xʊ̜ŋ˧˥ meɪ̯˨˩˨liŋ˧˥ (♫) Hong Meiling Hong Meirin, Hoan Meirin More Alternative Spellings | |
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 Hong Meiling in Touhou Hisoutensoku Chinese GirlMore Character Titles | |
| Species | |
| Abilities |
Usage of Qi |
| Occupation |
Gatekeeper and Gardener of the Scarlet Devil Mansion |
| Location | |
Music Themes | |
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Appearances | |
| Official Games | |
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| Print Works | |
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"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 who serves as the gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and is known for her martial arts. She first appeared as the Stage 3 boss of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and first became a playable character through a downloadable patch in Immaterial and Missing Power as a versus mode character with no story, as well as one of the three protagonists of Touhou Hisoutensoku.
Meiling is very laid-back, which sometimes gets her into trouble, and is known to sleep on the job.[2] However, 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 Mansion, 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.[3]
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.
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. [3]
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.
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.[3]
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○華人小娘
紅 美鈴（ホン・メイリン） 能力：気を使う程度の能力
カラフルで民族っぽい衣装です。彼女は紅魔館の門番で、 カードアタック 全7種 |
Chinese Girl Hong Meiling Ability: Usage of Qi
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. |
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○ 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。 彼女は漠然とした不安を感じていた。 アレは一体何だったのか。 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。
勿論それは聞き入れられなかった。 彼女は思っていた。 |
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".
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. |
| 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. |
| Name | Translated | Comments | Games | Usage | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total: 13
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| 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 | ||
| Name | Translated | Comments | Works | 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 | |||
Her full name is Hong Meiling (紅 美鈴, Hon Meirin). The character for Hong (紅) literally means "scarlet/crimson" in Japanese and "red" in Chinese. Meiling (美鈴) means "beautiful 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 western name order, her name would actually be "Meiling Hong", which is used normally by Chinese diaspora or immigrants into Western countries. Meiling's name is often rendered in Mandarin Pinyin, although some sources and media may read Chinese names in Japanese on'yomi, rendering her name as "Kou Birei/Kou Mirin".
(紅) is "kou" in the Japanese on reading, "Hóng" in standard Chinese/Mandarin and "Ghon" (pronounced "hong") 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 (東方紅魔郷). However, the name of the game in its developmental stages was 東方紅茶館, thus indicating that it has a strong relation to the 紅 of black tea (紅茶).
Additionally, her given name could also be a play on 虹, which means rainbow, since it has the same on reading and the same pronunciation in Shanghainese and standard Chinese/Mandarin as 紅. 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" in Shoot the Bullet, the naming theme of some of her spell cards, and her bullet patterns and attacks being usually rainbow-colored.
In Immaterial and Missing Power and the corrected version of Sangetsusei, her name is spelled as Hong Meirin. It became Hoan Meirin in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense. Although it would be "Meiling" in Chinese pinyin; 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. ZUN did not know how to answer the question "Is Chuugoku's name forgotten?",[4] though this may simply be due to "China" (中国, Chuugoku) being a fan-nickname unfamiliar to ZUN at the time.
Meiling has aqua-blue eyes and long, scarlet/salmon colored 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 "龍" that is read and pronounced as "lóng" in standard Chinese and means "dragon". She has a strip on her dress with a Chinese-style spiral pattern (Huiwen 回纹). She wears white pants in her fighting game sprites. In the early chapters of Foul Detective Satori drawn by Ginmokusei, she wears a dress with a lozenge-shaped cutout and cleavage, and have Huiwen patterns in the border of her dress.
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.
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.
In Shoot the Bullet, Aya Shameimaru encountered Meiling on stage 5 and took photos of her danmaku.
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.
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 has 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.
| Attention: This section is a stub and it needs expanding with more information related to the section's topic. If you can add to it in any way, please do so. |
Hieda no Akyuu writes an in-universe encyclopedic article on Meiling as part of the Gensokyo Chronicle.
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.
Meiling is one of the people whose spell cards Marisa Kirisame documents, adding descriptions, comments, and considerations to imitate them.
Early on into the investigation of Patchouli Knowledge's collapse, 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. Meiling turns on the defensive after Rin asks if she was even watching the gate at the time, but Rin tells Meiling what others have told her about the gate to the Scarlet Devil Mansion being usually wide open with the gatekeeper notoriously absent. Meiling appears quite nervous at this point, even more so when Rin mentions that the detective can read minds. 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, attempting to slap Meiling awake until Rin approaches Reimu. 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 were rather possessed by a criminal from Former Hell, a vengeful spirit with the ability to control the body as well as devour the magical energy of those they possess. The criminal first possessed Sakuya to move closer on Patchouli. The spirit then hopped onto Meiling, sapped her energy and put her into a coma. After Satori Komeiji finishes the explanation, it is shown that Flandre Scarlet was going to strangle Meiling, thinking she was the real culprit.
Meiling has at least spoken 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.
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. In Touhou Hisoutensoku, it's suggested that Remilia reads some of the manga Meiling does.
Sakuya is a fellow employee of Meiling. Meiling's win quote against Sakuya 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 is the friend of her mistress and sometimes berates her for not thinking enough and spending too much time reading senseless comics.
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 is Remilia's younger sister. It's unknown what kind of relationship Meiling and Flandre have, as they were seen interacting in only a brief incident in Foul Detective Satori.
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 (and whether they even exist outside the dream) are currently unknown
Meiling artwork from Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
Meiling artwork from Immaterial and Missing Power
Meiling's colors from Touhou Hisoutensoku. Middle top refers to her 2P palette from Immaterial and Missing Power.
Meiling from Who's Who of Humans & Youkai - Dusk Edition
Meiling's fortune slip in Whispered Oracle of Hakurei Shrine
Meiling greeting Sakuya at the gate in Strange and Bright Nature Deity
Meiling cameo in Oriental Sacred Place
Meiling as she appears in Foul Detective Satori
Meiling's sigil in Grimoire of Marisa
Meiling's sigil from Touhou Hisoutensoku
 | This page is part of Project Characters, a Touhou Wiki project that aims to write proper descriptions for all official characters of Touhou Project. Please keep the character page guidelines in mind when contributing. |
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