xiranjayzhao.bsky.social ๐Ÿ‰๐ŸŒป Profile picture
Aug 28, 2020 โ€ข 13 tweets โ€ข 5 min read โ€ข Read on X
decided to do a separate thread for this so here we go: how Song dynasty poet Lu You poem-liveblogged his descent from cat owner to cat slave 800 years ago

The year is 1183. Down On His Luck scholar-official Lu You gets a cat because rats keep munching on his books. 1/? Image
the effects are GREAT!! Lu You is delighted!!

THIS IS LITERALLY THE TITLE HE GAVE THE POEM I AM NOT MAKING SHIT UP

(also feel free to correct my translations because my classical chinese is not that good LOOOL) 2/? Image
several years later, Lu You gets ANOTHER CAT!! he calls it Snowy!! (probably had white fur then)

he loves it so much he suspects it was a child of his reincarnated from a past life 3/? Image
and then cat #3, Pink-Nose!!!

it seems that Lu You's cats have fish to eat now, but Pink-Nose seems to be slacking on its mice-eradicating duties...? 4/? Image
the power dynamics in the Lu household now seem to be experiencing some shifts. who is the master and who is the servant now?? 5/? Image
it finally hits Lu You, what has happened. he has made a terrible mistake, spoiling his cats so much. they're not working anymore. there is no going back. this is his life now. a life full of rats and birds his cats refuse to kill. 6/? Image
does this mean Lu You hates his cats now? naaah, son, he has accepted his fate and cuddles with them on stormy nights like the full-fledged cat slave he is 7/?

(RELATABLE STRUGGLES AS IM TRYING TO DO THIS THREAD) KOKOCHIN NO
anyway if you noticed there's no Poem For My Cat 2, it's because it's technically this one that I translated for my post yesterday, but I can't quite place its timing in relation to the others Image
and there's one final poem but i'm so bad at translating it that I gave up loool. just know that Lu You was in a position where he'd be sad and lonely but he wasn't because he had his FAT CAT with him Image
Filing this under How People Lived in Ancient China twitter.com/i/events/12917โ€ฆ

Hope you enjoyed these 800-year-old cat liveblogs๐Ÿ˜‚

More Chinese history tweets: linktr.ee/xiranjayzhao
OH and I gotta add that in modern China, cat owners really are called Cat Slaves ็Œซๅฅด or Poop Shoveling Officers ้“ฒๅฑŽๅฎ˜ (which implies that the cat is the emperor) ๐Ÿฅด
this thread is going around again so bringing this back

ALSO for those who missed it, there's another poet around this era who also wrote cat poems!!

โ€ข โ€ข โ€ข

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
ใ€€

Keep Current with xiranjayzhao.bsky.social ๐Ÿ‰๐ŸŒป

xiranjayzhao.bsky.social ๐Ÿ‰๐ŸŒป Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @XiranJayZhao

Jun 25
Omg so in China "ruining a soldier's marriage" is a jailable crime but I just saw a case where a soldier wants to sue his wife for having an affair...except it's with a woman, so if he wants the charge to stick the state has to legally recognize same-sex relationships ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ
I highly, highly doubt it would happen or that the case would even go to court but IMAGINE if same-sex partnerships get recognized in China just so they can jail this woman for wrecking a soldier's home ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ

IMAGINE IF THIS WAS HOW IT HAPPENED
and yes if you mess around with a PLA soldier's spouse they WILL throw you in jail

article about it: scmp.com/news/people-cuโ€ฆ
A man in China has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for destroying a โ€œmilitary marriageโ€ by dating and cohabiting with the wife of a serving Peopleโ€™s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier.  Chinaโ€™s Criminal Law stipulates that anyone cohabiting or marrying another person knowing that he or she is the spouse of a PLA soldier will face imprisonment of up to three years.  The punishment is so harsh because the state is obliged not only to give special protection to the marriage of a soldier but also to respect and protect the honour of serving members of the military, according to Chinaโ€™s Nationa...
Read 8 tweets
Jan 20
Totally forgot cheese isn't really a thing in most of China and it's absolutely wild to read a thread full of people going "I thought cheese would be so delicious by the way Tom and Jerry ate it on TV but when I had it for real for the first time I was so disappointed : ("
Come to think of it I legit don't think my grandparents have ever tasted cheese
User 1: "It was a bit sour, with a very heavy taste and kept making me suspect if it'd gone bad. I thought the first time was a fluke, then I went to McDonald's and got a cheeseburger and confirmed that I do not like it" Image
Read 12 tweets
Oct 6, 2022
LOSING IT @ THIS MING DYNASTY UNDERWEAR RECREATION ImageImage
OK upon further Research it's not Ming dynasty it was recreated from artifacts ranging from Tang to Southern Song. I knew the Ming weren't slutty enough for this. ImageImage
More pics + If u wanted to buy the set for real.... m.tb.cn/h.Uddr0ef ImageImageImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Jun 2, 2022
So. Thread about the Zachary Ying audiobook:

Turns out my publisher got a Japanese VA to narrate it, which means ALL the Mandarin in it is wrong. I didn't find this out until after its release bc I was never sent samples of the audiobook in progress or any preview of it 1/9
I'm pretty annoyed bc when my publisher first sent me a list of four candidates to choose from, I instantly suspected they were all either Japanese or Korean, so I asked if any of them were native Mandarin speakers, bc there's a LOT in the book so that's rather important 2/9
My publisher assured me all the candidates can handle Mandarin, so I was like uhhh okay and just chose the voice that seemed most suitable for Zack 3/9
Read 11 tweets
May 10, 2022
AHH I AM OFFICIALLY A MIDDLE GRADE AUTHOR! ZACHARY YING LAUNCHES INTO THE WORLD TODAY!

12-year-old me, this one's for you. Other kids may call you the weird Chinese kid obsessed with Yugioh, but one day that's gonna get you PUBLISHED in BOOKSTORES so now who's laughing?๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ˜† The cover of Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor, designed bZachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his
AS ALWAYS, ENDLESS LOVE TO KARYN LEE FOR DESIGNING AND @Velinxi FOR ILLUSTRATING THIS COVER THAT TAKES MY BREATH AWAY EVERY TIME

Zachary Ying buy links!! - ZacharyYing.com
An audiobook narrated by Neo Cihi is available! simonandschuster.com/books/Zachary-โ€ฆ
A list of chapter titles in this book:
Read 4 tweets
May 10, 2022
Biggest lie I ever believed about publishing was that it's a meritocracy and good books will inevitably get attention lol
Through the traditional means of entry to publishing, Iron Widow was judged as only having the potential to sell a few thousand copies 2/?
I am acutely aware that if I had never gotten mad at a Disney movie, the same text now hitting bestseller lists every week and being shortlisted for an unbelievable number of awards would've barely made a blip 3/?
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(