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Hong Meiling

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(ホン) (メイ) (リン)
xʊ̜ŋ˧˥ meɪ̯˨˩˨liŋ˧˥ (♫)
Hong Meiling
Hong Meirin, Hoan Meirin

More Alternative Spellings
Hong Meiling
Hong Meiling in Touhou Hisoutensoku
Chinese Girl
More Character Titles
Species

Youkai[1]

Abilities

Usage of Qi

Occupation

Gatekeeper and Gardener of the Scarlet Devil Mansion

Location

Scarlet Devil Mansion

Music Themes
Appearances
Official Games
Print Works

"You are a little strong, but your power is still no match for mine!"
Hong Meiling (Touhou Hisoutensoku)

Hong Meiling (紅 美鈴 Hon Meirin) is a youkai, though it isn't currently known which specific category she actually belongs to. She's the gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She is known for her mastery of the martial arts, part of which can be seen in her movement which is based on Bajiquan, such as Shin-Kyaku and Tetsuzanko.

General Information

Meiling first appeared as the Stage 3 boss and midboss of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. Later she became a playable character in Immaterial and Missing Power, one of Stage 5's targets in Shoot the Bullet, and one of the three protagonists of Touhou Hisoutensoku.

Meiling is a proud Chinese-style martial arts master and a youkai.

Personality

Meiling is very laid-back, which sometimes gets her into trouble, and is known to sleep on the job, although she does her job when needed. She regularly receives challengers and is a worthy opponent of the strong. She is not outwardly aggressive towards humans, except those who attempt to trespass on the grounds of Scarlet Devil Manor, though it seems the only humans who trespass are powerful enough to defeat her in the first place. She will also sometimes have conversations with passersby.[2]

Many of her lines in Touhou Hisoutensoku express a boastful, somewhat stereotypical patriotism for China: "You're all not there yet! You're all children compared to 4000 years of history!" She also compares Yuyuko Saigyouji to a Jiang Shi and notes that Tenshi Hinanawi and the Celestials have read Chinese classics. The script also reveals that she seems to spend a lot of time reading manga written by the tengu.

Ability

Meiling's mastery of t'ai chi ch'uan is her main ability in combat, but other than that, she has no youkai-like ability. While not particularly strong as a youkai, she is described as being well-rounded, with no particular weak point when fighting humans; this is likely why she was hired to watch the gate of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Usage of Qi

Meiling is able to manipulate her life-breath, or qi. Her danmaku and her flight likely involve projecting her qi outward to attack foes or propel herself in a manner seen in martial arts folklore and in contemporary Japanese manga.

Occupation

Meiling works as the gatekeeper and gardener of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She also acts as the doorkeeper when there's a party at the mansion. She performs Tai Chi Chuan daily, and has a nap at noon.

Character Design

Meiling's depiction in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense

Name

Her full name is Hong Meiling (紅 美鈴 Hon Meirin). The character for Hong () literally means "Scarlet/Crimson" in Japanese and "Red" in Chinese. Meiling (美鈴) means "Beauty Bell/Chime". The latter part of her name, Meiling, is a common Chinese name. Her full name is a reference to Hong Mei, a tai chi grandmaster. These characters can be read in Japanese as "Kurenai Misuzu", and is sometimes mispronounced or miswritten that way. Using English name order, her name would actually be "Meiling Hong", which is used normally by Chinese diaspora or immigrants into Western countries. Some sources and media may often read Chinese names in Japanese on'yomi, rendering her name as "Kou Birei/Kou Mirin". Meiling's name is often rendered in pinyin/Mandarin instead.

Hong () is "kou" in the on reading, "Hóng" in standard Chinese and "Hhong" in Shanghainese. It could possibly refer to the Red Guards (紅衛兵, Pinyin: Hóng Wèibīng), a youth movement of the Chinese cultural revolution. This is reinforced by her clothing. The word "guard" also has the meaning of "gatekeeper" as well. Thus, it could indicate a pun, where "guard of the family name Hong = Red Guard." "Hong" also appears in the title of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (東方魔郷). However, the name of the game in its developmental stages was 東方茶館, thus indicating that it has a strong relation to the of black tea (紅茶).

Additionally, her first name could also stand for , which means rainbow, since it has the same on reading as as well as the same pronunciation in standard Chinese and Shanghainese. However, it also is synonymous with a two-headed dragon-like creature in a Chinese-context, thus the hóng dragon's rainbow associations may be reflected in Meiling's title of "Colorful Rainbow Gatekeeper", the naming theme of some of her spell cards, and her bullet patterns and attacks being usually rainbow-colored.

Her name was spelled by ZUN as in Immaterial and Missing Power and the corrected version of Sangetsusei as Hong Meirin. Her name became Hoan Meirin in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense. Though in pinyin, it would be "Meiling"; there is not a single source within the Touhou Project itself that states that it is spelled in this manner. Additionally, Meiling says "Geez, please remember my name~" in a win quote in Immaterial and Missing Power while ZUN didn't know how to answer the question "Is Chuugoku's name forgotten?"[3]

Design

Meiling has aqua-blue eyes and long, scarlet hair that symbolizes both her name and the place that she's guarding. Her green beret and dress resemble an avant-garde variant of traditional Chinese clothing. Her beret has a gold star on the front with the Traditional Chinese character "" that is read and pronounced as "lóng" in standard Chinese and means dragon. She wears white pants in her fighting game sprites.

Appearances

Games

Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
Meiling's sprite in EoSD

During the events of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, she bravely fought against the intruding heroines, but ultimately failed. She ends up being followed by the player character to the mansion against her will, initiating another fight.

Spin-offs

Immaterial and Missing Power

Meiling was made playable in Immaterial and Missing Power through a downloadable patch, but only in the versus mode; there is no main story campaign for her.

Shoot the Bullet
Meiling's sprite in StB

In Shoot the Bullet, Aya Shameimaru encountered Meiling on stage 5 and took photos of her danmaku.

Touhou Hisoutensoku

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 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. After defeating some pseudo-characters sent as assassins, she defeats a Giant Catfish and faces Taisui himself, then realizing it was all a dream.

Literature

Meiling at a loss regarding the "crop circle" in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red.
Patchouli revealing to Meiling that she is the one behind the crop circle.
Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red

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 is 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 Shameimaru, 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.

Touhou Bougetsushou

During the party to celebrate the completion of Remilia's Moon rocket in Silent Sinner in Blue, Meiling was briefly shown guarding the gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion as invitees walked by.

Wild and Horned Hermit

In Chapter 16 of Wild and Horned Hermit, it appears that because Remilia Scarlet and Sakuya Izayoi were both drinking from the Ibaraki Box of a Hundred Medicines at a flower viewing, they started to tease Meiling.

Cheating Detective Satori

In the first incident of Cheating Detective Satori, Patchouli Knowledge is revealed to have been non-fatally poisoned by an unknown person, leading to an investigation at the Scarlet Devil Mansion of who the culprit could be. Early on into the investigation, Meiling is shown standing at the gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She is approached by Rin Kaenbyou, who is presumably there to ask Meiling about the incident. She first asks Meiling if there were any visitors at the time of Patchouli's poisoning, to which Meiling tells her there were none. Smiling, Rin then asks Meiling if she was even watching the gate at the time, to which Meiling hesitantly responds that she was. However, Rin tells Meiling what others have told her, which is that the gate to the Scarlet Devil Mansion is usually wide open while the gatekeeper is notoriously absent. Meiling appears quite nervous at this point, even more so when Rin mentions that the detective (Satori Komeiji) can read minds, so Meiling had "better just be honest" about whether or not she was watching the gate, as it will come to light at one point or another. Flustered and feeling the pressure, Meiling cracks and tells Rin that she was asleep at the time that Patchouli was poisoned.

Later on in the incident, Sakuya Izayoi is accused of being the culprit of Patchouli's poisoning, and thus is locked away in the basement. Meiling visits Sakuya to bring her food and scorn her due to the amount of evidence pointing to her being the culprit. She slams and locks the basement door on Sakuya before leaving her there alone with Flandre Scarlet.

Sometime later in this same incident, Reimu Hakurei is flying overhead when she spots Meiling passed out on the ground. Reimu lands and approaches Meiling, who attempts to slap Meiling awake, however this does not work. Rin then approaches Reimu and the passed out Meiling on the ground. Rin briefly inspects Meiling before concluding that the symptoms Meiling is feeling are the same as Patchouli's symptoms, meaning that Meiling has also been poisoned by the unknown culprit.

At the end of the first incident, it is revealed that both Patchouli and Meiling were not poisoned, but rather they were possessed by a criminal from Former Hell. Said criminal is a vengeful spirit with the ability control the body of whom they possess, as well as devour the magical energy of those they possess. The criminal first possessed Sakuya, who used Sakuya's body to move closer on Patchouli. The spirit then hopped onto Meiling, who sapped her energy and put her into a coma.

Relationships

Meiling has at least communicated to the entire cast of Touhou Hisoutensoku and may be on friendly terms with anyone who walks nearby the gates of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion

Remilia Scarlet

Remilia is Meiling's mistress. Being the type of person Remilia is, she tends to tease all her subordinates, and Meiling is no exception. She does get mad at her sometimes if things don't go her way, but the two are generally on friendly terms, and in Touhou Hisoutensoku it's suggested that Remilia reads some of the same manga Meiling does.

Sakuya Izayoi

Sakuya is a fellow employee of Meiling. Meiling's win quote against Sakuya Izayoi in Touhou Hisoutensoku implies a friendly, if somewhat formal, relationship between the two of them. In those quotes, Meiling also tells Sakuya that she always goes easy on her, so it seems they do spar often. She also claims that she wouldn't go easy on the maid if it were a formal match, but it's unknown how much effort there is on Sakuya's part, or if Meiling's claims about her strength are true at all. Sakuya is also shown to care for Meiling, though is strict about her not slacking off.

Patchouli Knowledge

Patchouli is the friend of her mistress, and sometimes berates her for not thinking enough and spending too much time reading senseless comics.

Fairy maids and other staff

The fairy maids assist Meiling in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, but it's unknown what sort of authority she has over the fairy maids in the mansion. Perfect Memento in Strict Sense implies that youkai also join in Meiling's battles on a whim, but instead usually only point and laugh.

Flandre Scarlet

Flandre is Remilia's younger sister. It's unknown what kind of relationship Meiling and Flandre have, however.

Minor Relationships

Taisui Xingjun and the giant catfish

Taisui Xingjun is Meiling's sworn enemy and the Giant Catfish is the avatar of Taisui Xingjun. They both only appeared in her dream while she was reading a manga, so any realistic communications with them is so far not shown.

Gallery

Artworks

Sprites

Illustrations

Screenshots

Others

Skills

Skills
Name Translated Comments Games Usage
Total: 13
連環撃 Multistrike IaMP AA or AAB or AAAB or AAA2B or AAAA
螺光歩 Spiral-Light Steps IaMP
Soku
236A/B
Default 214B/C
紅砲 Crimson Cannon IaMP
Soku
623A/B
Default 623B/C
黄震脚 Yellow Quake Kick IaMP
Soku
214A/B
Default 22B/C
降華蹴 Kick of Showering Brilliance IaMP
Soku
421A/B
Alternate 214B/C
芳波 Fragrant Wave Soku Default 236B/C
水形太極拳 Water Taichi Fist Soku Alternate 236B/C
彩雨 Colorful Rain Related: Meiling's Colorful Sign "Colorful Rain" (EoSD) Soku Alternate 236B/C
紅寸剄 Crimson Energy Release Soku Alternate 623B/C
虎剄 Tiger Chi Release Related: Meiling's Chi Sign "Fierce Tiger Energy Release" (Soku) Soku Alternate 623B/C
烈虹拳 Intense Rainbow Fist Soku Alternate 214B/C
地龍波 Earth Dragon Wave Soku Alternate 22B/C
天龍脚 Sky Dragon Kick Related: Meiling's Chi Sign "Earth Dragon Sky Dragon Kick" (Soku) Soku Alternate 22B/C

Spell Cards

Spell Cards
Name Translated Comments Games Stage
Total: 24
華符「芳華絢爛」 Flower Sign "Gorgeous Sweet Flower" Related: Flower Sign "Selaginella 9" EoSD
GoM
St. 3: E/N
華符「セラギネラ9」 Flower Sign "Selaginella 9" EoSD St. 3: H/L
虹符「彩虹の風鈴」 Rainbow Sign "Colorful Rainbow Wind Chime" Related: Colorful Sign "Colorful Light Wind Chime" EoSD St. 3: E/N/H/L
幻符「華想夢葛」 Illusion Sign "Imaginary Flower Yumekazura" EoSD St. 3: H/L
彩符「彩雨」 Colorful Sign "Colorful Rain" Related: Colorful Sign "Vivid Chaotic Dance" EoSD St. 3: E/N
彩符「彩光乱舞」 Colorful Sign "Vivid Chaotic Dance" Related: Extreme Color "Vivid Chaotic Dance" EoSD St. 3: H/L
彩符「極彩颱風」 Colorful Sign "Dazzling Color Typhoon" EoSD
GoM
St. 3: N/H/L
彩符「彩光風鈴」 Colorful Sign "Colorful Light Wind Chime" IaMP
Soku
Use
Use
極彩「彩光乱舞」 Extreme Color "Vivid Chaotic Dance" IaMP
Soku
Use
Use
光符「華光玉」 Light Sign "Blossoming Light Orb" IaMP Use
極光「華厳明星」 Polar Light "Flower-Adorned Morning Star" IaMP Use
華符「破山砲」 Flower Sign "Mountain-Breaking Cannon" IaMP Use
三華「崩山彩極砲」 Three Blossoms "Colorful Ultimate Mountain-Breaking Cannon" (三華(sange) maybe has a double meaning, three flowery and powerful attacks and dying gracefully (散華 sange)) IaMP Use
華符「彩光蓮華掌」 Flower Sign "Colorful Light Lotus Flower Palm" StB
Soku
GoM
St. 5
Use
彩翔「飛花落葉」 Colorful Flip "Fluttering Petals and Falling Leaves" StB
Soku
St. 5
Story
彩華「虹色太極拳」 Colorful Chinese Flower "Rainbow Taijiquan" Taijiquan: a kind of traditional Chinese shadow boxing. StB
Soku
St. 5
Use
虹符「烈虹真拳」 Rainbow Sign "Intense Rainbow Fist" Soku Use
気符「星脈弾」 Chi Sign "Star-Pulse Shot" Soku Use
撃符「大鵬拳」 Strike Sign "Dapeng Fist" Soku Use
気符「地龍天龍脚」 Chi Sign "Earth Dragon Sky Dragon Kick" Soku Use
気符「猛虎内剄」 Chi Sign "Fierce Tiger Energy Release" Soku Use
星気「星脈地転弾」 Star Chi "Earth-Moving Star Pulse Shot" Soku Use
熾撃「大鵬墜撃拳」 Blazing Strike "Dapeng-Felling Fist" Soku Use
彩符「極彩沛雨」 Colorful Sign "Vivid Color Downpour" Soku Story

Additional Information

  • If Meiling loses to Youmu in Touhou Hisoutensoku, Youmu will ask if Meiling shouldn't just use a weapon, namely a green dragon blade. This can be a source of confusion, since many would imagine the legendary Green Dragon Crescent Blade wielded by the famous Chinese general Guan Yu, but women seldom use pole arms in Chinese martial arts. In Japan, the term has become a common misnomer for the liuyedao and other Chinese sabers. As Youmu admits she has only heard about them in stories, the use of her local, incorrect term is likely intentional.
  • One of her normal bullet attacks (along with a few of her skill cards) in Touhou Hisoutensoku resembles Krizalid's Typhoon/Tuhon Rage from The King of Fighters '99, 2000, and 2002: Unlimited Match.
  • Meiling looks very similar to Orange.
  • Meiling is one of the only characters to not make a cameo appearance in Hopeless Masquerade.
  • Meiling's Movement in Touhou Hisoutensoku is based on Bajiquan, a Chinese-martial art, that is popular in fighting games because its routine was practiced by moving in a mostly straight line, making it easy to translate into a fighting game.
    • Meiling's Idle Stance on that game is Liang Yi Zhuang. The well-known fighting stance of that martial art.
  • Meiling's spell card Fiery Attack "Roc-Killing Fist resembles Yun's First Super Art from Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact
  • Meiling has a Gongfu tea ceremony in chapter 4 of Cheating Detective Satori.
  • Shibata Masahiro's manga series "Sarai", published from 1998–2007, seems to be a big inspiration for many of the characters from EoSD. Sarai is a manga about superpowered maids fighting youkai and monsters in a dystopian future.
    • The main character of Sarai, Kannagi Sarai, (神薙サライ) is a red haired maid, and is possibly the inspiration for Hong Meiling. As EoSD uses a red motif, from the name Scarlet to Meiling's last name, Hong, also meaning red/scarlet in Chinese/Japanese, this character likely influenced the central motif of EoSD.

Fandom

Official Profiles

Hong Meiling EoSD ○華人小娘 

紅 美鈴(ホン・メイリン)

能力:気を使う程度の能力


3面ボスです。中国人風の妖怪です。

カラフルで民族っぽい衣装です。彼女は紅魔館の門番で、
湖外からやってくる侵入者を積極的に排除しています。
これといった特別なキャラではないのですが、ここで初めて、ストーリーに関係あるものになっていきます。
といってもお嬢様の存在を言うだけですが。

カードアタック 全7種

Chinese Girl

Hong Meiling

Ability: Usage of Qi


Stage 3 boss. A Chinese-looking youkai.

Her clothing is colorful and somewhat traditional. She is the gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and prevents intruders from beyond the lake from reaching the mansion. She is by no means a special character, but she is the first character that has something to do with the main story. Even if that something happens to be merely mentioning the Mistress.

Total of seven card attacks.

Touhou Hisoutensoku - official website[4]
Hong Meiling HSTS  ○ 華人小娘

紅 美鈴

いつも騒がしい紅魔館。その日も例外なく騒がしかった。
門番である彼女は、紅魔館の主であるレミリア・スカーレットに
何やら報告していたが、 主は軽く聞き流していた。

彼女は漠然とした不安を感じていた。
朝方、山の麓に巨大な人影を見たのである。
そして、生ぬるい霧をまき散らし、消えてしまった。

アレは一体何だったのか。
大鵬の様な大きな影、吐き出された禍々しい霧、彼女は確信していた。

アレは凶事の顕形「太歳星君(たいさいせいくん)」の影である。


ついに幻想郷の全妖怪が
手を取り合って戦わないといけない凶神が現れたのだと、
紅魔館の主に報告していたのだ。

勿論それは聞き入れられなかった。

彼女は思っていた。
退屈な毎日を少し楽しくする為に、わざと誇張しましたけどね、と。

Chinese Girl

Hong Meiling

The always noisy Scarlet Devil Mansion. That day, it was as noisy as ever. Its gate guard had reported something to the mansion's master, Remilia Scarlet, but the master had loftily ignored her.

The girl felt a vague sense of uneasiness. That morning, she had seen a giant figure. Then, it dissolved into a lukewarm mist and disappeared.

Just what was that? A big shadow like a roc, and a sinister mist being produced. She was certain.

It was the shadow of the Buddha of Misfortune, "Taisui Xingjun".


She reported to the master of the mansion that an evil god that all youkai must join forces and fight against had finally appeared in Gensokyo.

Naturally, nobody listened to her.

The girl thought. In order to break up the everyday boredom with a little fun, she had intentionally exaggerated a bit.

ZUN's comment from Dai Touhouten plaque
東方というタイトル名で、Windows版一作目に洋館を出したら面白いよねー。という意外性で始まった紅魔郷ですが、さらに洋館の門番を中華風だったらさらに面白いかなー、という極度のひねくれより生まれたキャラクターです。

当時、名前が読み辛いと言う事もあって『中国』という愛称で呼ばれていて可愛がれていましたが、今では名前を覚えて貰えて、ますよね?格好いい役から間抜けな役までこなすオールラウンダーです。

For my first Windows debut with a title named "Eastern," wouldn't it be interesting if I designed it around a Western-style mansion? That's the contrarianism EoSD was based on, and I made it more fun by making a Chinese gatekeeper guarding a Western-style mansion. She's the character born from such extreme contrarianism.

During that time, her name was so hard to pronounce so people gave her the lovely nickname "China" and people loved it. Nowadays, pretty much everyone knows how to pronounce her actual name, at least I hope so. She's a versatile character that can fill both a cool and a dumb role.

Official Sources

Official sources

See Also

References

  1. Hieda no Akyuu: Perfect Memento in Strict Sense — "Hong Meiling is one of the youkai that lives in the Scarlet Devil Mansion."
  2. Perfect Memento in Strict Sense/Hong Meiling
  3. Meiji University talkshow "Dawn of Touhou"
  4. 4.0 4.1 "登場人物" (in 日本語). Tasogare Frontier. Retrieved August 31, 2011.