yay i found my notes so here goes! (once again, view this in the app for better formatting)

Jiang Cheng, Jiang Wanyin 江澄江晚吟

• 江 jiang → mighty and great river
• 澄 cheng
  • adj. (of water, air, etc) clear, transparent, limpid
  • v. to clear up, to clarify, to purify (by allowing sediments to settle), to strain
• 江澄 Jiang Cheng
  • derived from the line 云阔烟深树，江澄水浴秋 / Vast clouds and thick mists intertwine among the trees; autumn bathes in the clear water of the river in the poem 《有寄》 by Tang dynasty poet 杜牧 Du Mu.
    • there is a link drawn between the imagery of the second line to phrases like 秋水伊人 / thinking of an old acquaintance upon seeing a familiar scene and 望穿秋水 / to gaze anxiously until the eyes are worn, referring to an eager wait to see kinsmen that are far away.
  • autumn is a season that is both particularly poignant in Chinese literary tradition and to Jiang Cheng himself. it is associated with courage and sadness, as well as the act of mourning, and often evokes the idea of home and homecoming, as well as homesickness for those who are far from home.
• 晚吟 wanyin
  • 晚吟 appears in two poems that I've seen be linked to Jiang Cheng, both of which are very autumnal as well:
    • the first is 《溪亭二首》 / Two poems in the Pavilion by the creek by Tang dynasty poet 许浑 Xu Hui: 茶香秋梦后，松韵晚吟时 / Blanketed in the fragrance of tea, I wake from a dream in autumn; the pines sway in time as I recite poetry at night.
    • the second is 《送祝秀才归衢州》 by Tang dynasty poet 朱庆馀 Zhu Qingyu: 骑吏陪春赏，江僧伴晚吟 / Officials mounted on horseback accompany your appreciation of the spring's beauty; riverside monks keep you company as you recite poetry at night. this poem was written as a reminder to a friend to appreciate the time he had.
  • 晚 wan
    • n. evening, night, twilight; later years in life
    • adj. far on in time, late; younger, junior, succeeding
  • 吟 yin → v. to chant or recite (poetry), to sing

三毒圣手 Sandu-shengshou

• translates to something roughly like master of the three poisons, with the three poisons being the three Buddhist poisons: 贪嗔痴 / greed, anger, ignorance. these three poisons are also what keeps one trapped in the cycle of life and death, and are very relevant to Jiang Cheng's character arc.

Jiang Yanli 江厌离

• as separate characters, 厌离 means something along the lines of to sicken of parting.
• as a binome, 厌离 is a Buddhist term that effectively means to weary of the world and abandon it, used to describe one’s realisation that the cycle of life and death is futile and hence the desire to escape it.
  • it appears in this form in the opening lines of the poem 《书黄鲁直李氏传后》 / by Song dynasty poet 苏轼 Su Shi: 无所厌离，何从出世？ / If you weary not of worldly customs, how are you to renounce the world [and free yourself of it]?
  • (I personally don't think this is very relevant to her character, but I see it a lot so I've added it in here anyway)

Jiang Fengmian 江枫眠

• 枫眠 fengmian is derived from the famous poem 《枫桥夜泊》 / A night-mooring at Maple Bridge by Tang dynasty poet 张继 Zhang Ji. this poem drew widespread attention to the 寒山寺 Hanshan Temple and its bells that still lasts to this day.
  • funnily enough, Zhang Ji's basically only remembered for this one poem, but he is certainly famous enough for it! if you go to the Hanshan Temple in Suzhou today, you can see hundreds of renditions of this poem—calligraphed by a wide variety of people ranging from students, master calligraphers, and hobbyists—throughout the temple.
  • anyway, here's the poem (his name appears in the second line): 月落乌啼霜满天， / at moon-fall, crows caw and frost fills the sky; 江枫渔火对愁眠。 / facing the riverside maples and fishing lights, sorrow keeps me from slumber. 姑苏城外寒山寺， / on the outskirts of the city of Gusu, in Hanshan Temple, 夜半钟声到客船。 / the tolling of the midnight bells echoes across to the passenger boat.

Yu Ziyuan 虞紫鸢

• 虞 yu
  • v. to be concerned about, to worry, to be anxious; to predict, to conjecture
  • I was immediately reminded of the story of 虞姬 Consort Yu, specifically this poem she's said to have sang (I've linked my translation of it here bc it contains major spoilers for Yu Ziyuan's character arc). there's a very cool 古风 gufeng song that narrates her story if you're interested (translation here)
• 紫鸢 ziyuan
  • derived from the Tang dynasty poem 《代别情人》 Writing a farewell poem to a lover on another's behalf / by 李白 Li Bai: 风吹绿琴去，曲度紫鸳鸯。 / The wind sends the melody of the fine qin on its way, a composition of the love between purple mandarin ducks.
    • 鸳鸯 / mandarin ducks are often and most famously metaphorised as a loving couple in Chinese literary tradition, such as in the renowned line 愿作鸳鸯不羡仙 / willing to be as close as a pair of mandarin ducks but not to envy immortals by Tang poet 卢照邻 Lu Zhaolin.
    • this poem is essentially about how these two lovers have now been separated by an entire ocean and yearn to see each other once more. in the meantime, however, they can only beg the birds to carry messages of the other to them.

edited to include links to my other name meta posts:

• vol 1: wangxian
• vol 2: nie brothers, lan xichen + jin guangyao
• vol 4: more about wei wuxian
• vol 5: lan sizhui