【正文】 u n pr e dic t abl e . Al t h o ug h Chi n a Gu ar di an 201 5 S pr i ng Auc t i ons h as ac hi e ve d r e mark abl e r es u l ts , i t does n ot me an t h at t h e mark e t h as walk e d ou t of t h e pr e dic ame n t . We still have to wait for the big economic boom to invigorate the art market.‖ Even s o, the hot purs uit of s ome s pecial items appeared this spring. A special session of China Guardian Spring Auctions titled ―Fine Gilt—Bronze Buddhist Images‖ achieved a great deal with total sales volume of million yuan and 92 percent s ale rate. The 5th S hamar Rinpoc he Statue from 1617th century of Tibet was s old for million yu an . Th e Bei ji ng Ch e ng xu an Au c ti ons fe at u re d al mos t 2 ,80 0 i te ms of c oi ns an d s tamps in three s es s ions with good s ale rate. The Huac he n Auctions als o s et a s pecial s es s ion of phot og r ap hs under the condi ti on of larges cale decline of auction s es s ions . There was a palpabl e dull thud of dis app oi n t me n t that acpan ie d the return of the imperi al entour age of Zhen Huan to her homel an d . It followe d a couple years of hus hed exciteme n t as Chines e fans were fed ti dbi ts abou t their prou d concubin e who was s uppos e d to conquer the high groun d of the North Americ an mark et . Zhen Huan is , of cours e, the title characte r of The Legend of Zhen Huan , a 2021 televis ion s eries that s wept China off its feet and later 河南機(jī)電高等專科學(xué)校畢業(yè)論文 21 took other As ian countries by s torm. Two years ago, it was report e d that HBO, a premiu m cable s ervice headqu ar ter e d in the Unite d States , was going to air it in North Americ a after s ome modi fic a ti on . Now, a conde ns e d vers ion that provi des Englis h s ubtitles but no du bbi ng has finally been made avail abl e on Netflix for online s treaming . This vers ion, highly antici pate d as a miles tone in China39。s cultural foray overs eas , has been widel y pann e d by its home audie nce . Retitle d Empr es s es in the Palace, the Americ an vers ion h as been s h or t en e d f r om i ts ori gi n al 76 e pis odes at 45 mi n u t es e ac h , t o s i x 90 mi n u te e pis odes . The qu i ck pac i ng t h re w off many native viewers , who are accus tome d to a more leis urely dayti me s oap s t yl e narrati ve rhyth m. ( Chi n es e TV s t ati ons wou l d r u n t wo or t hr ee e pis odes e ve r y d ay. ) I di d n ot fi n is h t he f u ll le ng t h ve rs i on an d foun d the truncate d one not diffic ul t to follow. What39。s los t, I believe, are the interes ting s etups and paus es that illuminat e the Chines e art of s torytel li ng . Much of the plot is s t ill there. It is the flavor that was s ac ri fic e d. Th e Ame ric an e di ti on us es t he fr ame work of t he Em pres s Do wag er i n h er s e ni or ye ars re mi nis ci ng at the beginni ng and the end of each epis ode , hinting at what39。s to e and recappi n g the k ey points . This de vic e, n ot u s e d i n t h e origi n al , is cu l t ur al l y u n de rs t an da bl e bu t ar tis tic all y me di ocr e . W h at pu z zles me is t he two new s ongs for the openi ng and end credits . They were writte n in Englis h , but s ung by Chines e with an unf or t able accent. They were obvi ous l y des igne d to appe al to an Englis hs pe ak i ng bas e, but do not jibe wi t h t h e Chi n es e di al og ue . S pe ak i ng of t he di al ogu e , t he En gl is h tr ans l ati on , pick e d a par t by s ome Ch i nes e , is too literal for my tas te. I can imagine a typical American hit by a flurry of roya l rank s , addr es s es and greetings , even multiple names and titles for the s ame pers on. The firs t half hour mus t be a s wamp to wade t hr oug h , ve r y mu c h lik e my e xpe ri e nce of ge t t in g t hr ou gh a Tols t oy t ome wi t h i ts e n dl es s i n fl ec ti ons of n ames tr ans l i ter at e d i n t o le ng t h y Ch i nes e . I s e e t he c h oic e of ve r bat i m t r ans l ati on as an e f f or t f or c on ve yin g e xot ic a. It is f airl y c om pe t e n t, wi t h n o e rr or t h at I c oul d de t ec t , bu t f ails t o ris e abo ve wor ds or c apt u r e t he es s e nc e of the language . A cultural produc t us ually cr os s es over to a foreign territor y firs t by an emph as is on the mon ali t ies . But whether ins ide or outs ide China, the tempt ati on to s ell it for the differe nces is jus t too great. S ure, the s umpt u ous s ets and cos tumes are a big attrac t i on, but the narrati ve techniqu e has bee －h(huán)ow s hall I put it?－ a bit anglicize d, which is neces s ary for cultural expor t . Judging by the res pons es , this legend, which, contrar y to the claim of the Englis h trailer, is totall y fictitious , has depar te d from China but not yet lande d on American s hores . I am a big fan of Ralph Waldo Emers on39。s es s ay titled S elf Reli an ce . If you39。 ve not yet read it, I s trongly encour age you to do s o. In this es s ay, the venerab le Emers on talk s abou t es ch e wi ng t he tr a ppi n gs of s oc ie t y an d f i n di ng one39。s ow n pat h . He u rges t he re a der t o fi n d re c ti t u de an d le ad a moral life. He profes s es that, only by being s elf reliant, as oppos e d to relying on the govern me n t and being di ct at e d t o by s oc ie t y, c an one be gi n le adi ng a de ce n t an d pu r pos ef u l l i fe . He a ve rs t h at s u ch a li f e is t he onl y lif e wor t h li vi n g. I agre e wi t h hi m. Th is es s ay was wri t t e n du r i ng a ti me of s oci al u ph e a val i n Ame ric a, an d i t is rather odd that Emers on authore d it, as he was a part of the upper crus t of s ociety at the time. It jus t s o happe n e d that he look ed aroun d hi