Focus on Wang Zheng: I know your past

[trobadora]

I know nothing about Wang Zheng in the novel, other than that she's presumably an actual ghost rather than an energy being, so this is strictly about the drama version of our ghostly SID member/Hanga princess:

"Wang Zheng, deduct his bonus!" - The Present

When we meet her, she's very much living in the modern world, and a part of the SID crew: she uses a computer, eats popcorn, gossips with Zhu Hong and Lin Jing, teases Chu Shuzhi about being an Envoy fanboy. But she's been in the present for at most three years: Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing found her in the mountains outside the city, without any memories, and we know everyone currently in the SID apart from Da Qing joined after Zhao Yunlan became chief.

Now she's the SID's human resources person - this cap identifies Wang Zheng's position as "人事", and she's the one always called upon to deduct Lin Jing's bonus - but she also seems to do general secretarial work like answering the phone. None of which she would have known the first thing about when she woke up in the present! I wonder if she came by her SID job in the same way Sang Zan did: by Zhao Yunlan deciding that since she clearly had no other place in the present, she needed an official one with the SID, and handing her the first not-already-taken job he could think of. *g*

She also has a weird sense of humour sometimes - in episode 30, when everyone's upset that Zhao Yunlan is kicking Lin Jing out, she says Lin Jing has been hard-working and did nothing wrong - except for being late 99 times, leaving early 44 times, being absent 18 times, and taking naps 27 times!

"I want to go home." - Regained memories

When she regains her memory, she's immediately ready to drop everything and go back for Sang Zan: "Thank you for taking care of me all this time. I will leave the SID. There is something I have to do."

Of course Zhao Yunlan tells her the SID will help her, and she's happy not to be losing her friends - but she didn't hesitate in her decision, and didn't even think to ask for help. Wang Zheng, you're fitting right in with the rest of them!

And when the disembodied spirits of her tribe are after her, she's immediately ready to meet them on her own. Lin Jing and Shen Wei protect her - but that doesn't stop her: she drugs everyone to be able to go out on her own and face what she must.

Shen Wei: "I think she does not mean to betray you, but is planning to sacrifice herself to ensure our safety."

Yep, definitely fitting right in with this bunch of self-sacrificial, must-shoulder-everything-alone heroes who are learning to be a family. *g*

"You died one hundred years and seven months ago." - Ge Lan in the Past

Ge Lan is sheltered and optimistic: she's completely baffled by the bad things Sang Zan says about her brother and father, but willing to listen to him. Even after the slave rebellion has started, she's still hoping to get Sang Zan and her father talking. Instead, Sang Zan kills her father and her brother - because they had killed Sang Zan's sister and brother.

Wang Zheng comments on the irony of the person who killed her father and brother becoming the only one who can protect her, and we see the strain on them in the flashbacks. The tension only breaks when Sang Zan asks her to run away with him. But of course she's executed before they can.

Sang Zan's attempt to revive her with the Mountain-River Awl leaves her as a shapeless energy being, and she watches him as he takes revenge, as the tribe turns against him, as as he uses the Awl and rocks fall break open and everyone dies.

"I waited for you for a hundred years." - Parallels

The drama uses the Wang Zheng/Sang Zan relationship for parallels with Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan in a lot of ways:

• the themes of separation and reunion, remembering/not remembering, not letting go of each other in life and death


• the drama's ending theme, which is all about lovers being separated - it's obviously about the drama's main relationship, but it's used as a Wang Zheng/Sang Zan song both in the flashbacks and in a very OTT-romantic scene in the present


• Wang Zheng's "I waited for you for a hundred years" echoes Shen Wei's "I searched for you for ten thousand years":
  
  SW: 我找了你一万年 - wǒ zhǎole nǐ yī wàn nián
  WZ: 我等了你一百年 - wǒ děngle nǐ yī bǎi nián

And while the separation between Wang Zheng and Sang Zan can be mapped onto the ten thousand years between YOHE and the present, it can also be mapped onto the separation happening at the end of the drama. After all, Ge Lan was executed and buried - which means "they literally died, and that wasn't the end of their story" is already explicitly part of the show. ♥

Some questions:

1. Once she regains her memories, do you think she thinks of herself as Wang Zheng, or as Ge Lan? Does it change after she returns to the SID with Sang Zan?


2. Despite the tension between them before Ge Lan died, and everything she watched Sang Zan do, when they're reunited, they seem a cute, happy, conflict-free couple. Why do you think that is?


3. Does Wang Zheng go into the mountain of her own accord, or is she being manipulated by Zhu Jiu? Rewatching, when she's going into the mountain Wang Zheng looks almost like she's in a trance. Is she going entirely of her own accord, or is she being manipulated by Zhu Jiu somehow?


4. Disembodied Ge Lan was present and aware after her death. Do you think she had any awareness between Sang Zan being empillared, and waking up memoryless? Or did she skip the time entirely?


5. In the past, there was always a significant power differential between Ge Lan and Sang Zan, one way or the other. When they're reunited, they're the most equal they've ever been. How do you think that affects their relationship?


6. Energy beings! Let's talk about energy beings. Da Qing knows of them, so are there other ways for them to be created, beside the Mountain-River Awl? Or has the Awl been de-bodying people all over history? How? Any thoughts?


7. If there are any Chinese speakers reading along, I was wondering about Wang Zheng's modern name - what would have gone into naming an amnesiac ghost 汪徵?


8. I'm also curious about how different her story is in the novel. Anyone want to talk about that?


9. And last, but certainly not least: What's your favourite parallel? :D

Some links

Fanfic

to recognise the heart in every person that you see by china_shop
Wang Zheng and Zhu Hong have a girls' night out.

Self-Defense (Won't Protect the Heart) by extrapenguin
Zhu Hong teaches Wang Zheng self-defence.

with their hearts open wide by teaotter
Wang Zheng/Sang Zan, spying on Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan.

Awl Things, Bright and Beautiful by china_shop
This isn't strictly a Wang Zheng fic - it's Da Qing time-travel fix-it - but Wang Zheng has a significant part in it.

Fanart

by chitsuu

by kitshunette

Some icons

These are mainly from the Guardian Character Battle:

abyss_valkyrie	china_shop	enviropony	extrapenguin	lynndyre
naye	tassoss	teaotter	tinny	tsubame_17

So - come and talk about Wang Zheng/Ge Lan! Share links to meta, picspams, and related fanworks, new or old! Self-recs whole-heartedly encouraged. Basically, this is the place for anything you want to say or link to about Wang Zheng.

Important: If you're commenting with meta/discussion/thoughts, please say whether you're coming from a novel perspective, a drama perspective, or a blend of the two, so we don't end up talking past each other. Thanks!

Comments

[clevermanka]

"they literally died, and that wasn't the end of their story"
It keeps on going...

I kinda wonder if Wang Zheng's patience and compassion with Sang Zan's changed person was meant to be, not necessarily a foil, but a comparison to Li Qian's attitude and regret toward her grandmother.

[trobadora]

It keeps on going...

Yes! Exactly! :D

And oooh, that's an interesting thought about Li Qian. Though Wang Zheng never has to be Sang Zan's caretaker in the way Li Qian had to be for her grandmother, there's definitely something thematic in there ...