Ode to the Great Ming (Heavenly Questions)

This song was adapted from the later-era Jade Plate.

When it debuted at the Spring Festival Gala, Shen Shanden's scalp tingled.

A song like this would still have been rare even ten or twenty years later.

Every time he heard it, it was deeply stirring!

Adapting Moon Plate into Ode to the Great Ming had taken a great deal of thought.

"Sun and moon, sun and moon, why do you hang above the rooftop? Why do you freely give your radiance? Why are you sometimes blazing, sometimes cool? Sometimes together, sometimes hidden?"

It voiced curious questions from a child's perspective.

Then the melody gradually intensified.

"Have you ever been stained by Jinling frost? Have you ever shone upon the Northern Desert and struck down the Heavenly Wolf? Have you ever witnessed Hongwu raise his spear and reclaim the nine provinces?"

It asked the sun and moon in the sky, while illuminating the Great Ming China of history.

Yes, Great Ming China, not the Ming Dynasty.

Every dynasty had called itself China. The Ming Dynasty had never called itself the Ming Dynasty; Great Ming was China.

The founder of Great Ming China, Zhu Yuanzhang, rose from the ruins of the Chinese Nation and emerged from devastation. With one hand, he held up the collapsing world and set the overturned order straight.

He was truly worthy of being called a national hero!

The lyric went, "Broken armor turns into spring rivers."

There was no self-condemnation, no treating Great Unification as some endless cycle.

And that was a fact. Great Unification, especially one with high legitimacy, could bring a hundred or two hundred years of peace afterward.

It could nurture endless vitality and advance technology generation after generation.

At the same time, it echoed China's philosophical tradition of "turning weapons of war into gifts of jade and silk," as well as its pursuit of harmony.

Destruction had never been the goal. It was merely a means.

"Great Ming, Great Ming, continue China's glorious chapter! The blazing sacred flame shines across the eight directions!"

It was like a sword leaving its sheath. The childish voices carried the force of crashing waves.

Then came, "Great Ming, Great Ming, that crimson banner now snaps proudly in the wind!"

It created the feeling of time and space converging.

The "crimson banner" could be seen as the Red Turban Army at the end of the Yuan and beginning of the Ming, or as the red flag of modern history.

If Zhu Yuanzhang had brought the Chinese Nation back from old age to its prime, then there was another person who, after China had been shattered and carved up by the great powers, brought it from decrepitude back to youth.

Not merely rejuvenating it, but remaking it from the very bones.

It defeated the strongest power of the age in the form of new life!

From struggling to save the nation from destruction, from the threat of national extinction, to dividing the world into three parts!

A plot even fantasy novels would not dare write had unfolded in reality.

Of course, such an echo was no accident.

"Call forth the Kunpeng, spread its wings above the nine heavens."

It drew from Free and Easy Wandering, as well as Charm of a Maiden: Birds' Questions and Answers: "The Kunpeng spreads its wings, ninety thousand li, stirring the whirlwind and horned gale."

It symbolized soaring into the sky.

The song entered its second verse.

"Which is mightier, Cast Iron Black Armor or Fire Dragon Spitting Flames?"

Cast Iron Black Armor referred to forging techniques, while Fire Dragon Spitting Flames referred to muskets and cannons.

They symbolized the era's strongest hard power in military affairs and technology.

They also represented the timeline moving forward. After "broken armor turns into spring rivers," the scars of war were finally healed by the resilience of civilization.

On the foundation of Great Unification, stability, and peace, even higher technology developed.

"Which shines brighter, the Yongle Encyclopedia or Zheng He's Treasure Ships?"

From Hongwu to Yongle, whether the Yongle Encyclopedia or Zheng He's Treasure Ships, both were brilliant achievements of their age.

There was culture, and there was military strength.

And unlike other civilizations, Great Ming China's ocean voyages and geographical discoveries brought neither colonization, plague, nor slaughter.

Great Ming China merely went to take a look, only to discover that nowhere else lived better than itself.

If one examined it more closely,

Great Ming China's ability to undertake ocean voyages meant it already possessed a certain technological foundation, and that foundation had not been built through plundering other peoples and territories.

In other words, technological progress could be achieved without colonial plunder and slaughter.

"Zheng He's Voyages" and "Western Geographical Discoveries" formed a stark contrast.

In terms of motives, process, and outcome, they completely refuted the Western narrative that "regardless of anything else, colonial plunder brought modern technology."

They also shattered the condescending hierarchy that pirates were superior to farmers, and maritime civilization superior to agrarian civilization.

That was precisely why the subject of "Zheng He's Voyages" held such far-reaching significance. This was the true first Age of Geographical Discoveries, yet the Western-Centric Historical View ran rampant, and the West was powerful, leaving later generations unable to clear their ancestors' names.

At the same time, they represented two civilizations, two logics, two paths, and two models.

To film it well, one had to tear away the mask of the hypocritical West, possess the will to overturn Western narratives, and present an utterly different civilization. Otherwise, it would be difficult to do it justice.

"Sun and moon, sun and moon, what bloodline has turned the tide since the Tang-Yu Three Ages?"

It formed a chorus with history.

The "Tang-Yu Three Ages" referred to the eras of Emperor Yao, Emperor Shun, and Emperor Yu in ancient China, representing profound cultural legitimacy and continuity.

On one hand, Great Ming China believed that after the China of the Tang-Yu Three Ages, it alone was the most orthodox successor.

On the other hand, it was also the lineage of Chinese history, traceable back to "the source of Chinese Civilization, the age of sage kings."

And all of it was real, not a made-up story.

"Let mountains and rivers be reforged; let the golden realm suffer no wounds!"

It named Great Ming's place in history, remade the land and rivers, and added a weight of history.

Within the song, alongside its heroic spirit, there was also the faintest trace of questioning.

This question was directed at the universe, at the sun and moon, and at the present.

After all,

there was still a gap in the land and rivers of the present, and the golden realm was not yet whole.

Thus came the next lines.

"Sun and moon, sun and moon, does the Heavenly Palace have an answer? When will the fallen dragon return? When will the rooster sing the unfinished poem?"

The dragon's return and the rooster's song were, in truth, one question: when would the rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation be realized?

Together with the historical weight and unyielding spirit of the earlier line, "since the Tang-Yu Three Ages, turn the tide";

the utter certainty of "reforge the mountains and rivers, let the golden realm suffer no wounds";

and the firm resolve of the later line, "ringing boldly toward the Milky Way!"

all showed that this question, asked of heaven and earth, ancestors, and history, was not born of confusion or helplessness. It was more an expectation for the future, filled with fearless exploration and heroic spirit.

The dragon in shallow waters was only temporary!

The unfinished poem would surely be completed!

"Great Ming, Great Ming, bear the Tiangang! The blazing sacred flame shines across the eight directions!"

At this point, the chorus erupted once more, even more majestic than the first time, displaying the grandeur of Great Ming.

"Great Ming, Great Ming, this land has donned new splendor once more! The red sun shines upon the Divine Land, and all ages bathe in the morning light!"

"The red sun shines upon the Divine Land" created a historical echo.

"All ages bathe in the morning light" was a beautiful wish, and also an answer already taking shape.

In the agrarian age, Chinese Civilization could achieve a hundred or two hundred years of peace. In the materially abundant industrial age, with Chinese wisdom, it could achieve a thousand, two thousand, or even longer years of peace and well-being.

Great Ming China's peaceful environment had brought technological progress, allowing it to become the foremost power of its age.

Industrial China should be even stronger.

In later generations, Western capital logic seemed to have reached its limit, but from the East's perspective, it had only just begun.

In the agrarian age, China's lower bound for living standards could reach the upper bound of other regions. Had that been achieved in the industrial age?

In the agrarian age, China fought the heavens for survival, with generations devoted to taming rivers.

In the industrial age, had the mountains all been moved? Had the seas been filled? Had the Yellow River, that disobedient mother, become a responsible one?

Surely it could not be that in the agrarian age she randomly elbowed her own children, and in the industrial age she still elbowed them. What would all that development have been for?

As for the anxiety manufactured by certain people,

a defeated nation without sovereignty did not deserve it!

The later chorus erupted again.

"Great Ming, Great Ming, bear the Tiangang! The blazing sacred flame shines across the eight directions! Great Ming, Great Ming, this land has donned new splendor once more! The red sun shines upon the Divine Land, and all ages bathe in the morning light!"

It was even more resolute, as though heaven and earth themselves were resonating, pushing the emotion to its highest peak!

Only the children's voices remained, gathering and converging into the strongest sound. In voices of children, like gold and iron striking together, they left behind a chorus that was decisive, filled with conviction and pride.

"Great Ming, Great Ming! Hey! Great Ming!"

Like the final charge horn of an army formation, it rang through the clouds, its echoes lingering afterward.

Shen Shanden wanted to use Embroidered Spring Blade: The Sun and Moon Reopen to force open the doors of the film industry. The Sun and Moon Reopen: Ode to the Great Ming had to fully embody the film's spirit.

Only by stunning everyone, especially Han Sanping, would he have a chance.

That was why he needed this song to sound earthshaking.

Then the clear, bright children's chorus would strike straight at the heart.

Hearing the request to "play it again," it seemed he had succeeded!

The laptop player had already finished, but the impact of that sound had yet to fade.

As the final note fell, its lingering resonance drifted through the cramped meeting room.

I originally planned to release a big chapter at noon tomorrow, but a reader reminded me of something, so I'll post one chapter after midnight, then another at noon tomorrow. After that, updates will all be at noon, which should help the follow-up reading data. The chapters will become shorter; there are too few chapters right now, and shorter chapters make it look like there are more.

As the old saying goes, good things never come true, while bad things always do.

I wrote a marketing plot for this novel and got torn apart by criticism, hitting the darkest moment. Then reality really gave me a blow to the head.

I haven't slept well these past few days. Mainly, there were too many things on my mind. Just as the story hit one hundred thousand words and was about to enter its climax, I had no choice but to stop.

Yesterday, I only slept a few hours. I forced myself onward on sheer determination and wrote more than twelve thousand words, getting the beginning down. I can't stop updating during the new-book period. There's no traffic right now, so I can only hold on until one hundred thousand words and see whether the smart recommendation gives me a chance.

When I woke up, it was one misfortune after another. I caught a nasty flu, and my throat already felt uncomfortable when I was sleeping. Maybe I've been too exhausted these past two days, and my resistance dropped.

Everyone should take care of yourselves too. This nasty flu hasn't gone away yet.

Lianhua Qingwen is still useful. I take two capsules at a time and swallow them without water. Then my windpipe feels cool, and I feel much better.

In the end, good things take time. After rewriting it, I feel it's better than the previous version. Mainly because chasing overseas awards was too awkward. Now I'm going all in directly, and I'm confident in the later plot too.

After this chapter, I'll delete the earlier explanatory single chapter so it doesn't affect new readers. We still have to keep looking forward.