Currently I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my flight, and for some reason I have an urge to talk about female characters in "The Ravages of Time":
Once I tried to convince my husband to read "The Ravages of Time":
"You should read this manhua, Its really great!"
He, with a completely straight face: "But isn't it manhua for girls?" me: O_O
He laughed: "But there are no female characters - only cute boys!"
"Not true! There are also a lot of handsome men!", I almost replied.
But instead I started counting, and it didn't take a lot of time: Sun Shu, Zhang Chunhua, Xiao Cha, Qiao sisters, Niu Fu's wife, Lady Wu, Lady Zheng, Lady Fan...
Of course, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" also doesn't have a lot of female characters. Besides, in the manhua the roles of 2 of them - Diaochan and Lady Zou - are given to Xiao Meng who is (more or less) male. This is a bit distressing since as much as I'm fond of pretty boys and handsome men, I love to read about women as well. On
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I'm not very fond of her for some reason, but I'm biased - I don't like most of things related to Liaoyuan Huo. Sun Shu - as a character - is perfect. In this not so realistic manhua she nevertheless is a very realistic character. (Reminds me somewhat of Brienne from "The Song of Fire and Ice".) Very realistic: a capable warrior but just like in real life she is no match for several trained soldiers. A strong and independent woman - but her personality prevents her from finding happiness in a male-dominated era of arranged marriages. She can't find her place in life and has terrible luck in love - a sad and very believable story.
Zhang Chunhua - another great character and another reminder of difficulties women of that era had to face. She even got a whole lecture delivered specifically to her by that nameless Yuan Shu's advisor - about women's place in the Confucian society: obedience before all other virtues, and at every stage of