Snow's Embrace: Term Glossary
Warning: If you skip this section, you may have significant missing cultural context. It is highly suggested that you read this first if you do not already have a very solid grasp of Chinese philosophy, mythology, and xianxia genre conventions.
Snow’s Embrace is a masterful love song to Chinese culture, infused with the spirit of xianxia and built upon a foundation of Daoist, Buddhist, and ancient Chinese mythology.
Throughout the myth, you can find direct references to some of China’s greatest classics such as 《山海经》 Shan Hai Jing, 《庄子》 Zhuangzi, and 《九歌》 Nine Songs, which heavily inform many parts of this myth.
For the ease of helping with deeper cultural understanding, significant cultural annotations have been added wherever possible. You’ll want to click on annotations in blue to understand the full cultural context. Annotations that are bolded blue are critically important to understand.
Additionally, selected passages from the source texts that informed this myth—Nine Songs, Zhuangzi, and more—can be found here. Some of these passages are my translations; others are official published translations. It is highly advised to read through them, as they will give you greater philosophical and cultural understanding.
While reading this myth, you must approach it with an understanding of a few key concepts:
Xianxia
Snow’s Embrace is a 仙侠 xianxia, which is a historical Romance fiction genre that is philosophically informed by Daoism, with sprinkles of Buddhism and Confucianism.
Xianxia typically features “cultivators” who cultivate spiritual and physical power to achieve immortality or godhood, often across multiple lifetimes and tribulations, sometimes through reincarnation. The genre heavily features Chinese mythology, Chinese philosophy, and traditional martial arts narratives.
Cultivation
The idea of spiritual energy cultivation derives from Daoist cultivation of the spirit and body to gain immortality. In xianxia, spiritual energy is a form of magical internal energy which can be cultivated. Cultivation can give cultivators incredible powers and even extend their lives and grant immortality once they reach a certain level of cultivation.
Becoming an Immortal (仙 xian) allows cultivators to transcend the mortal world and access the Celestial/Immortal Realm (仙界 xian jie) that is often occupied by other Immortals. Some can directly access a realm of Heaven (天界 tian jie) which can be occupied by demi-gods, gods, and Celestial Bureaucrats.
Immortals who continue to cultivate and transcend certain limits can sometimes become either demi-gods or actual gods.
Qi
气息 qi xi, or simply 气 qi is the fundamental breath of life, the vital life force that permeates and makes up all things. Qi is essentially primordial life force and exists everywhere—raw, undiluted energy. It can be drawn from nature and refined, or it can be generated from within. It is the energy that circulates through your body.
The Essential Huainanzi states: “Qi means both ‘matter’ and ‘energy.’ Everything that exists is made of qi, and every action is a manifestation of qi energy. [...] Ethereal qi is heavenly, and coarse qi is earthly. Spirits are made of highly refined qi, but ordinary physical matter is made of coarse qi. [...] Qi consequently serves as a vibrating, resonant medium that conveys responses to stimuli.
Si Ming
In the myth, Zayne is a 神仙 shenxian, Divine Immortal, and holds the mantle of 司命 Si Ming. In Chinese mythology, Si Ming is a mid-level god and the Controller of Fate, responsible for recording births, adjusting lifespans based on virtue and merit, and deciding the shifts of fate. In pre-Daoist mythology circa the Nine Songs (340-278 BCE), Si Ming also controls the balance of yin and yang. Within the Daoist Celestial Bureaucracy, he is connected to the Southern Dipper Six Stars, with his star, 司命星 si ming xing, or Si Ming Star, being the Southern Pole Star. This constellation governs birth, lifespans, and fate. Within Daoist cosmology of the Nine Heavens, Si Ming resides in Stellar Heavens, which can be found in levels 4-6, also known as the Middle Three Heavens (中三天 zhong san tian). In other Daoist texts such as 《真诰》 Zhen Gao these levels are 上青天 Shangqing Tian, which translates to “Upper Purity Heaven” and houses Heavenly Star Officials, thunder gods, and Northern and Southern Dipper Star Lords (Si Ming is one of them!) In the Nine Songs from Songs of Chu, which Snow’s Embrace draws heavy influence from, there is a 大司命 Da Siming, or Greater/Big Si Ming, and also a 少司命 Shao Siming, or Lesser/Young Si Ming. In the poems, both Si Ming are gods of fate and lifespans, and both have a romance with a mortal human.
Daoism
Daoism is an ancient Chinese philosophy and spiritual tradition that believes that the Dao (道) also known as the Way, is the fundamental principle that underlies all of existence—a formless, timeless primordial source (源 yuan) from which all things are born and to which everything inevitably returns. The Dao functions effectively as the natural order of the universe—the invisible flow of fate which guides all things within the universe itself.
One of the greatest principles in Daoism is that there are endless cycles of transformation between yin and yang, Heaven and Earth, life and death. We see these themes reflected throughout the entirety of the myth, which reflects the Daoist principle of cyclical reversal: reversal is the movement of the Dao, and all things flow into their opposites in eternal cycles. Every ending is the start of a new beginning, and all things return to their source.
Heaven
In Chinese cosmology, Heaven (天, tian) is the natural order of the universe and the representation of cosmic order. It is the highest authority in the universe, which governs all living beings and all realms within the universe. Heaven is not a deity but a personification of natural law and cosmic will.
The Way of Heaven (天道 tian dao) is the principle by which Heaven operates, the underlying natural order that governs the universe. While Heaven is the cosmic authority, the Way of Heaven describes how Heaven itself operates.
The Mandate of Heaven (天命 tianming) is the idea that Heaven bestows and pre-determines destiny, authority, calamities, etc. over the course of a 's life. It is effectively a cosmic decree that determines and fixes a person’s fate.
The Will of Heaven (天意 tian yi) is the idea that Heaven, as a force of nature, is a sentient force that governs fate, all natural events, and the universe. It is thought that the Will of Heaven shapes the world by determining the fate of the universe and everyone within it. In other words, the Will of Heaven is in charge of fate, and by fighting against fate, you fight directly against Heaven and its Will.
For a full list of academic references that were used for this myth, check out Works Cited.
To read full texts and academic scholarship in English, check out the Reference Library.
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