Huang Shan’s cosplay album ‘Remember the Time’ and the aesthetic spirit of the Wei and Jin Dynasties
Cover image of 'Remember the Time' （溯时). This photo belongs to a series entitled 'Mr Butterfly: Hallucination of Life' (蝴蝶先生), in which he appears in a white dress.
I am a huge fan of the Chinese cosplayer Huang Shan [黄山]. I finally got my copy of his most recent cosplay album Remember the Time [溯时]. Among others, he cosplayed the Sengoku-era general Imagawa Yoshimoto [今川義元]. Below is my rough translation of his observations of this historic personality:
“We often see the common stereotype of Imagawa Yoshimoto as a clown, but at the time he was also known as “Tokaido’s champion archer” as well as “the man closest to the Shogun”. I believe the real him was quite different from the stereotype of him as a foolish, fat man. It is also my guess that he was not even fat when he was young!
“How much courage does it take for an individual to persist on a kind of aesthetics that does not belong to his times, a kind of aesthetics that has been left behind by his times?
“Perhaps he just wanted to see poetry gatherings in the sakura season as a pass-time popular not just among aristocrats at court. The spirit of aristocracy was embodied in his entire person. Maybe his way was interpreted as foolish, or even idiotic. But I think in the times he lived, it was an amazing thing that he knew what he wanted and pursued it. Compared to a lot of people who were lost on the way to power, Imagawa Yoshimoto was a person of greater depth.
“He was only born in the wrong times. Therefore he should not be blamed.
“If he was born 500 years earlier, perhaps you would see this man dancing, at a splendid feast in the Heian capital of Kyoto – with beauty and joy, and faithful to his ideals to the last.”
He also cosplayed Charles I of England, and wrote some interesting comments in that regard. Below is my rough translation:
Huang Shan's cosplay of Charles I of England
“From what we learned in history, the first king ever to be beheaded was Charles I. I was deeply interested in this personality, and found that to this man the most important thing besides power was religion. Religion was the source of energy that supported him and his beloved ones. Therefore Charles I resented the middle class that wanted religious reform, as well as criticisms of the belief that royal power was derived from the authority of God. Okay, maybe that is just what I think.
“In any case, to persist on his beliefs, he fought against the tides of history.
“It is my first challenge to demonstrate three phases in the life of Charles I through different colours, makeup and facial expressions. The throne shakes amidst the ocean tides of history, and the proud king rages against the ocean! This is the photo series that bought the greatest sense of satisfaction to me among my most recent works. I try to show in pictures the story of a man fighting to uphold his beliefs. I wonder if the viewer may be able to see something in these photos that I did not see.
“This is what I look forward to most.”
Having read the above, my immediate thought was that Huang Shan is likewise someone who fights against the tides of our current times.
He ought to have been born in a time in Chinese history known as the Wei and Jin Dynasties [魏晋].
It was a strange time in Chinese history where the educated class (disappointed with politics and weary of the real world at large) devoted their attention to decadent beauty and abstract ideas instead. Powder was worn by men of fashion, dancing was a popular pass-time among men of culture, and men of beauty and graceful carriage were celebrated far and wide. It was also an era where fanatic individuals were known to have died from exhaustion of marathon debates of abstract thought known as qing tan [清談]. Qing tan was to China as footfall is to Argentina.
I feel that he would find many understanding friends and like-minded spirits in that era.
If I could travel back in time, my first choice would definitely be the Wei and Jin Dynasties too.