Hong meiling

[ edit ] Main Profile
Hong Meiling is a youkai, though it isn't currently known which specific category she actually belongs to. She guards the entrance to the Scarlet Devil Mansion along with her henchmen. She is known for her mastery of the martial arts, part of which can be seen from her movement which is performed with Shin-Kyaku (a move in Chinese martial arts).

During the events of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, she bravely fought against the intruding heroines but ultimately failed to complete her job.

In Touhou Hisoutensoku she saw a roaming giant that she was certain was an incarnation of a God of Calamity, "Taisui Xingjun". However those she warned didn't realize the seriousness of the dangerous situation they were facing. Thus it was up to Meiling alone to defend the Scarlet Devil Mansion and all of Gensokyo from this destructive deity.

[ edit ] Fun Facts

 * The character for Hong literally means "Scarlet" in Japanese and "Red" in Chinese, and Meiling means "Beautiful Bell". The latter part of her name, Meiling, is at least a common Chinese name. These characters can be read in Japanese as "Kurenai Misuzu", and you'll sometimes see her name mispronounced or miswritten that way.
 * However, she is more widely known as "China" (中国, pronounced Chuugoku), the one whose real name is never remembered. At first, it was just a minor fan-only thing, but after a while, even ZUN himself said that he doesn't deny calling her "China", so it's considered half-official at the moment.
 * It is known that in 2ch, there was a debate on how to read Meiling's name. One side said Hong Meiling, and the other said Kurenai Misuzu. The debate ended (sort of) when a user said "Why don't we just call her 'China', as her clothing seems to identify her the most." As a result, even after ZUN said "Hong Meiling" is the correct pronunciation in an interview, people kept on calling Meiling "China".
 * While that alone sounds quite miserable, that incident took her from being a barely remembered minor boss and made her famous as "the laughingstock of the Touhou series". She's gained quite a lot of popularity since then, recently managing to win the 2nd Touhou Saimoe tournament, besting both protagonists and an Extra Boss. If someone hadn't started calling her "Chuugoku", she would never have achieved such glory... Quite an interesting story.
 * Meiling's nickname is further ingrained into the minds of fans by her clothing, and also by the name of her stage BGM, "Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea". Her stage theme tends to be more frequently remixed by fans than her boss theme, "Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17", to the point where "Chinese Tea" became her theme in Touhou Hisoutensoku.
 * A popular Flash animation called "My Name is Hong Meiling" spawned the meme "Sakuya-san, Sakuya-san, cleaning stop! Room cleaning stop!" (after which she gets stabbed in the forehead with a knife). It should be noted that the song in this video is actually sung to the tune of Kaguya 's and Eirin 's theme music. (The animation itself is a parody of a parody; the original featured two girls from the 1998 eroge White Album conducting an ill-fated piano lesson, with voiceovers provided by an increasingly hysterical man who winds up screaming "Mama-san, cooking stop! Dinner making stop!" in English. The original only-music track is composed by Tom Miyazaki, 宮崎吐夢.)
 * Sadly, despite reaching some level of recognition by becoming a playable character in Immaterial and Missing Power (albeit through a downloaded patch), Meiling was the only character not to have a storyline. She is almost universally considered a bottom tier character in the game as well, despite the fact that she has some of the most impressive combos in the game, as shown in here. Whether this was by accident or if Tasofro was making fun of her is unknown...
 * She is commonly referred to as the "lazy guardian" of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, though whether this stems from her actual personality or from the nickname "China" is unknown. Many Japanese people complain about the reliability and quality of products manufactured in China. There are many fanfics that depict an enraged Sakuya behind a sleeping Meiling in front of the gates to the Mansion. The implication is that she has the "Chinese" quality of "Shinrai no Chuugoku" (信頼の中国, which translates to Reliable China), with much intended sarcasm.
 * Her relationship with Sakuya seems to be a popular topic for fan work, including comics, music and games. One running gag involves her being stabbed in the head by Sakuya's knives. This is usually due to her inability to keep unwanted visitors, such as Marisa, out of the mansion.
 * It is also common for fan works to depict Meiling caring for Sakuya when the latter was a child. This scenario is somehwat plausible due to Meiling being a youkai and Sakuya being human, making it likely that Meiling is several decades older than Sakuya.
 * Sakuya and Meiling are the only characters in EoSD to have their long sideburns in braids.
 * Two of Meiling's spellcards in IaMP, Colorful Sign "Colorful Light Wind Chime and the stronger Extreme Color "Colorful Light Chaotic Dance", are very similar to Remilia's Scarlet Sign "Red the Nightless Castle" and Scarlet Devil "Scarlet Devil" cards. Whether this was done intentionally to reduce animation and development effort on Meiling's sprite is not known.
 * In the MUGEN community, Meiling is known for her "Chuugoku Satsu" attack, an obvious parody of both her nickname and the signature attack of Akuma of Street Fighter fame.
 * As the result of her comedic scenario in Touhou Hisoutensoku and the nature of one of her battles (with a rather simplified background image), fans have made numerous jokes regarding drug experimentation on Meiling's part.
 * Many of her lines in Touhou Hisoutensoku indicate that Meiling has boastful pride in China. "You're all not there yet! You're all children compared to 4000 years of history!" The script also reveals that she reads manga created by the tengu, compares Yuyuko to a jiangshi (Chinese vampire), and notes that Tenshi and the celestials read Chinese works. (Many of Tenshi's win quotes in SWR come from Chinese classics.) This is how Chinese characters in Japanese manga and anime are almost always depicted: a pervasive stereotype of the alleged common traits and unmerited pride of Chinese people.
 * Meiling's win quote against Sakuya in Touhou Hisoutensoku implies that she feels she is merely letting Sakuya get away with abusing her because there has been no formal duel between the two of them (and probably also because Sakuya outranks her in the Scarlet Devil Mansion), and that if it were a formal match, she would (and could) very easily take the Chief Maid down. There is a degree of credibility to this particular opinion, as Meiling is never seen defending herself (or even attempting to do so, for that matter) against Sakuya's outbursts of violence, probably because she's already guilty of slacking off on her job.
 * Meiling and Remilia's win quotes against each other in Touhou Hisoutensoku regarding manga that Remilia let Meiling borrow suggests that their relationship is more friendly than abusive, and that they are just fighting for the fun of it. However, Meiling's win quote suggests that Remilia does not exactly approve of her borrowing the manga on a whim (especially not when she was supposed to be working as a gate guard). She also implies that Remilia gave her a slight telling-off for doing so, which is still a much friendlier response than what Sakuya would have otherwise done...
 * If Meiling loses to Youmu in Touhou Hisoutensoku, the latter will ask Meiling about the legendary Green Dragon Blade wielded by the famous Chinese general Guan Yu. However, it would be extremely unlikely for Meiling to wield that said blade because traditionally, women seldom use pole-mounted weapons in Chinese martial arts. A more likely weapon which Meiling would have learned to wield would be either the jian, the dao, the gun, or the qiang. However, given her raw strength and aggressiveness, it would seem that Meiling's possible weapon of choice (should she have one) would be the dao, a weapon which focuses on aggressiveness, strength and speed.
 * In fanworks, Meiling seems to be some sort of big sister (rather than Remilia) to Flandre or a "playmate" to her. It could be because of the relation between Meiling's bullets and Flandre's wings. In addition, many fan works have also depicted Meiling and Flandre going out of their way to help each other on numerous occasions.
 * Meiling actually wears a pair of white pants under her dress, as shown in IaMP and Hisoutensoku. Why most artists choose to omit the pants in her artwork is an obvious nod to fan service anyone's guess. Given China's conservatism, it would be a reasonable assumption that most women martial artists were required by social conventions to cover up under their dresses, hence the pants. (In most Chinese martial arts movies, female practitioners are also depicted wearing pants under their dresses.)
 * Her race remains unconfirmed, but she's commonly associated with dragons due to her many shared motifs with them, such as her use of rainbows, hat, and name, and possible inspiration by the Chinese Hong. This is most prevalent during depictions of her theoretical EX mode in which she often adopts dragon characteristics.
 * While she can use Danmakuu, Meiling's skill with martial art is most likely unmatched by all others, simply because other characters has no concept of melee combat and focuses on Danmaku primarily.

[ edit ] Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red

 * Main article: Article and Interview: Meiling 

One day, a mysterious crop circle appears in the gardens of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, causing widespread speculation, rumors and gossip around the Mansion. Meiling, who was responsible for taking care of the garden, claims not to be the culprit, but admits that she's been tasked by Remilia to restore the garden to its original state now that her mistress has become bored with the crop circle pattern. During her interview with Aya, she notes she is quite worried, as she has no idea how to change the flowers back. Questioned about the crop circle's origins, Meiling vehemently denies falling asleep, so Aya goes on to talk about aliens...
 * The culprit revealed at the end is Patchouli Knowledge.

[ edit ] Perfect Memento in Strict Sense

 * Main article: Perfect Memento: Hong Meirin 


 * Meiling works as a gate guard at the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
 * She is a well-rounded youkai, skilled in martial arts rather than focusing on a single power.
 * Although this means she isn't very powerful among youkai, she has no weak points.
 * She is unusually human-like and will chat with humans while on the job.
 * If you don't try to get through her gate, she will rarely attack you.
 * She performs Tai Chi Chuan daily, and has a nap at noon.
 * The best way to exterminate her is straightforwardly, in a formal match.

[ edit ] The Grimoire of Marisa

 * Main article:  The Grimoire of Marisa: Hong Meiling's Spell Cards 


 * Insert Summary Here