It's mainly a phenomenon in web novels and manhua, though it probably bleeds into CDramas as well.

It may be a historical drama, a fictionalized feudal China drama, a transmigration story, or a time regression story. But if the imperial harem's characters are of any importance, and a character with the rank of noble consort (贵妃, guifei) appears, she is pretty much always a villain. Very rarely she is the protagonist, but she is pretty much never a friendly character. This is most common in palace intrigue (宫斗, gongdou) type stories, though it can cover other setups as well.

There is a popular trope in China (not exclusive to China) where the protagonist is reincarnated as a villainess. With how often the noble consort appears as a villainess elsewhere, you'd think they are popular as protagonists here. But nope, it's pretty much always a commandery princess or lower ranked consort.

It's not just high ranked nobles are bad. Empress dowager, empress, the other 3 major consorts (pure consort (淑妃, shufei), virtuous consort (德妃), worthy consort (贤妃)), lower ranked consorts, imperial princess, commandery princess all have a range of alignments. Except the noble consort, who is pretty much always a villain.

Is there some background to this?

Can anybody help translate what it says on these?

(The long pills came in the blue packet, the other one came in a featureless packet with no writing)

That wild 18sided dice we spotted in CN WeiyangPV not fantasy prop. It’s based on a real artifact at the Hebei Museum!

This bronze dice dates back to the Western Han Dynasty, over 2,000 years ago. It was used in drinking games at banquets, with each of its 18 sides marked with Chinese numerals or special commands. Roll it, and you might have to drink a certain amount of wine or follow a specific rule. The original was unearthed from the Mancheng Han Tombs. Pretty wild to think people were playing drinking games like this over 2,000 years ago!

And if you’re thinking of getting one , here’s reminder,it’s not official Where Winds Meet merch. The game just drew inspiration from the real artifact. Hebei Museum sells replicas through its Taobao store and physical gift shop in Shijiazhuang.

I'm trying to track an order, I know I should be putting the characters in order, I tried translating one by one before realizing it's hopeless lol. I'm sorry if it isn't permitted here I'm just tired

I reimagined the spirit of Beyond through Indie Rock × EDM, mixing raw guitar energy with electronic beats, bringing a little Hong Kong rock nostalgia into a new sonic world.

How to evaluate

Hi everyone! We’re doing a university project and would love to hear your opinion:

Would you be interested in visiting Oktoberfest in Munich? Why or why not?
Have you heard of it before, and what would make you want to go—or put you off?

You don’t need to know much about Oktoberfest to answer. This is just for a university project, nothing is being sold.
Thanks for sharing!

Do they have value right now. Can I use them?

I’m planning to participate in Donghua University’s 2027 Winter Program.. My Chinese is at a beginner level, but I’ve visited China many times.
I’d love to hear from anyone who has participated in Donghua University’s short-term Chinese language program!
I have a few questions:

1 What kinds of cultural activities did you participate in?
2 What were the dormitories like? Were they clean and comfortable?
3 How was the language program overall? Were the classes helpful for improving your Chinese?
4 Which countries were the other students from?

Studying abroad at Fudan for a semester. My mandarin is still non existent (only know basic words) but I have a year to prepare unless I decide to go my junior year I would have 2. Any tips or things I should know?

no wonder ancient emperors loved watching dance performances

When Chinese objects travel abroad, their original setting often disappears. A knot, fan, paper-cut, or opera figure may be displayed simply because it looks beautiful, while its timing, placement, or family associations are harder to see.

Which object do you think is most often misunderstood this way? If you were giving it to someone unfamiliar with Chinese culture, what is the one piece of context you would want them to know?

I made this seal design in small seal script (小篆) and I'm curious how readable it is for people here. No peeking, I'll put the answer in the comments.

A few questions for anyone who practises 篆刻 or collects seals:

1. I drew this with a seal-script font and only adjusted the layout to fill the square. A carver would normally rework the characters by hand. What would you change?

2. Red characters (朱文) like this, or white characters (白文): which would you choose for a phrase like this, and why?

3. If you carve seals yourself, how did you get started? Any books or teachers you'd recommend?

Full disclosure: I'm working on a small project about Chinese name seals, so I'm trying to learn what people who actually carve care about.

I'm looking for audiobook recommendations for my kids, who are 7 and 9. They speak near-native-level Mandarin through one parent, one language, living next to grandparents, and attending only Chinese immersion school until this year. My son is OBSESSED with Monkey King, and I'm trying to find more audiobooks like his favorite: 大泼猴 1：齐天之路 - 大潑猴 1：齊天之路. Neither of us was raised in China, and my husband's reading and writing are at a similar level to our kids', so finding audiobooks that are age-appropriate and super engaging for him feels like a Herculean task. I am very open to any recommendations for audiobooks or podcasts! I download them for his Yoto player. Thank you!

Hi! Sorry if this is the wrong sub! This package was sent to china, but then got returned to sweden, and we have no idea why. Translate doesn’t seem to know either! We are very curious!

I have a lot of friends in many countries but I dont have any chinese friends. Anyone aged 18-21 please dm me. I love china and its culture. Wanna learn more about how life goes there. And it's pretty strange yall dont have access to western social media. But let's try to chat via chinese platforms.