quits his job and plans to spend the remaining three years of his life drinking and wandering. He meets a mysterious gentleman and his ward, ending up rescuing an orphan, and in the process finds reasons to live.'
This and this (which are somewhat spoilerly re: the second protagonist's identity) also give a better sense of the show.
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Your summary would attract my attention significantly more!
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i think WoH is summed up well in "why can't i be the antagonist *and* the love interest"
meanwhile, man oh man have i thought a lot about 知己 (zhī jǐ)! the translation i use when discussing this is "the one who truly knows you", but omg there's so much and it's great. this is an excellent post by someone who majored in ancient china but spoils the untamed. if anyone is curious about the contents and doesn't want spoilers, i can grab some quotes. :)
https://hunxi-guilai.tumblr.com/post/612161034673946624/all-right-guys-lets-have-a-conversation-about
[disclaimer: i am a white person who got into chinese dramas in the fall and like learning things about things i like.]
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I am familiar with the term, although if interpreted literally it describes my relationship with my cats more than with my lovers. I don't know what other coding I would or would not recognize, although staring into a beloved's eyes tends to be cross-culturally significant.
this is an excellent post by someone who majored in ancient china but spoils the untamed. if anyone is curious about the contents and doesn't want spoilers, i can grab some quotes.
I am eight hundred percent spoiler-indifferent, always interested in linguistics, and will check it out. Thanks!
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I appreciate all of this information!
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You're welcome!
What a dreamboat
Right? She could have been her own leading man.
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Lost films increasingly bother me on an existential level.
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That reminds me, did you ever watch "Dawson City: Frozen in Time"?
Please write a romance novel about that, tho.
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No, although
Please write a romance novel about that, tho.
I will see what I can do. I might need a co-author. (
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*high-five*
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You see why I had to share.
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If you click through to the profile at the Women Film Pioneers Project, pretty much all the pictures of her are wonderful, but I really love the one of her with the camera.
And I like the idea of something turning up in Argentina or Canada. I am imagining you with a world map and some darts as you pick locales...
An archive in Hong Kong!
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"The film is set in 1913 Beijing, during Yuan Shikai's presidency of the country. It depicts the adventures of a team of unlikely heroines: Tsao Wan (Brigitte Lin), a patriotic rebel who dresses as a man; Sheung Hung (Cherie Chung), a woman in search of a missing box of jewels; and Bai Niu (Sally Yeh), the daughter of a Peking Opera impresario."
"Quentin Tarantino refers to Peking Opera Blues as "one of the greatest films ever made""
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_Opera_Blues
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I just had Peking Opera Blues recommended to me last night because of this photo! I have actually read about it, but it has not turned up anywhere I can watch it yet. What were you double-featuring it with? [edit] And where were you watching it?!
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the first film was "A Chinese Ghost Story", produced by the producer/director of "peking opera blues". i strongly suspect i would have enjoyed peking opera blues more - but i went in asking to see some foundational/etc works of wuxia film, and it was! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story
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Please report back if you find it! I don't seem to have access to anything beyond the documentary about her, which I do plan to watch.