douqi

IT'S LIVE! I CANNOT WAIT TO HOLD THIS IN MY HANDS. Y'ALL DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW BEAUTIFUL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE PAINTINGS IS!!!

Melancholy | bobbu | Ellipsus Ellipsus makes it easy for anyone to write together.

melancholy, by shi pingmei
《惆怅》，石评梅

a short work of prose. translated by me, edited by leander

ellipsus.com/read/4wDK8R3...

OUAT | bobbu | Ellipsus Ellipsus makes it easy for anyone to write together.

once upon a time, by ling shuhua
《说有这么一回事》，凌叔华

translated by me, edited by zhengyi.

ellipsus.com/read/2LBmKox...

Painting by guoldu of two men in the Swiss countryside by a lake. One sits, back to the sunlight, playing a piano while the other leans against it looking fondly as he plays. The music pages swirl off the top of the piano and into the sky

Double-post today!!!!

Worked on this collaboration with @hanlinacademic.bsky.social & @sleepyneedle.bsky.social to make a mock-cover for their translation of the danmei 追声与循途 , (Trace of Our Harmonies). I painted with their input and insightful knowledge of form and music 🥰❤️‍🔥

#guolduart

'all corpos lie' — truer words were never said

generally i agree, but in this particular instance i'm not sure there's any point to pirating ai-generated slop

I genuinely just don't know what more these people want. We're in an age where non-Ghibli anime films can be box office juggernauts and physical manga routinely does circles around Marvel and DC, all while paying pennies on the dollar for good translation talent. They're cultural rent-seekers, dude.

Anyway, pay your manga translators (and everybody else involved) a living wage and give them royalties, for fuck's sake. You're bigger than ever and can afford rates many times bigger than the 90s on the bestsellers topping the fucking NYT charts. Embarrassing you refuse to take care of your own.

If translation *alone* took six months, the pay rate would be so huge, it'd eclipse the golden years of the 90s and every manga translator I know wouldn't be juggling 10+ series. But no, it's one of the quickest, cheapest parts, for worse and for worse. You're drawing blood out of a stone, dinguses.

as always, douqi is gobsmackingly correct. ignore my dire post-midnight chirping and remember that stories have always belonged to people and historically no one can stop the signal; samizdat predates publication; literally anyone can learn to set type and pack an epub. don't let them steal your joy

time to channel the spirit of the stapled k/s zines

(also, maybe it's finally time for me to get serious about learning bookbinding)

three things to hold on to:

1. corporations are not and will never be your friend

2. licences are time-limited

3. fandom, as always, makes its own food

For the remainder of the year, I will be sending 100% of received personal commission funds to PIRC (Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition). This is not a decision made lightly, as I live paycheck to paycheck from my dayjob, but a min. sacrifice on my part nonetheless.

u can read about them here:

Cover image of the JJWXC version of To Embers We Return.

Extract from Chapter 35 of the English fan translation of To Embers We Return: Shen Ni still had a hand pressed against Bian Jin’s lower back, keeping Bian Jin pinned where she was on the workbench. ‘It could have the same effect as a calming drug,’ she told Bian Jin. ‘If you don’t like the idea, I’ll think of some other way to bring you relief.’ By ‘it’, Shen Ni meant — of course — kissing. In other words, to hear Shen Ni tell it, the only reason she’d been about to crush Bian Jin’s lips against hers was to offer her shijie what she thought might be a soothing remedy. Bian Jin found she had no idea how to respond to that. She closed her eyes momentarily.

Chapter 35 of Ning Yuan's historical cyberpunk baihe To Embers We Return now up!

(Shen Ni: this isn't a kiss, it's SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN MEDICAL TREATMENT)

🔗 read here: douqi.blog/2026/03/01/t...

baihe novel wins international booker (well one can hope)

Taiwan Travelogue, written by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translated by Lin King, is a bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history and power.

Find out more about this #InternationalBooker2026 longlisted book: https://thebookerprizes.pulse.ly/di0opau6lf

Extract from Chapter 35 of the English fan translation of To Embers We Return: She liked it when Bian Jin took charge of her. The memory of the last six years of loneliness, those dark days when she barely saw the point of keeping herself alive — all that ended with one fell swoop at Bian Jin’s sharp, forceful ‘command’. She had a shijie to love her again. ‘Shijie.’ Shen Ni hooked a finger through Bian Jin’s belt, kneading gently at the underside of the material, warm from Bian Jin’s body heat. She said entreatingly, ‘I’ve sprained my back. Could you take a look at it for me?’

Shen Ni: yes i do rather enjoy being domme'd every now and then 🥺

Cover image of the JJWXC version of To Embers We Return.

Extract from Chapter 35 of the English fan translation of To Embers We Return: Shen Ni still had a hand pressed against Bian Jin’s lower back, keeping Bian Jin pinned where she was on the workbench. ‘It could have the same effect as a calming drug,’ she told Bian Jin. ‘If you don’t like the idea, I’ll think of some other way to bring you relief.’ By ‘it’, Shen Ni meant — of course — kissing. In other words, to hear Shen Ni tell it, the only reason she’d been about to crush Bian Jin’s lips against hers was to offer her shijie what she thought might be a soothing remedy. Bian Jin found she had no idea how to respond to that. She closed her eyes momentarily.

Chapter 35 of Ning Yuan's historical cyberpunk baihe To Embers We Return now up!

(Shen Ni: this isn't a kiss, it's SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN MEDICAL TREATMENT)

🔗 read here: douqi.blog/2026/03/01/t...

i feel like ai/mtl is consuming both genres sad lol

thank youuuuuuuuu niq ❤️

(also love the new pfp!)

while were on the topic however, beautiful baihe already exists for you to read. Cant believe its already been a year out with douqis tl of this beloved baihe 🥹

thank you! i do think chapter 36 is a good stopping point so maybe you want to wait until that is out

a year after i started translating to embers we return, wrote up some thoughts: baihe-media.dreamwidth.org/79522.html

intriguing! i'm looking forward to finding out (i think i've already met one of the main characters in 护食)

The Doctor Quotes the Lion King | The Christmas Invasion | Doctor Who YouTube video by Doctor Who

couldn't find this in gif form but: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn4w...

this is so cool

Cover image from the JJWXC version of To Embers We Return

Extract from Chapter 34 of the English fan translation of To Embers We Return: A simple touch on the cheek from an ordinary acquaintance would yield a standardised tactility score of fifty. A caress on the same spot from a skilled and passionate lover would produce a much higher tactility score, between seventy-five to eighty-eight. The highest tactility score that had emerged from these studies was ninety-nine from the face, and one hundred and eighty-nine for the neck. As one went further down, the intensity of each subject’s response was determined largely by their own natural sensitivity and the skill of their respective lovers. The question of ‘skill’, of course, did not even arise where Shen Ni and Bian Jin were concerned. Yet even though Shen Ni was not actually touching her, the tactility score from Bian Jin’s face was already close to the maximum score that had been observed from her test subjects’ necks. In other words, all Shen Ni had to do was move her hand in a caressing gesture while it was still half a finger’s width away from Bian Jin’s cheek, and Bian Jin would feel it as intensely as if some master of seduction were kissing and nibbling at her throat.

Chapter 34 of Ning Yuan's historical cyberpunk baihe To Embers We Return now up!

(Shen Ni: I construct intricate mathematical models which allow me to touch the skin of other women, i.e. my wife)

🔗 read here: douqi.blog/2026/02/11/t...

Extract from Chapter 34 of the English fan translation of To Embers We Return: The warmth of Shen Ni’s hand glided across her skin from the promised half a finger’s width away, stirring up faint currents in the air between them. Bian Jin had imagined that this would be easier to bear than direct physical contact, but it was proving quite the opposite. Those rippling currents against her skin only roused in her a tremulous longing, an overwhelming desire to be touched. Waves of heat surged through her, piling up layer by layer, fanning to life the secret flame deep inside her body. With every wave, that flickering flame grew steadier, hotter, brighter, until it became a conflagration. Tongues of fire licked teasingly at the tenderest part of her heart; her body heat rose precipitously. A delicious tingling sensation was spreading down from her face and neck along her spine; the lower half of her body felt as if it were melting again. Her hands gripped the sides of the workbench tightly as she tried to hold back the shudders that were threatening to rip through her.

Also featuring: Shen Ni DOESN'T technically touch Bian Jin, Bian Jin still nearly has an orgasm on the spot

Cover image from the JJWXC version of To Embers We Return

Extract from Chapter 34 of the English fan translation of To Embers We Return: A simple touch on the cheek from an ordinary acquaintance would yield a standardised tactility score of fifty. A caress on the same spot from a skilled and passionate lover would produce a much higher tactility score, between seventy-five to eighty-eight. The highest tactility score that had emerged from these studies was ninety-nine from the face, and one hundred and eighty-nine for the neck. As one went further down, the intensity of each subject’s response was determined largely by their own natural sensitivity and the skill of their respective lovers. The question of ‘skill’, of course, did not even arise where Shen Ni and Bian Jin were concerned. Yet even though Shen Ni was not actually touching her, the tactility score from Bian Jin’s face was already close to the maximum score that had been observed from her test subjects’ necks. In other words, all Shen Ni had to do was move her hand in a caressing gesture while it was still half a finger’s width away from Bian Jin’s cheek, and Bian Jin would feel it as intensely as if some master of seduction were kissing and nibbling at her throat.

Chapter 34 of Ning Yuan's historical cyberpunk baihe To Embers We Return now up!

(Shen Ni: I construct intricate mathematical models which allow me to touch the skin of other women, i.e. my wife)

🔗 read here: douqi.blog/2026/02/11/t...

for anyone who might want to check it out who are in chinese media fandom specifically, there are multiple active comms including:

c-ent.dreamwidth.org
baihe-media.dreamwidth.org
cnovels.dreamwidth.org