Title: The Jade Princess

Genre: Romance, Historical Drama

Ratings: All ages

Part: The analysis.

Introduction

Dear readers, thank you for reading through the seven chapters of “The Jade Princess”. It’s been one hell of a roller coaster ride, not just for the characters of the story, but I suppose it has been for you too. I’ve felt a roller coaster ride’s worth of emotions as well. I really hope you managed to feel quite a bit whilst reading this story. And for some things which were left hanging in the air, I’ll be sticking to my promise and giving you a full analysis of this story from all the aspects – setting, narrative style, themes, characters, relationships and I’ll also be adding my favourite quotes from the story and I’ll be answering some of the questions, and also there’s a great big author’s note at the bottom. So, well, enjoy the analysis (:

The relevance of jade to the story

"This gem, with its discreet yet rather greasy lustre, which comes in many fine nuances of green, but also in shades of white, grey, black, yellow, and orange and in delicate violet tones, has been known to Man for some 7000 years. In prehistoric times, however, it was esteemed rather more for its toughness, which made it an ideal material for weapons and tools. Yet as early as 3000 B.C. jade was known in China as 'yu', the 'royal gem'. In the long history of the art and culture of the enormous Chinese empire, jade has always had a very special significance, roughly comparable with that of gold and diamonds in the West. Jade was used not only for the finest objects and cult figures, but also in grave furnishings for high-ranking members of the imperial family. Today, too, this gem is regarded as a symbol of the good, the beautiful and the precious. It embodies the Confucian virtues of wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage, yet it also symbolises the female-. A visit to the jade market, be it in Hong Kong or Rangoon, or at one of the Hong Kong jade auctions organised by Christie's, can give some idea of the significance this gem has for the people of Asia."

I got this online, explaining the significance of jade. Like it states, jade is very symbolic to the Asian people, particularly the Chinese. They have many values and stuff that jade symbolizes. However, I think it's still based on opinion. My mom's pretty fond of jade too, so over the years I think I've developed my opinion on what jade symbolizes. Prosperity, beauty, and happiness. The jade, however, can be carved into different shapes; some types of jade are hard and won't break when you drop them, but some are weak and they will break. The fragility of jade isn't definite. And I love the enigmatic trait of jade - the iridescent green and the contrasting shades.

I think that this story truly brought out those sides of jade. The story showed the fragility of its characters, how they’re all so beautiful on their own yet they can crumble. It displays happiness at its simplest form as well. I chose jade to be the main theme of the story because I wanted there to be beauty within all the darkness and sadness this story contains. Like there will always be a chance for happiness even when the whole world seems to be dismal. Also, it hints the cultural aspects and the fragility of the Chinese dynasties. Truly, I think that jade is very symbolic and it has served great purpose for this story hehe :>

Setting

The Tang Dynasty vs. Shilla

Tang and Shilla truly had an alliance in the past. During the Three Kingdoms period of Korea, there were notably three kingdoms contending against each other to gain complete hegemony – Shilla, Baekje and Goguryeo. Ironically, Shilla was the weakest but also the stealthiest. And Tang, on the other hand, was a stand-alone kingdom with barely any allies and enemies at all corners. To prevent possible wars, they would need an ally to scare off these enemies. Thus, Tang sort of made a pact with Shilla, in a sense that Tang would aid Shilla in acquiring Baekje and Goguryeo’s lands, but in return, Shilla must become their ally. True enough, Shilla was able to defeat the mighty Goguryeo and acquire Baekje with Tang’s aid. However, Tang and Shilla never truly had a strong alliance, as Tang is a very stealthy kingdom themselves, you see. Tang had intentions of taking over the unified Shilla’s lands as well. But due to Shilla’s resistance and the pestering enemies at Tang’s borders, by year 679, Tang had pulled out of Shilla. This is the overall background war going on during that period, but if you want to go deeper into the details of that period of time, you can search it up on Wikipedia.

Time period & cultural aspects

I chose this time period mainly due to the Tang Dynasty, actually. The Tang Dynasty was the period of which China attained its peak of prosperity. In other words, China hit its golden age at the Tang Dynasty. Despite being bound by the stringent societal and imperial rules, the Tang period could be considered the most ‘free’ period as compared to all the other periods. When there is peace and prosperity, people are bound to seek more. And thus, if you truly do some digging, you will find out that despite being prosperous, on an emotional level, the Tang period was also the most messed up – affairs and etc. Using this time period gives me more freedom to write. Like the Kris/Victoria will not usually be permitted, but because the Tang Dynasty is quite messed up, you can tell this story to any Chinese on the street and they will say “Yeah, well, that’s the Tang Dynasty for you.” There will not be too much of the scholars nagging about inappropriate cultural aspects and etc. However, some stringent rules remain despite the Tang Dynasty giving its people more freedom – arranged political marriages, the society’s expectations of women and also the nobility system. All of these aspects still remain. The Chinese are renowned for their stringent rules and thus, as ‘free’ as it is, the rules are still pretty strict. That would be another reason why I am reluctant to choose other dynasties to write from – the rules are so strict to the extent that it is almost impossible to have any other desire but to have food on your plate and your head attached to your shoulders.

The Back Palace ‘hou gong’

There was one more point that I have not mentioned yet – the back palace. That is a very, very controversial matter that many authors, filmmakers and historians are drawn to. The back palace would probably be referred to as ‘the emperor’s harem’. In China, it is common for each emperor to have more than ten concubines, and each concubine would rise up ranks if they were to have better relationships with the emperors. Like a chain reaction, the families of these concubines would rise up in rank as well. Thus, within the emperor’s harem, there will be  struggle for power as well. Some of the concubines will also resort to dirty tricks to rid themselves of possible enemies. And moreover, another goal of the concubines would be to produce capable male heirs in hopes that one of them would become the future emperor. This becomes another cause for wicked disputes to take place. I suppose most of you have seen period dramas that portray the incessant disputes between the concubines. And there is one more point that adds on to the controversy – the empress. The empress would be in control of the back palace, and often, these empresses are not the women that the emperor loves most. And thus they would try to ally with the concubines and get rid of those who are against them. Famous indomitable empresses would include Wu Zetian, one of the empresses of the Tang Dynasty.

Historical relevance

Despite this story being fictional, it does match up with the hostility of the Tang-Shilla alliance. I think that Tang and Shilla are mainly represented by the relationship between Yoona and Kris (Jiaheng). It’s a very stealthy yet cruel war where Tang provides Shilla aid, but not so much aid, and Tang does mooch off Shilla as well. Due to Tang’s greed, Shilla’s growing intolerance let to the uprise of the Shilla-Tang wars, then concluding the end of the alliance. In the story, Yoona is the empress who managed the nation whilst Kris did practically nothing but give her the position, and thus I think it almost mirrors that alliance. A sort of parasitical relationship, in my opinion. I guess the story sort of expresses my dim views on the alliance. A very subjective point of view, but well, that summarizes the historical relevance of the story to the Tang-Shilla alliance.

The other relationships between the characters, such as Zhou Mi/Luna, Luhan/Yoona, Kris/Victoria and more, they would reflect the cultural aspects of the Tang Dynasty. For example, the woes of an arranged marriage would be reflected in Zhou Mi/Luna and Kris/Yoona, and secret affairs, both lust-based and emotional-based would be reflected in Luhan/Yoona and Kris/Victoria. The surrounding pressure they undergo would be similar to the pressure the Tang people had undergone. Mind you, these are not the most stringent of rules. But still, life is undeniably difficult for each and every one of them, that’s for sure.

About the back palace, this story displayed the back palace from a different angle. It displayed not the disputes between the concubines, but the control one empress had over the entire back palace. Yoona’s character for the story was inspired by Wu Zetian, and that will be further explained about later. But her control over the palace was also due to the emperor’s favor. In other words, she was the top of the top – she had the position and the favor. And she’s the one who tries squashing all the concubines in her midst. Rising against her reign is Victoria, but Victoria’s power, like many of the low ranking concubines at that time, had little to back them up. It may be a petty female war, but it is indubitably just as frightening as the war on the battlefields.

All in all, this story tries to display the crumbling of a kingdom from within and not without, like a strategic war on the battlefield that is destroyed by internal ploys. At the same time, together with the harshness of history, it tries to show a little bit of beauty. 

Narrative style

Present tense

I used the present tense as an experiment, actually. I’m always using the past tense, but apparently using the present tense makes a story more vivid. I felt more in character when writing with the present tense and I’ll probably be using it more often.

Nobility vs. Common folk

Most the people in the story are of noble status, so it was hard to differentiate between common folk and the nobles. I think I made a brave step and did something else instead – I made the difference between the royal family and the people of Chang’an more obvious. When Yoona or Kris speaks, they hardly use short forms such as “can’t” or “won’t”. They only use it towards the end when they start losing their minds. I suppose this little detail highlights on their psychological and emotional decline. It shows that they sort of shred this superiority which acted as a veneer for them. But whether it’s a good or a bad thing is another question altogether.

Time fractures

There’s a reason why I put in the dates. Most of the dates are made up at random, but the years are not. The years are specific years and you can check up on the years – those were the years that Tang-Shilla had their alliance, the years that the alliance went down the drain. And also, during the 7th century, time did not pass very fast. I added in the days to make it seem like there was a gap between each dramatic part. And during the parts where there seemed to be no time, I made the intervals between each part closer – some only a day apart or some on the same day, like the last part where most of the characters died on the same day. It makes you sort of breathless. I’m not sure, but at least when I was planning, the time fractures left me pretty breathless. Hehe.

Themes

[Note, for ‘themes’, I’ll pick out a few quotes to explain the theme.]

Love

I wouldn’t know that. No one does. At this point of time, all they want to know is if Shilla’s alliance with Tang will truly be permanent. Love between them is almost insignificant.

This quote was said by Zhou Mi during the earlier part of the story. He was talking about the relationship between Yoona and Kris. Though the quote is very simple, I feel that it reflects a lot about the sort of love being passed around at that period of time. In fact, most relationships during that period barely had love in it. Mankind try to torment each other with these ridiculous rules of arranged marriage and at the end of the day, everything else that’s supposed to be significant becomes insignificant. And at the end, love, something supposedly not-too-difficult to find is made difficult-to-find. Kind of hypocritical, really.

Care is always reciprocated, just not always in the form you want it to be in, often not from the person you want it to be from.

This story had so much unrequited love I don’t even know from where to start. Everyone seems to love someone else but never the person who loves them {Luhan/Yoona’s case is the only exception}. However, I suppose there’s this thing about love that never falls into place – there’s always bound to be unrequited love but sometimes you just need to turn back and realize there has been someone waiting for you all along.

Though love has been a very broad theme in this story, I think these two quotes perfectly brought out everything I tried to convey. Love itself cannot be defined and being very inexperienced with it, I doubt I can explain it, but well, I hope that my interpretation of love wasn’t too bad.

Death

After all, all men will have their consciences tarnished when they die

There were many images of death throughout the story, but I think this one summarized the theme of death best. No one in the world dies innocent, in other words, everyone will have something to regret about when they die. But still, when you leave the world you can choose to leave behind happiness or regrets. And even with the many deaths in this story – Seohyun, Kai, Sooyoung, Zhou Mi, Luhan and Victoria; not all left the world with only regrets. I think the deaths in this story also shows that life is pretty fragile and death lurks, so one should make the best of moments before death robs them of the chances.

Good vs. Evil/Light vs. Darkness

And she likes him for that, for being a good person amidst a far-from-good society.

Yoona treats darkness as a friend.

If she uses darkness to mask her malice, then she can no longer cross over to the light.

When you are marked as a murderer you will never be marked as an innocent victim, no matter who you truly are.

In the end, the trust is that though good and evil exists as two opposing sections, they intersect at countless points that we can almost consider them to be one.

These quotes… I won’t take time to explain them one by one because they’re pretty straight-forward. I want to use them as examples to talk about this matter of good vs evil. Everyone seems to have this common stereotyped notion of differentiating between good and evil, judging people to be either good or evil. But in this story, I found that each character had something good about them, something evil about them. If you look closely, each character has flaws, but each character also has good points. Example, though Yoona’s the formidable empress who keeps trying to cross over to the dark side, in the end, she can’t even stay with the darkness anymore. And the last quote, the one that Luhan said, I think that it’s very true (though yeah I’m the one who wrote it). But really, there’s almost no true line drawn between good and evil, and it’s us who draws that line. Good vs. evil is mere opinion.

Courage vs. Fear

A coward of an emperor who sentences his concubine to death but feels guilty after he watches her die. 

But it is Yoona who obliterates the remnants, both physically and emotionally.

Audacity, on its own, is hardly used for the long-term. It is experience, wit and humility; all of which this young child does not possess.

This notion about bravery kind of changes throughout the story. Initially, bravery means being able to face blood, being able to kill off people without flinching. The way Yoona eliminates all her enemies, even her allies, and she doesn’t seem to feel much remorse or fear. But this is a mere veneer to hide the fear she conceals in her heart. True bravery, on the other hand, would be reflected in characters like Luhan, Zhou Mi and Sooyoung who faced their fears and tried to make the right decisions before they left the world. It shows that ‘courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It’s knowing you’re before you begin but begin anyway and see through it no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.’ A quote from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s also a part of my inspiration for this fanfic.

Fear is not indestructible, but it takes more than one person to destroy it.

I think this was by far the best quote I’ve ever come up with in my entire life. I think it reflects the notion of fear very well. Often in life, we have so many fears and it’s true that these fears are not easy to overcome. And in the world, fear is often used as a weapon to procure lands, positions, wealth and etc. Because fear attacks people psychologically, and I think that psychological warfare is far more frightening than physical warfare. But the truth is that fear can be destroyed. But it can’t be destroyed alone. You’ll need someone else, or at least more people to stand beside you to destroy that fear. And I think that though th