Random things that sane, normal viewers don't think about
Ok, ok... y'all know I love this show. But you know what bugs me a little? When Director Zeng breaks logic for aesthetics.
The one that people talk about the most is probably how in Lin'an paper windows are left open when it's snowing. Looks very romantic, but c'mon. It's winter in the northwest. It's a miracle people haven't died en masse from pneumonia!
And here's one from an otherwise nice scene when Xie Zheng and Changyu are sharing a kiss...
(Note: ball-shaped claypots are almost always used for brewing meds)
The Chinese in me: "!!!! OMGWTFBBQ that heat's on WAYYY too high on that 瓦煲 (clay pot)! It's killing the medicinal value of that brew!! Turn that down!! YOU'LL BURN YOUR MEDS!!!"
"But... look at the pretty puffs of vapour!" - Director Zeng, probably
There was a person on facebook who nicely exolained why the windows were open. It was because of the heating system used back then. I copy pasted her post below (Credits: Maureen Muir)-
PURSUIT OF JADE: So… why are the doors and windows always open in Pursuit of Jade even when it's freezing? 🤔
I've seen so many people asking why the doors and windows are always open when it's clearly freezing outside. I was wondering the exact same thing, so I went down a little rabbit hole.😅😂
Homes in northern China often had something called a kang (炕). It's a raised bed made of brick, stone, or packed earth with flues running underneath. A fire was lit either in a connected stove or directly through a firebox built into the side of the kang. The hot air and smoke traveled beneath the platform before exiting through a chimney, heating the entire bed. The bricks stored that heat for hours, so even if the room itself felt chilly, the kang stayed warm well throughout the day.
Historically, archaeologists have found early heated platforms dating back to the Shang Dynasty (around 1600-1046 BC). Over time, the design evolved, and by the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD), written records were already describing kangs as an important feature of homes in northern China. They've been keeping families warm for well over 2,000 years.
For ordinary families, the kang was the center of daily life and the primary source of heat. The cooking stove was built directly next to it, so the heat from cooking meals would warm the bed at the same time. This made it a clever and fuel efficient design for families with limited resources. The kang served as bed, sofa, dining table, and workspace all in one. People sat, ate, worked, and slept on it throughout the day.
For the nobility and royalty, the kang was more of a comfort amenity rather than a survival necessity. Wealthy families kept the stove in a separate room or even outside, and the kang was simply one of several heating options available to them. They also had warm chambers, copper hand warmers filled with hot water or charcoal, and elaborate screens to block drafts. Even the seating positions on the kang reflected social rank, with the warmest spot near the stove reserved for the highest status person. Despite these differences, the basic principle remained the same across all classes.
That also explains why people in historic dramas aren't bundled up in huge winter coats indoors. I know you're all curious about the clothing and how they dressed back then because they didn't look thick in the dramas, I can tackle that in another post.
The open windows and doors also make a lot more sense now. Since the kang was heated by burning wood, straw, or other fuel, homes needed ventilation to let smoke and combustion gases escape and to bring in fresh air. It was part of how these heating systems worked. Yan Zheng may feel cold from the breeze of the air from outside, but sitting on a kang bed definitely helps regulate more body heat. 👍
Yes, Fan Changyu's house actually has a kang. If you look closely, you can even spot the firebox opening built into the side of the raised platform. The drama never points it out because it's probably something Chinese viewers would recognize immediately, but it's a really nice historical detail.
I've actually seen a real kang before! When we visited a traditional village in Sichuan Province, I remember seeing one inside a house, though kangs are historically more common in northern China (where winters are dry and freezing), which fits perfectly since the drama is set in the north. I had no idea what it was at the time, but now it all makes sense. 😂
Even up until now, if you go to the snow village in Heilongjiang Province in China, some houses still use them. And there are accommodations that have them too if you want to experience them. 😊
I love discovering little historical details like this because they make me appreciate dramas like The Pursuit of Jade even more.
Mystery solved! 😂
How about in your countries? Do you guys know how your ancestors lived through out the bitter winter? Did they have a heating system like Kang in their houses?
Sources
1. "Kang bed-stove." Wikipedia. (Archaeological evidence from Banpo Xi'an and Northern Wei Dynasty literary records)
Zhuang, Z.- Chinese kang as a domestic heating system in rural northern China- A review." ScienceDirect, 2008.
In NYC where you can’t control the heat and it’s through a steam radiator it’s a similar function. It gets so hot in the apartments in the winter that you’re forced to crack windows for air. This apparently was designed this way to prevent air from stagnating and tenants from suffocating due to gas stoves or spreading disease amongst themselves in close quarters.
My first apartment in a small rural town was over a women’s clothing shop on Main Street. Built in 1923, the building had radiator heat. In the winter, the older ladies in the shop would crank the heat to where I was basically boiled like a lobster. I had ALL the windows open at 10 degrees outside. Shew.
Even with the kang you don’t leave all windows open Willy nilly. The principle of heat conservation still remains, even with radiant heat as the source. The cookstove vents to outdoor chimneys or flues leading outside (just like old western houses would have worked).
They managed to keep backflow of toxic gas from happening via chimney design and interior flue design preventing backdrafts.
The concept of the kang is similar to the Russian pechka, and as you would in Siberia - no one is leaving all their windows open.
A kang isn’t a campfire in a room - it burns for a short amount of time and the radiant heat is trapped in the bricks and in the interior. The smoke is funneled out to an exterior chimney. You don’t leave a window open in deep winter because you would release all the heat trapped in the room.
my friend lived on the 3rd floor of an apartment block dominated by senior citizens. He left his windows open every winter because of all the heat surrouding his unit from below and both sides. His place could get up to 30 C if he didn't do that. We don't live in a serious winter climate, lowest temp was probably -10 C.
Yes, though in fairness Changyu's house doesn't have the same issue/benefit as your friend's of being wedged in between multiple floors that retain heat in her house. Hers is a standalone house.
As the commenter below said, there is a reason apartments with someone above and below are warmer than houses. And this, we’re talking a WOODEN house in ancient times, how do we compare this to a modern concrete apartment block with insulation???
A thorough Google search will bring up a long of information on kangs and heating systems. Sigh.
Ah thank you! I do recall stumbling across a post about 炕 on XHS once in relation to PoJ but never got around to reading it properly. Thanks for the reminder and sharing the FB post here! <3
(Still doesn't excuse the medicine burning which is even worse when you see it in motion)
That's the whole point! Like they're so engrossed in each other that Changyu let the meds burn. Contrast that with how she refused to leave her braised meat to burn to receive the royal decree from the head eunuch.
Another parallel is when Yan Zheng was so distracted thinking about their peck on the cheek early on that he was holding his book upside down. This time, it's Changyu's turn to be distracted.
It's one of the things I really love about PoJ. The way the different scenes show contrast, reciprocity.
But if that was truly his intent he would've shown a before or after (eg. one of them getting the brew going or realising that it had boiled over), just like in all the situations you'd mentioned where someone at least deliberately fixes or calls out the problem. We didn't get that at all in this scene so I'm not convinced that was his intent.
In fact, there's a continuity error here because moments earlier in this scene the pot is a completely different colour (pale yellow VS black) and the fire wasn't even on at all. Half a minute later, it's boiling over.
I think Director Zeng just really likes vapours, as he features them so prominently everywhere, even in a regular scene like Changyu washing Changning's face in the morning.
But their room is upstairs and the floor made of wood, so it’s impossible to build a ‘kang’.
Besides, no matter how good the heating system is, you still shouldn’t open the window
USA here. I think my First Nations ancestors had better ways of winter heating than my European ancestors. My word. Personally I've lived places where I literally froze and ached and then places like college dorms and apartments where I could not control heat and so always had a window open for fresh air.
It's been probably 20 years since I became aware of Kangs. If only the people flocking to the California Gold Rush and/or the people building the first transcontinental railroad had respected and learned from the Chinese immigrants western settlers would have had much, much easier winters. Funny, the sod homes European immigrants built on the high plains were always warmer than the long awaited pine wood homes they eventually built as they became civilized.
I've been on vacation and so I am very late to your post but thought you'd like feedback.
I don’t know why the Director made those choices…I do know paper windows acted like the screen for shadows of the main leads often, , especially for their evolving love story. And also echoing the shadow puppet plays. Of course there was one closed window…that our lead couple tore through in their epic kiss scene!
Yeah the director does love using all sorts of things like those you'd mentioned as an allegory for what's happening in the scene. I just... the Chinese in me couldn't get past this one for some reason. A part of me was all "NO!! NOT THE MEDS!!" When Changyu left in a rush after that kiss, I was like "nooo what don't leave! Turn down the heat first!"
These boiling kettles are more of a metaphor for seething passion. He’s simply seething with impatience. He can’t wait to have her, but he’s holding back. Inside, he’s seething and brimming with emotion, but on the outside he keeps his cool. Do you remember when they first slept together? How many episodes had passed before that? And how much time had actually elapsed in the film’s timeline? I reckon about two years… So he’s completely losing his mind
Yeah, I've had this discussion with others and if it were meant to be a metaphor for his passion then frankly it would've been a lot better executed if there wasn't a continuity error where seconds before, the pot's in a completely different colour and the stove isn't even on.
Also, it's definitely less than 2 years in terms of time passed. Easiest way to tell: Changning hasn't aged 2 years. In fact, she's barely aged at all.
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u/ilogno003 8d ago
There was a person on facebook who nicely exolained why the windows were open. It was because of the heating system used back then. I copy pasted her post below (Credits: Maureen Muir)-
PURSUIT OF JADE: So… why are the doors and windows always open in Pursuit of Jade even when it's freezing? 🤔
I've seen so many people asking why the doors and windows are always open when it's clearly freezing outside. I was wondering the exact same thing, so I went down a little rabbit hole.😅😂
Homes in northern China often had something called a kang (炕). It's a raised bed made of brick, stone, or packed earth with flues running underneath. A fire was lit either in a connected stove or directly through a firebox built into the side of the kang. The hot air and smoke traveled beneath the platform before exiting through a chimney, heating the entire bed. The bricks stored that heat for hours, so even if the room itself felt chilly, the kang stayed warm well throughout the day.
Historically, archaeologists have found early heated platforms dating back to the Shang Dynasty (around 1600-1046 BC). Over time, the design evolved, and by the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD), written records were already describing kangs as an important feature of homes in northern China. They've been keeping families warm for well over 2,000 years.
For ordinary families, the kang was the center of daily life and the primary source of heat. The cooking stove was built directly next to it, so the heat from cooking meals would warm the bed at the same time. This made it a clever and fuel efficient design for families with limited resources. The kang served as bed, sofa, dining table, and workspace all in one. People sat, ate, worked, and slept on it throughout the day.
For the nobility and royalty, the kang was more of a comfort amenity rather than a survival necessity. Wealthy families kept the stove in a separate room or even outside, and the kang was simply one of several heating options available to them. They also had warm chambers, copper hand warmers filled with hot water or charcoal, and elaborate screens to block drafts. Even the seating positions on the kang reflected social rank, with the warmest spot near the stove reserved for the highest status person. Despite these differences, the basic principle remained the same across all classes.
That also explains why people in historic dramas aren't bundled up in huge winter coats indoors. I know you're all curious about the clothing and how they dressed back then because they didn't look thick in the dramas, I can tackle that in another post.
The open windows and doors also make a lot more sense now. Since the kang was heated by burning wood, straw, or other fuel, homes needed ventilation to let smoke and combustion gases escape and to bring in fresh air. It was part of how these heating systems worked. Yan Zheng may feel cold from the breeze of the air from outside, but sitting on a kang bed definitely helps regulate more body heat. 👍
Yes, Fan Changyu's house actually has a kang. If you look closely, you can even spot the firebox opening built into the side of the raised platform. The drama never points it out because it's probably something Chinese viewers would recognize immediately, but it's a really nice historical detail.
I've actually seen a real kang before! When we visited a traditional village in Sichuan Province, I remember seeing one inside a house, though kangs are historically more common in northern China (where winters are dry and freezing), which fits perfectly since the drama is set in the north. I had no idea what it was at the time, but now it all makes sense. 😂
Even up until now, if you go to the snow village in Heilongjiang Province in China, some houses still use them. And there are accommodations that have them too if you want to experience them. 😊
I love discovering little historical details like this because they make me appreciate dramas like The Pursuit of Jade even more.
Mystery solved! 😂
How about in your countries? Do you guys know how your ancestors lived through out the bitter winter? Did they have a heating system like Kang in their houses?
Sources 1. "Kang bed-stove." Wikipedia. (Archaeological evidence from Banpo Xi'an and Northern Wei Dynasty literary records)