What is worth looking forward to in The Twelve Kingdoms, which has been unfinished for eighteen years?

On October 12th, Ono Fuyumi’s novel The Twelve Kingdoms, The Mysterious Moon in the Silver Market, went on sale. For many people, The Twelve Kingdoms is a strange name. This is actually not surprising, because the novel and the cartoon were last updated in 2001-2002 …

Resume and update The Twelve Kingdoms

Extraordinary girl novels

Speaking of it, when Ono Fuyumi, who was revered by fans as "the master of Xiao Ye" after that day, began to write The Twelve Kingdoms in the early 1990s, readers might feel that it was just a girl’s novel with suspenseful reasoning. This impression is undoubtedly deepened by the fact that the novel was published by the publisher for girls, The X Library of Talk Club. Needless to say, there are even more than one heroine in the series of Twelve Kingdoms so far: Yoko, Zhu Jing, Xiang Qiong, Ling and so on. Their different experiences have produced an inspirational youth drama.

Yoko

Yoko is an ordinary high school student, who is unremarkable except for his long red hair. One day, a man who claimed to be Jing Qi came to Yoko’s school and wanted to take Yoko away. Yoko was about to refuse for unknown reasons when a group of monsters like giant birds attacked the school. In the chaos, Jing Qi summoned the beast to rescue Yoko and took him to another world-the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, which led to the story of the first novel of The Twelve Kingdoms, The Sea of the Shadow of the Moon (1992).

With the appearance of the heroine Yoko, The Twelve Kingdoms seems to be presented to readers with the face of a standard girl novel. However, when the story unfolds, people begin to find that what "Lord Xiao Ye" hopes to express through the girls in his novels is far from the "cute" and vulgar love that is full of ordinary girls’ novels. In fact, as an indispensable theme of ordinary girls’ novels, "love" has no place in the Twelve Kingdoms so far. Although the cold Jing jiaqi in The Sea of the Shadow of the Moon fell at the feet of the young girl Yoko, it was only because of the need to choose a king. Although Jing jiaqi often accompanied Yoko through thick and thin, there was no love spark between them in the secular sense. Even Xiang Qiong, a girl who was reduced from a noble princess to a common people and suffered hardships in The Dawn Sky in Wan Li (1994); Ling, a girl who drifted to Qingguo as a sea guest, didn’t have love, and even couldn’t see a sign of love. In "Wings of the South" (1996), the unruly prince Li Guang escorted the lively and brave girl Zhu Jing all the way up the mountain. It is reasonable to say that this is the most suitable plot setting for developing love in the whole "Twelve Kingdoms", but no, nothing happened … On the contrary, in "Twelve Kingdoms", which has nothing to do with romance, the faint sadness caused by worrying about the country and homesickness throughout the work is obviously better than that.

Jinglin

This kind of setting idea, of course, far exceeds ordinary girl novels. Therefore, according to the official website of the main publisher Xinchao Society "Twelve Kingdoms", the novel has sold more than 10 million copies. However, it is a pity that this fantasy novel, which is rated as worth reading even for adults, has long been trapped in the embarrassing situation of "digging a hole and not burying it". In 2001, after the eighth feature "A Dream of Hua Xu" appeared, only in 2013 did Ono Fuyumi publish a collection of short stories "Birds of Pisces". Originally, The Twelve Kingdoms officially announced that it was scheduled to be completed in 2016, but it was not completed as scheduled due to the author Ono Fuyumi’s health. It has been delayed until October 2019, when "The Mysterious Moon in the Silver Market" was published. It has been 18 years since the last long article in The Twelve Kingdoms. I really don’t know, should fans feel that they will see it in their lifetime, or regret that time flies?

Different overhead world

From the creative point of view, the most wonderful thing about The Twelve Kingdoms is that it has a complete, systematic and huge world setting. Make the world of twelve countries seem to be a complete and real existence.

Xiao Ye sets the position of 12 countries in her mind like this: Chongshan is in the center of the world, and there are four mountains in its four directions, east, west, north and south. These five mountains are surrounded by the Yellow Sea, which is also surrounded by four Mount Kumgang in the east, west, north and south. There are four inland seas around Mount Kumgang, and eight countries are surrounded by all directions. Not far from the land, there are four big islands, which are four countries. That’s twelve countries in all. They are divided into four countries: Qing (East), Zou (South), Fan (West) and Liu (North), Yan (Northeast), Gong (Northwest), Cai (Southwest) and Qiao (Southeast), and Dai (Northeast), Shun (Southeast), Fang (Northwest) and Lian (Southeast).

Map of Twelve Kingdoms

The Emperor of Heaven once destroyed the world and recreated thirteen countries. He called the middle country the Yellow Sea, with Pengshan as the center, and let the Queen Mother of the West manage it. Then he allocated kings to the other twelve countries and gave each one a branch. The snake wrapped around the branch propped up the sky. There are three fruits on the branch, one is a jade seat, the other is a country, the other is a land, and then the branch is a pen. "Land" means people, "country" means law, "pen" means history, and "jade seat" means king’s moral character. This is the creation myth of the Twelve Kingdoms.

All twelve countries in the world practice monarchy, and the supreme ruler of the country is called the king. The Emperor of Heaven also equipped every country with a mythical unicorn to convey God’s will. Kirin, on behalf of the "Heaven Emperor", elected the best person to be king, and the person who became king came to the king’s side under the guidance of Kirin. However, he must govern the country by virtue, seek the welfare for the people, and absolutely cannot exercise tyranny. If he can do this, then he can get the blessing of Kirin and ascend to heaven to become an immortal with eternal life. On the other hand, if the king is cruel and ruthless or extorts money, then he will lose the chance of eternal life and become an ordinary person. Once Kirin chooses someone to be king, it means that Kirin and the king have exchanged covenants, shouldering the fate of choice and being chosen together, and become the bondsman of life and death. Because the king’s eternal life is given by Kirin, once Kirin dies, the king will die together. As long as a country has a king, it will be blessed by Kirin, and the whole country will be in good weather, prosperous and safe. Once there is no king, demons will run wild in the countryside, the cruel drought will make the farmland useless, the rushing flood will make countless people homeless, the spreading plague will turn the city into corpses, and the turbulent society will be full of crimes and killings.

God beast Kirin

This setting is similar to the idea of "the unity of heaven and man" and "the divine right of monarchy" advocated by Dong Zhongshu, a great scholar in China’s Han Dynasty. At the same time, the king must govern the country by virtue, and must not be tyrannical, which is more in line with the idea of "benevolent governance" and "kingly way" advocated by Mencius in ancient China. It can be said that, just like the shadow of China’s history and culture can often be seen in the works of Yoshiki Tanaka, another Japanese overhead literary writer and the author of "Galaxy the legend of heroes", it is precisely from China’s ancient culture that Ono Fuyumi absorbs nutrients and applies them directly or indirectly, thus creating a completely unfamiliar but intimate "Twelve Kingdoms" world.

Hanfeng is full.

In 2002, NHK adapted The Twelve Kingdoms into a cartoon. The animated version of Twelve Kingdoms was produced by Studio Pierrot Animation Company, with Tsuneo Kobayashi as the director, Korean composer Ryo Kunihiko as the music producer, and illustrator Akihiro Yamada designing the original characters. A total of 45 words were produced in The Twelve Kingdoms animation, and with the excellent performance of Aya Hisakawa and Houko Kuwashima, The Twelve Kingdoms became the highlight of animation in 2002-2003.

Animation of Twelve Kingdoms

There are four main chapters in the cartoon of Twelve Kingdoms, which correspond to the contents of the first four volumes of the original work respectively. Focusing on the perspective of the heroine Yoko, the cartoon tells the stories of the twelve countries through her adventures, and shows the audience this magnificent and mysterious world. The original four volumes tell different stories and themes. The first volume, The Sea of Shadows of the Moon, tells the story of the protagonist’s coming to twelve countries through hardships and finally becoming king. The second volume, The Bank of the Labyrinth in the Sea of the Wind, tells the story of Dai Guo’s Kirin Taiqi. This chapter complements the world outlook of the twelve countries and successfully shapes the image of a lovely and strong Taiqi. The third volume, The Dawn Sky in Wan Li on the Wind, is the most exciting part of the whole animation, which mainly tells the story of three girls with different identity backgrounds: Yoko, who just became king, Xiangqiong, who lost the status of princess, and Damuling, a sea traveler, who finally overthrew tyranny for their own purposes after their own hardships. This chapter focuses on the growth of three girls and is divided into three lines at the same time. Many distinctive character images will be created in this chapter. The fourth volume, The Sea of the East and the Sea of the West, tells the story of Yan Guo Yan Wang Komatsu Naotaka’s rebellion against civil strife. Through this chapter, the personality characteristics of Yan Wang and Yan Qi are further described, and the national customs outside Qing Guo are also shown to the audience.

However, it is equally speechless that the animated version only corresponds to the content of one to four volumes of the novel. Because the novel is still serialized for a long time, the incomplete personality setting of the main characters makes it difficult to make animation, coupled with the problems of production funds and copyright disputes, animation has come to an abrupt end.

Although it is only an incomplete animation, its charm is likely to be better than the original. Compared with the novel, the animated version of The Twelve Kingdoms shows a stronger China ancient style. The costumes of the characters in the animation are integrated with the charm of China costumes. For example, the costume design of Yoko disguised as a man refers to the characteristics of ancient civilian costumes in China; Jing Qi’s costume is the deformation of robes and mandarin jackets in Qing Dynasty. Shanglong’s imperial costume design was inspired by Hanfu sacrificial clothing; Liutai’s clothing is an improved version of Hu Fu’s half arm; Xiang Qiong’s hairstyle in her girlhood was borrowed from the two heads of the Qing Dynasty, and the clothes she wore combined the characteristics of the vest of the Qing Dynasty and the skirt of the Han Dynasty, creating new clothes.

The music of animation is also very classical in China. The theme music is basically played by erhu, and some famous tunes, such as "Song of Thinking Fang", "Lonely Moon in the Dark Night" and "Moon Fan in the Wind", are all played by China traditional musical instruments such as bamboo flute, guzheng, chime and erhu. It can be seen that China’s classical culture has completely infiltrated into this dreamlike epic animation.

Shanglong in The Twelve Kingdoms

Back then, The Twelve Kingdoms at the beginning of the century was recognized by the audience as a classic of China-style animation works. Nowadays, the national style animation has become a spectacular sight, and the "Made in Japan" Twelve Kingdoms can still have the same attraction for more than ten years, which is undoubtedly an interesting topic.

The latest work of Twelve Kingdoms

More importantly, as an animated work with a fantasy theme, The Twelve Kingdoms has always been concerned about human beings, except for its bizarre coat. It is only a clue and an inducement for the hero Yoko to become a monarch. The monarch is just an identity, a code name and a condition; Yoko can only achieve a truly qualified monarch if he finds back the qualities he lacks as a human being. Trust, dedication, sacrifice, strength, responsibility, and escaping from the shackles of the illusion of demons make Yoko find his own home and value. How "Master Xiao Ye" will arrange the follow-up plot is probably a suspense that fans are waiting for.

Walk into the nuclear power plant on the island

  "This piece is the resettlement house in Tangxing Village, all of which are two-story buildings. Now it is much easier for young people in this village to marry their daughters-in-law."

  "This is a newly-built hotel in Chess Bay. You can get a discount if you mention’ Sea Core’."

  "This is a middle school in the county. Our old secretary went to Zhejiang on business a few days ago, just to invite a retired old principal from Jiaxing to this middle school."

  After driving nearly 200 kilometers from Haikou, the staff of Hainan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hainan Nuclear Power") started talking as soon as they entered Changjiang County.

  Hainan Changjiang Li Autonomous County is the "base camp" of Hainan’s nuclear power, and the southernmost nuclear power project in China-Hainan Changjiang Nuclear Power Station is located here. What changes can a nuclear power plant bring to a town, a city and an island? What distinctive answers will Hainan Nuclear Power give in ensuring energy supply, innovative technology and comprehensive utilization of nuclear energy?

  ■■ Different responsibilities:

  Capable of supplying 30% electricity for the whole island.

  Hainan Daily, published on March 20th, 2007, published a report entitled "Hainan provincial government expresses thanks and apologies to the residents and enterprises that implemented power rationing". On March 17, 2007, the power shortage in Hainan Province reached 390,000 kilowatts, and Hainan Province began to use electricity at peak hours, affecting about 1 million people in the province. Two days later, the Hainan provincial government expressed its thanks and apologies to the residents and enterprises that implemented the power rationing through the news media.

  "At that time, almost every large enterprise in Hainan had its own spare diesel generator." Wei Guoliang, secretary of the Party Committee of Hainan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. told reporters that in 2007, due to power shortage, Hainan Province missed the peak more than 10 times in the whole year, totaling about 230 days. Power shortage has become an important factor restricting Hainan’s economic and social development. It was in this year that Hainan Province began planning to build nuclear power plants.

  Changjiang Nuclear Power Project started in 2010, and Units 1 and 2 were connected to the grid in 2015 and 2016. "The most intuitive feeling is that Hainan is really not short of electricity, and the electricity has become stable." Wei Guoliang said that in the whole year of 2017, two 650,000-kilowatt units realized a total power generation of 7.4 billion kWh, which fundamentally solved the power shortage problem in Hainan Province. "Hainan Province has a unique geographical position. With the continuous improvement of its strategic position, energy security has become the basic guarantee for the high-quality development of Hainan Province. The completion and commissioning of Units 1 and 2 provided Hainan with a power point capable of supplying 30% of the island’s electricity. "

  It is also this proportion that makes Hainan become the province with the highest proportion of nuclear power in the country.

  In 2010, the construction plan of Hainan International Tourism Island was officially approved; In 2019, the state proposed to build Hainan into a demonstration area of priority development of clean energy and build Hainan clean energy island; In 2020, the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port" was issued, and the strategic positioning of Hainan Province as a pilot zone for comprehensively deepening reform and opening up, a national ecological civilization pilot zone, an international tourism consumption center and a major national strategic service guarantee zone became increasingly clear. "Hainan nuclear power has opened a new pattern of energy supply in Hainan, greatly increasing the proportion of clean energy. At present, Units 3 and 4 of Hainan Nuclear Power are under construction. When the follow-up projects are completed, the proportion of nuclear power in Hainan Province will be further greatly increased. With a stable nuclear power’ ballast’, Hainan’s development momentum is also more sufficient. "

  ■■ Different breakthroughs:

  "Shuanglong" co-construction, creating a multi-pile base model

  Giving people "confidence" comes from the safe and stable operation of Hainan Nuclear Power Units 1 and 2.

  Put on a full set of safety protection equipment, and get a temporary pass at the accreditation center in the factory. After two rounds of security checks, the reporter followed the staff into the production area of Hainan Nuclear Power Phase I. When I came to the turbine power plant of Unit 2, the display screen on the wall attracted the attention of the reporter.

  On this screen, the number of days of safe operation of Changjiang Nuclear Power Unit 2 was recorded. On March 24, this number was displayed as the 1540th day. As of March 9, Changjiang Nuclear Power Units 1 and 2 have been running safely for 1500 days. It’s not only safe operation, Wei Zhigang, general manager of Hainan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. said that with the excellent performance of Units 1 and 2, Changjiang Nuclear Power Base has also become the only nuclear power base in China where all units have maintained the perfect score of WANO comprehensive index for three consecutive years.

  "There are units 3 and 4 under construction, and the semi-dome is’ Hualong No.1′. Built here is’ Linglong No.1′, the first small pile in the world. " After leaving the steam turbine plant, the staff introduced the units under construction. "They are all stacks with independent intellectual property rights. We call them’ Shuanglong Qi Fei, Three Stacks Co-construction’, and we can’t see such a combination in other nuclear power bases."

  When it comes to independent intellectual property rights, Wei Zhigang is proud: "Changjiang Nuclear Power Base is the only nuclear power base in China where all units realize independent intellectual property rights." It is understood that Units 3 and 4 currently under construction are two 1.2 million kilowatt three-generation advanced pressurized water reactor nuclear power units, which adopt the third-generation nuclear power technology of "Hualong No.1" with independent intellectual property rights of CNNC, and are scheduled to be put into operation in 2026.

  "Linglong No.1" is the world’s first onshore commercial small reactor, which adopts ACP100 nuclear power unit with independent intellectual property rights of China National Nuclear Corporation, with an installed capacity of 125,000 kilowatts, and its demonstration significance is even more extraordinary.   

  "Linglong No.1 is aimed at small and medium-sized power grids or special application scenarios such as island reef power supply and seawater desalination. It is also for this reason that Changjiang has become the most suitable place for small pile demonstration. " Wei zhigang told reporters that compared with large piles, small piles have inherent advantages in safety, economy, flexibility and adaptability of special sites. "The first in the world, the most important thing is to successfully do the project first, and then optimize and upgrade on the basis of demonstration, and achieve the ultimate versatility of nuclear energy through small reactors."

  During the interview, the employees of Hainan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. all showed the reporters the uniqueness of Hainan Nuclear Power. A grassroots employee who has worked in Hainan Nuclear Power for more than ten years talked to reporters about the past: "Secretary Lu Tiezhong of China Nuclear Power has always told us that although the nuclear power in Hainan is small in size and the environment is difficult, the nuclear power people in Hainan just want to find a way out of places that others can’t think of and do something different." This kind of "difference" has made Hainan nuclear power base’s position in Hainan, achieved good operating performance, and brought different development paths.

  ■■ Different "one subject and multiple":

  Mutual trust between local enterprises and deep cooperation for development.

  According to the reporter’s understanding, according to the relevant plan, the preliminary work of Lin Hao Nuclear Power Unit, which is currently promoted by Hainan Nuclear Power, is also in full swing.

  "Guess, how long did it take to collect capital for Lin Hao nuclear power project?" Chen Bo, director of the preliminary work department of Hainan nuclear power, was full of joy. "It will be done in one day." Chen Bo’s "capital collection" refers to the data collection process in the early stage of nuclear power unit construction. According to Hou Biqiang, deputy director of Hainan Nuclear Power Pre-work Department, the pre-work "capital collection" of Lin Hao nuclear power project involves the population and distribution around the site, road construction and vehicle operation. "This information involves more than a dozen departments in the county. It usually takes more than a month to complete, and now it is available in one day."

  "It seems to be a day of’ receiving capital’, but it is actually the result of more than ten years of accumulation." Wei Guoliang said with emotion, "Since we settled in Changjiang, our position is to promote local development. Changjiang County has a weak economic foundation, the iron ore resources on which it has depended for many years are being exhausted, and the traditional cement production also has bottlenecks in recent years. Hainan nuclear power is coming, and it is necessary to give Changjiang a different development. "

  "Hainan nuclear power brings not only a power station, but also a group of talents with scientific and technological innovation, an opportunity and possibility for transformation and development." Chen Rumao, secretary of the county party committee of Changjiang Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province, commented on the significance of Hainan nuclear power to Changjiang.

  Wei Guoliang told reporters that relying on Hainan nuclear power, Changjiang County, with a resident population of more than 200,000, has become a major scientific and technological innovation in Hainan Province. "Nuclear power is a high-tech and multidisciplinary industrial category. Using the resources of Hainan nuclear power, we have established an academician workstation in Changjiang to bring talents and projects from top universities and research institutes in China to Changjiang." In addition, Changjiang, a coastal town, has been branded as Hainan nuclear power in the fields of infrastructure construction, improvement of employment level, medical care and education. "For more than ten years, we can really feel that we have been integrated with local development." Wei Guoliang said.

  Chen Rumao pointed out that at present, Changjiang County is working with Hainan Nuclear Power to build Hainan (Changjiang) clean energy high-tech industrial park. The industrial park will actively cultivate clean energy high-tech industrial clusters with nuclear power production and related industries as the core, and gradually develop and expand high-end equipment manufacturing industries, new materials industries, information technology industries and other strategic emerging industries with electric energy storage, smart grid, environmental technology and marine ecological technology as the application direction.

  "Changjiang has the economic advantage of being close to the port, and the positioning of the free trade port as" three districts and one center "has also given great impetus to the local development. However, because the industrial system construction is in its infancy and the industrial support is weak, it is necessary to combine the local resource endowment and industrial characteristics to select projects with high-tech and environmental protection green attributes, high maturity and rapid formation of industrial scale for cultivation. " Focusing on nuclear power, focusing on one subject and diversifying, deeply integrating into local areas, and promoting common development, this is the way for Hainan nuclear power to take. "With nuclear power plants, there is a stable and clean power guarantee. We also have steam, water and our own wharf, which are indispensable resources for the development of the industrial park. The associated industrial chain of nuclear power is huge, which is the source of industrial park development. " Wei Guoliang said that with local support, enriching and expanding the industrial structure of nuclear power can provide a broader space and stage for the construction of Hainan’s nuclear power talent team, and also provide an industrial fulcrum for the construction of Hainan’s free trade port.

  According to the reporter’s understanding, the production project of lithium carbonate energy storage materials, the first project of Hainan (Changjiang) clean energy high-tech industrial park, has successfully landed. Wei Guoliang said that if the lithium carbonate project can be successfully expanded, it will drive a series of downstream industries such as battery manufacturing and clean energy vehicles to form a huge industrial cluster. "Nuclear power is not isolated, and it is naturally driven. The development of nuclear power in Hainan should not only consider the landing of nuclear power projects, but also focus on the industrial radiation brought by nuclear power. The essence of high quality and sustainable development is here."


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