TNT: Qidian

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’m going to posting some links mainly. The Translation community is reeling from the betrayal of Qidian towards Wuxiaworld. It’s all about Qidian!

What is this about?: So on May 22nd, Qidian posted a defamatory thread in the Novel Updates forum. It was targeted specifically towards Wuxiaworld, arguably the largest fan translation site for Far Eastern novels in the world.  They demanded 31 licenses back from WW even though they had come to an agreement. The statements in that thread were blatantly false, and were poaching the translators and editors of those series. It was insulting.

What’s happened since?: Quite a bit has fallen out from RWX’s reply for Wuxiaworld to someone leaking what is arguably a slave contract, if you work with Qidian. There have been posts on both sides of the argument, but frankly anyone with half a brain can tell that this is all Qidian trying to consolidate what is already in a monopoly in China.  They have 97% of the market in China, and the parent company of Qidian is Tencent, a huge organization that owns stakes in both Riot Games (League of Legends) and Epic Games (Gears of War). That is just a small part of what they own. Not only have they gone back on their word to RWX, but they’ve gone back on their word to the community. I personally wrote about QI being a huge step forward for the community. I guess I was short sighted, like so many others.

Not only that, but everything that’s come out explains the lack of reply I got to an email I sent to their suggestions personnel requesting them to make the site better for readers. I had gotten a couple replies, telling me to log in, which is locked behind an invite code that you might not be able to get, but when I described what the issue was in great detail with a step-by step replication guide, I never got another email from them. Clearly they are being stingy and truly don’t hold the communities’ best interests at heart.

If you want to read each post and the Reddit reactions to them I advise you to check out these links.

Qidian’s initial NU post | Reddit Thread about it

Wuxiaworld’s Formal Response | Reddit Thread about it

Discussion thread on what the /r/noveltranslations community response will be

New Qidian Statement | Reddit Thread about it

Qidian Contract Leak | Reddit Thread about it

Qidian Owns Electronic Copyrights

Noodletown’s View on the Issue (truly a hilarious read, god the guy is either really stupid or deliberately trying to look like a dumbass to pass info on. Personally I’m leaning towards the former, but who really knows)

Noodletown’s Reply to Being Called Out on Lying in Previous Thread

Chinese Reactions to this Issue

That’s it for this week’s Translation Necessary Thursday. I’m plenty pissed off, and I’ll be boycotting Qidian International, something I couldn’t even read in the first place due to their crappy website. I advise other’s to do the same, especially since they want to put everything behind a paywall.

TNT: An Explanation on Subject Matter

Hey all I’m back with an answer to a frequent question I’ve had for this week’s Translation Necessary Thursday! It’s An Explanation on Subject Matter

What Question?: Well I’ve been asked quite a bit why I don’t cover books like the Play to Live series or officially translated Light Novels and the like in this column. The answer is pretty simple, because they aren’t really the same to me.

Bulls*&% Michael!: No really, they aren’t the same thing to me. Not to mention the frequency with which they release official translations are slow as hell and isn’t going to meet any serious readers demands either. If I cover something that was translated in my Bookish Wednesday column like I did for yesterday’s Patch 17 it means that it’s been released in an Audiobook format and/or it usually has been available and translated for people who really want to read it on the internet for a while already. This isn’t always the case, but frankly I can’t be bothered to care about such things. I’m not going to pay for a translation that is often riddled with mistakes and I’m certainly not going to suggest others to buy such poorly made products either. I often get my source material for Bookish Wednesday from my local library for free.

But what about Yen Press and others like them?: Like I said above, it takes way too long for them to release things that have been on the net for months, often years, prior and have already been translated in a quality fashion by fans for fans. If they want to earn my respect, and I’m going to bet a vast majority of fans respect, they won’t earn it by releasing things so slowly. That isn’t to say they don’t do quality work, although sometimes it’s questionable, but speed has a big factor of whether people will buy it.

So why all the Chinese Novels recently?: Because I don’t like advocating going out there and finding books with “grey” methods. It’s not wrong in my opinion because I’m all for free stories, but the rest of the world doesn’t see it that way. So with the Chinese novels I try to cover series that have gotten official approval or authors flat out don’t care all that much. It’s also why I’m not active anymore on the Baka-Tsuki forums, even though I’m an official “leader” and have access to what they do in their admin forums. I put my two cents in on the subject and they decided to go a different route from what I suggested. I don’t agree and so I won’t cover stuff hosted by them anymore, unless the translated material is truly extraordinary.

That’s it for this week’s Translation Necessary Thursday!

TNT: Martial World Chapters 1-40 by Cocooned Cow

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’m covering a series I started reading a few months back! It’s Martial World Chapters 1-40 by Cocooned Cow!

Plot Synopsis: In the Realm of the Gods, countless legends fought over a mysterious cube. After the battle it disappeared into the void. Lin Ming stumbles upon this mystery object and begins his journey to become a hero of the land.

Plot: These first forty chapters aren’t super awesome, they are more of an introduction to Lin Ming and his troubles. However it’s still a great beginning to a series that is quite good. One thing I want to note is that this series is fully completed in China and there is a “sequel” called True Martial World, but they don’t have much to do with each other at all and you can read either without spoiling yourself. The current translations of TMW actually have caught up to the current chapters being released by the author which is quite cool as well. Now back to this series, I enjoyed these first forty chapters although they are really just the starting point and the series gets much better as it goes on.

Characters: We get introduced to Ming in these chapters and his difficulties including his childhood sweetheart, Lan Yanyue, dumping him for someone else who could get her into a better school. It obviously doesn’t go over well with Ming and to be honest she isn’t our female lead. That character is introduced later on in the series. As for Ming himself he’s a pretty smart guy although he’s not as ruthless as Chu Feng nor as crafty as Nie Li or Li Qiye. I enjoy him, although I do tend to enjoy the more crafty characters as Ming is a bit too straightforward.

Overall: A solid beginning to an awesome series, Martial World is a must read for any Xuanhuan fans or someone who just wants to read a really good book with a huge amount of content.

For those who like: Xuanhuan, Martial Arts, Action, Drama, Romance, Excellent Cast of Characters, Fantastic Plot.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

TNT: Chinese Mythological Creatures Part 2

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’ve got a second entry in my Chinese Mythological Creature series. It’s Chinese Mythological Creatures Part 2!

The Three Legged Golden Crow: The Golden Crow is the Sun Spirit of Chinese Mythology, interestingly enough the Moon spirit is the Osmanthus Tree instead of being an actual animal. In many fictional settings the Golden Crow, Vermillion Bird and Phoenix are some of the most powerful Fire elemental aspected creatures in their respective stories. If all three show up in the same story, they may have conflicts between themselves, but this isn’t always the case.

The Qilin: The Qilin, or Kirin in Japanese, is a Dragon that looks like a horse or deer. Often a sign of the arrival or passing of a Sage or Illustrious Ruler, the Qilin is often among the most powerful mythological creatures along with the Dragon and Phoenix. Often attributed with the elements of Fire or Lightning, it occasionally is aspected as Light as well.

Jiangshi: The Chinese version of the zombie, Jiangshi are not the slow witted, lumbering brain eating creatures that we see in Western cultures. Jiangshi are often very quick, and can jump or hop incredible distances. They also tend to be greenish white in skin coloration and can range from nondescript to horrifying in appearance. Jiangshi aren’t beaten with shotguns, often they require complete dismemberment or require being sealed by a Daoist priest or spellcaster. Fire works as well, or peach tree wood formed into a weapon, like a sword.

That’s it for this week’s Translation Necessary Thursday!

TNT: Wu Xing

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’m covering a topic I touched upon last week. It’s Wu Xing, or the Five Element System!

Wu Xing?: Like I just said above it’s the Five Element System, originating back in the 2nd or 1st century BCE in China, it’s a way of thought that permeates many early Chinese philosophies. From Feng Shui to Martial Arts and Medicine. It’s a fairly interesting topic, but I’m going to only cover the basics in this post. If you want more info there’s a really great Wikipedia article.

Metal: The element that isn’t typically considered a Magical “Element” in Western mythology and fiction, Metal is central to Chinese and other Eastern mythologies. It’s also divided in the eight trigams to hold the sub elements of Lake and Heavens, the reasoning doesn’t make much sense even to me, but it’s just how it is.

Wood: The less common, but still recognizable to Westerner mythology, element in Wu Xing, Wood is a fairly common “element” in Chinese fiction. In the eight trigrams it’s subdivided into Thunder and Wind, which are two much more recognizable elements in Western fiction.

Earth: Earth is fairly obvious to us Westerners, but it’s still subdivided in the eight trigrams into Earth and Mountains. While a common element in both Western and Eastern fiction, it’s often overshadowed by other elements like Fire or Wind, or Metal and Wood in Eastern. That being said it’s considered the most prevalent and steadfast element in most fictional settings, even if it’s not the most flashy.

Fire and Water: These aren’t subdivided in the eight trigrams and the elements themselves are obvious to both Western and Eastern fiction. Nothing really needs to be said about them more than that.

That’s it for this week’s Translation Necessary Thursday! Feel free to look up the wonderful Wikipedia article, it’s fairly lengthy and an interesting read.