1/2-Way Around the Moon: Introduction!

So, here we get to the original reason as to why I created this blog in the first place. It wasn’t for reviews or English translations although there will be some of those. After reading plenty of Ancient East Asian mangas, manhuas, manhwas and novels, I was inspired to write some of my own ancient fantasy East Asian fiction. This, of course, counts watching all those Chinese Wuxia dramas since childhood thanks to my parents.

Hamster has allowed me to co-occupy her blog so you will see my work and translations here.

This new novel of mine is called “Half-Way Around the Moon” inspired by a song called “Nửa Vầng Trăng.”

This novel is a bit different than your usual Chinese novels as the female protagonists are Vietnamese. At first, I was very skeptical and hesitant about this because of the current turbulent relationship between China and Vietnam as well as the fact that the female protagonists are not Chinese might turn some readers away.

At first, any ideas I had in my mind was supposed to well…stay in my mind alone.

But China and Vietnam had a long history together with China having invaded Vietnam for 1,000 years. Both countries fought a lot with each other and it resulted in Vietnam adopting a lot of Chinese culture. No other country has influenced Vietnam like China has. I’m sure some of you have noticed that there is always a Viet Ebook for every Chinese novel on Shushengbar and more lol. There was just so much to write about and be inspired by that I just had to share my stories to this community.

Because of actual history and reality, there will be some politics in this fiction. But some readers might be sensitive to this so I will try to reduce as much politics as much as possible and add more romance and fantasy elements to it to make it an enjoyable journey for you all.

This novel has two stories within it, similar to Tang7’s “Hua Xu Yin.”

The first story is actually a real story that happened in real life. It is the story of Prince Zhong Shi (Vietnamese name is Trong Thuy) and Princess My Chau. For those of you who know of these two, you know that they lead tragic lives with equally tragic and horrifying endings. Ah~fate.

I will expand the story a bit more so I cannot claim all the credit.

Characters

Man: The male narrator

Woman: The female narrator

From these two, we learn about the other two stories.

Zhong Shi

The Prince of Nanyue (present day Guangzhou and Xingu China) son of the Founder Zhao Tuo.

Age: 21 when he first met My Chau, 28 during present story

Gender: Male

My Chau

She is the daughter of King An Duong Vuong who was forced into an arranged marriage with Zhong Shi for the sake of ‘peace’ between Au Lac (now known as Vietnam) and Nanyue.

Age: 18 when she first met Zhong Shi, 25 during present story

Gender: Female

Zhao Tuo

Founder of the Nanyue Kingdom and the father of Zhong Shi; He and his son betrays King An Duong Vuong and My Chau in the end.

An Duong Vuong

Father of My Chau and King of Vietnam. (Sorry, I couldn’t find a less embarrassing picture ><.)

The second part of the story deals with a female Vietnamese assassin who is motivated to kill the supreme emperor for what he did to her family:

Guozhi

He is the supreme emperor of China. He ordered a part of his army to massacre and burn Ha Diep’s hometown of Hue because their people incited a rebellion against his rule.

Age: 27 when he first met Ha Diep

Gender: Male

Ha Diep

Guozhi’s orders ended with the death of her parents and the dishonor of her older sister, Trung Trac. Ha Diep wants revenge and does so by attempting to become the emperor’s concubine.

Age: 21 when she first met Guozhi

Gender: Female

Biyu

Biyu is the emperor’s courtesan during Spring and Autumn.

Age: 24

Gender: Female

Lijuan

Lijuan is the emperor’s courtesan during Summer and Winter.

Age: 22

Gender: Female