Talk:Shifting Spring Cage

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Potential errors

While I was writing this article yesterday, there were two details that were unclear for me. The first has to do with whether 「移春檻」 is being used by extension for the team submitting this or refers only to the flower procession, motorcade, or parade fleet (i.e. the 花車隊, I actually do not know what this is usually called in English). 一个赛艇门 has already brought this matter up to me in my talk page. To whom it may concern, please feel free to refer it.

The other question relates to the spectacle currently described in this article, consisting of the elephants, the rhinoceros, and the dancers who performed an illusion transforming peonies to butterflies. Who this presentation belongs to is unclear to me in the manhua because they appear without identification at the opening of the festival, then immediately Yang Guozhong's team is pronounced the victor. This made me think that this is Yang Guozhong's entry for the contest because it is indeed the grandest like Li Bai said it would be. In hindsight, it is odd to me that the victor would be instantly announced just as the festival began, when it would appear the other candidates' submissions hadn't even been given a chance to be examined, unless the festival is organized such that reviews of the submissions are handled behind-the-scenes beforehand, then the victor is announced at the commencement. Another possibility is that the manhua presents the opening activity of the festival in highly condensed time for the sake of pacing because manga do have a tendency to do this.

Regardless, I am now suspecting that this grandest procession may not actually be Yang Guozhong's but Yang Guifei's, who IIRC from promotional material is the one who loves to host (or sponsor or at least represent) these festivals. It may be possible that this particular spectacle is one she herself has prepared for the opening of the festival and not an actual submission for the contest. The most telling evidence for this is that the illusionists' butterflies are perfectly choreographed to fly directly to Yang Guifei when she appears on the balcony, whereupon she directs one of the butterflies to the chosen victor. Because of this, I fear that the paragraph I wrote attributing this spectacle to Yang Guozhong's team is actually in error, and I am thinking of how to remove it without breaking the flow of the writing.

If anyone else has read the manhua, can you please offer a second opinion on what you think is the context behind this scene? Sol Pacificus^(Cyfiero) 23:47, 8 December 2020 (UTC)