Discussion Back To The Beginning Of Ming To Do Charity

Has anyone figured out what year we're in? I want to make a spoiler-free timeline of chapter - year (I guess it would spoil whether there are any time jumps, so maybe put it under a spoiler tag just in case). What year does chapter one start in?

 

In ch. 19, it's approximately 1347.

Spoiler: Spoiler

I got this from adding future Hongwu emperor birth year to his age at time of meeting MC, 19.

So maybe 1345?

 

Good catch!

Spoiler: Chapter 19

Are they using Western ages or Chinese ages? It can be different by 1-2 years.

 

Ch. 33 is hilarious and educational in more ways than one. I also think I may have picked up a managerial tip.

Oh. Shoot. In that case, it may be closer to 1333--1344. Good catch on your part also.

Spoiler: 34

ML finally appears! Yay!

 

Spoiler: Chapter 34

For about 2 seconds

 

Spoiler: map for Ch. 45+

 

Chapter Timeline

I'll update this as I read further, so assume it's a (very limited) spoiler for the whole book. Please comment with any additions!

The format is:
Chapter 1 - winter 1345

No other spoilery details included, but I've put it under a spoiler cut in case you don't want to be spoiled on time jumps, etc.

Spoiler: Chapter Timeline

Chapter 1 winter 1347
Chapter 15 winter 1348
Chapter 19 winter 1348
Chapter 25 autumn 1349
Chapter 26 winter 1349
Chapter 33 winter 1349
Chapter 34 spring 1350
Chapter 40 autumn 1350
Chapter 43 January 1351
Chapter 44 April-May 1351
Chapter 59 April 1352?
Chapter 65 1354
Chapter 80 end of 1355
Chapter 84 spring 1356

 

Bless you, I was looking up the locations and trying to figure out where they were on modern maps and it was time consuming

 

Spoiler: Chapter 57

Hmm, I am suspicious. Didn't he say he was a classic city kid who didn't know one crop from another? How does he suddenly know when to grow sweet potatoes? Is this stuff covered in the Gaokao or something?

EDIT: Apparently, yes, this is covered in the Gaokao

 

Just made some updates to the timeline. Currently reading chapter 63.

Someone else recommended Zhao Ge. I've never read it so I can't speak to it myself.

 

Wish I could help, but I don't know of any. Have you thought about using the series finder? Select shonen ai and exclude romance. I added the tag "ancient China" This is what came up, but I don't know if it is what you want.
https://www.novelupdates.com/series...&ge=15&tgi=476&mtgi=and&sort=sdate&order=desc.

Edit: You can also try using the tag "slow romance" with just shonen ai, and not excluding romance.

 

Map of where our hero goes (spoilers) updated through chapter 101

Spoiler: Chapter 68

This is not strictly speaking historically accurate. China has always had gay and bisexual people. Before the Qing dynasty, it was not uncommon for men to have male lovers. The only requirement was that they marry at least one wife and get her pregnant. It was also looked down on to get an "outside" woman pregnant - you should bring her back to your courtyard if you want her to bear your children - but men's sex lives were otherwise unpoliced by cultural expectations. Many emperors had gay lovers that were recorded as such in official histories from their time.

The reason I say "before the Qing dynasty" is that until the communist revolution, China got increasingly strict about gender roles, oppression of women, and control of sexuality, over time. The communist revolution was a time of increasing women's rights, but recently Xi Jinping has indicated a desire to enforce stricter gender roles, which can be seen in the censorship guideline changes. There's a tendency to think of homophobia as "conservative", but this doesn't really hold true in China, where the past was in some ways less oppressive.

I can't speak to lesbians since I haven't done the research yet, but I gather that there is not a lot of information available on lesbian history in China. Gay relationships, by contrast, are well documented.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 75

Chen Baisong is really... I have no words

 

Spoiler: Ch 45

Could this be the beginning of love? "Take your pants off." *Pat. Pat. Pat.*

TW: Ch. 51 is pretty gory.

Spoiler: Ch. 51

Barbarians Mongolians are mean mmmkay? So does the author really want us to believe that the guy was going to do that lady the morning after he strangled her to death? Isn't this overkill? Sorry for the pun.

 

i haven't started contributing much to this months discussion yet BUT OHMYGOD i love the mc so much- everything he's done so far has been pretty memorable for me
(also how do you add the spoiler tag?)

 

I put an explanation on how to create the spoiler tag in the first post of the book group thread. Let me know if it's not clear!

 

I'd reccommend a gorgeous south korean drama Empress Qi that have the basics of the same story but koreanwise (it's a wife of Toghon Temür , last emperor of the Yuan dynasty).
No spoilers, just for comparing the narrative.

 

Spoiler: Chapter 86

MC: Democracy is a bad idea
China: That's right!
Hong Kong: ...
Taiwan: ...
Democratic nations of the world: ...

 

no it's clear! thank you so much!

 

I got really confused by all of the names in this chapter, so here's a break down for anyone else who's confused (BIG spoilers):

Spoiler: Chapter 117

First, look at this map. Xu Shouhui is the leader of one faction. He has just been betrayed by his subordinate Ni Wenjun, but his other subordinate Chen Youliang would be about to defeat NWJ in the original timeline. Guo Zixing was the leader of another faction. He has just been murdered by Sun Deya, who was not famous in the original timeline. Zhao Junyong and Peng Da are his subordinates. Guo Zixing's foster daughter, Ma shi, has snuck out of the city by pretending to be a soldier and marching out with Zhao Junyong's army. She would have been Zhu Yuanzhang's wife in the original timeline, but in this timeline follows Lin Yuan with the promise of getting revenge on Sun Deya for her father's death.

To recap: There are three armies in the area (one split in half):
Lin Army
Sun Army
Xu Army
Xu-Ni Army (Ni Wenjun has just split the Xu army in half to rebel against Xu Shouhai)

Ma shi snuck out with the Sun army in order to betray it.


There is also a Liu Futong and He Lin'er (Xiao Ming Emperor), but they have not come to this battle.