Status Updates From ‫زهرة الثلج والمروحة السرية...

i was so scared that she was going to get a daughter i do not want to see this woman be scorned by everyone for not getting a son 😭

Leon Festinger’s Social Comparison Theory notes that we determine our own social and personal worth based on how we stack up against others. Because Lily and Snow Flower were paired as laotong precisely because they were supposed to be "equals," they are trapped in a hyper-focused mirror game. They can only evaluate themselves by looking at each other.

The Taipings swept Southern China, capturing the city of Nanjing in 1853 and making it their "Heavenly Capital" for over a decade. However, the movement imploded from the inside due to internal corruption and paranoia among its leadership. The traditional Chinese gentry and elite—alienated by the Taipings' anti-Confucianism—united with regional imperial armies and Western forces to crush the rebellion in 1864.