Thanks for the shout out! The Chinese pronunciation was understandably inaccurate because the English translation doesn't indicate the tone marks or where the break in Zhenguan should be (I had to look it up), but I will note that the names carry thematic significance: DaXin literally means "Great/Big New" so this character may signal renewal and bringing something fresh into the life of ZhenGuan, which means "Virtuous/Upright View/Appearance" and indicates perhaps a more conservative, idealistic character. Underlining the symbolic nature of the eating of sweet potato broth, my Taiwanese wife scoffed that nobody would ever actually eat such a dish. Re the defense of not including the bad things going on in Taiwan at that time, Taiwanese novels/movies are accused, rightly, of being overly sentimental, which I would tend to agree with (to the point where a smiling young woman in a flowery dress riding a bicycle through the countryside has become a movie cliche over here). Perhaps it's understandable that artists in a fledgling democracy don't want to create work that is politically divisive or opens up old wounds unnecessarily, but the result is a strong disconnect between how the past is represented and what it was genuinely like. Most enjoyable video, can't wait for the next one!
My pleasure! And thanks once again for the extra insight into what is going on in the book. The symbolism of the names makes perfect sense with the ending and how Zhenguan speaks of the pain of her relationship with Daxin as a catalyst of change and transformation in her life.
@@squishyam I read almost every single day, an average of 2 hours. Multiple books going at once. Like I've been working on Ovid more than a month but have read a lot of shorter books over that time period in 2-3 or 4-5 days. Not all books demand to be read slowly either, in my opinion.
This sounds terrific. I look forward to reading it. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the shout out! The Chinese pronunciation was understandably inaccurate because the English translation doesn't indicate the tone marks or where the break in Zhenguan should be (I had to look it up), but I will note that the names carry thematic significance: DaXin literally means "Great/Big New" so this character may signal renewal and bringing something fresh into the life of ZhenGuan, which means "Virtuous/Upright View/Appearance" and indicates perhaps a more conservative, idealistic character.
Underlining the symbolic nature of the eating of sweet potato broth, my Taiwanese wife scoffed that nobody would ever actually eat such a dish.
Re the defense of not including the bad things going on in Taiwan at that time, Taiwanese novels/movies are accused, rightly, of being overly sentimental, which I would tend to agree with (to the point where a smiling young woman in a flowery dress riding a bicycle through the countryside has become a movie cliche over here). Perhaps it's understandable that artists in a fledgling democracy don't want to create work that is politically divisive or opens up old wounds unnecessarily, but the result is a strong disconnect between how the past is represented and what it was genuinely like.
Most enjoyable video, can't wait for the next one!
My pleasure! And thanks once again for the extra insight into what is going on in the book. The symbolism of the names makes perfect sense with the ending and how Zhenguan speaks of the pain of her relationship with Daxin as a catalyst of change and transformation in her life.
@@mikereadstheworld Excellent! Happy, as ever, to be of use.
How tf do you read so many books so fast
@@squishyam I read almost every single day, an average of 2 hours. Multiple books going at once. Like I've been working on Ovid more than a month but have read a lot of shorter books over that time period in 2-3 or 4-5 days. Not all books demand to be read slowly either, in my opinion.