Bu Bu Jing Xin: The Meaning

THE DRAMA TITLE  ‘BU BU JING XIN’ THE MEANING ‘Bu Bu Jing Xin’ or ‘Scarlet Heart’ is an awesome Chinese drama with an outstanding cast from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China. Nicky Wu, Kevin Cheng Kar Weng, Cecelia Liu and Damian Lau who play the main characters have made the drama even more memorable.  The story is loaded with many interesting aspects of Chinese, Manchu and Mongol history and culture. Whosoever wants to know about China will not come away disappointed. And no assessment of the amazing drama, ‘Bu Bu Jing Xin’ would be just and fair without watching the show at least twice. THE MEANING OF BU BU JING XIN The title speaks volumes about the drama. The phrase, ‘Bu Bu Jing Xin’ is taken from two instances in the story, Episode 26 and Episode 32. In Episode 26, all the maids and eunuchs were gathered by the Eunuch Gao Wuyong, the personal attendant of the Yongzhen Emperor, to watch the flogging of a maid for divulging to Concubine Qi  about the emperor’s sleeping arrangements in the Yangqin Palace. It is not very clear what happened to the condemned victim except that she was bloodied all over. Ruoxi happened to chance upon the incident and had insisted on watching the terrible flogging, which had been ordered by the Yongzhen emperor as a warning to all the maids and eunuchs. She probably remembered her own whipping for disobeying the deceased Kangxi Emperor’s mandate to marry Yinti, the Fourteenth Prince. After the incident, Yutan, Ruoxi’s maid and sworn sister, confided in Ruoxi that she had a premonition that sooner or later she would share the same fate as the chastised maid (33:46). She was petrified as she was not as cautious as Ruoxi. Yutan mentioned the phrase, ‘Bu Bu Jing Xin’. Ruoxi reassured Yutan that since she (Yutan) had stayed back in the palace because of her (Ruoxi), she promised that as long as she was in the palace, she would not allow Yutan to suffer such a fate. Viewers would soon learn that the promise, a rash and hollow one, could not be honoured by Ruoxi. But the helpless Ruoxi could not be blamed. Viewers would realise that Yutan had stayed back not because of Ruoxi but because she was a spy of the Ninth Prince, Yintang. In Episode 32, Qiaohui, the Ma’ertai family maid, blamed herself for allowing Minghui to meet Ruoxi. Minghui had let fly a few vengeful words and threats at Ruoxi. It led not only to Ruoxi losing her baby but also to the suicide of Minghui. In this segment of the drama (27:25), Qiaohui regretted that in spite of being constantly reminded by Ruoxi to be always wary of her steps (‘Bu Bu Jing Xin’), she had fallen short of what had been expected of her. For everyone in the palace, their ears had to pricked up and their every step, cautious. These are the two incidents which give the drama its title. If we are to understand the context in which the phrase, ‘Bu Bu Jing Xin’ has been used, ‘Bu Bu Jing Xin’ veers towards ‘fear’ rather than ‘surprise’. ‘Bu’ means ‘step’. ‘Jing Xin’ has connotations of ‘fear’.  ‘Bu Bu Jing Xin’ means ‘Nerve-Racking’ / ‘Fearful’ / ‘Jittery’ / ‘Jumpy’ At Every Step or a non-literal one, ‘On Tenterhooks At Every Turn’. It has the meaning of ‘being wary of one’s every step’ and that one has to prepare for the dangers that lurk ahead. Everyone in the Forbidden City walks on a tightrope. The cornerstone of the drama pertaining to Yongzhen’s reign is ‘Ruthlessness, Cruelty and Barbarity’ which can be observed in the power struggles within the Forbidden City. In this aspect, there was no hemming and hawing on Emperor Yongzhen’s part, for upon his enthronement, illegitimate though it may be, he immediately launched a ruthless campaign against anyone who might threaten his rule. The chess of ruthless politics was certainly bound to produce large numbers of fearful and cowed residents in the Forbidden City whose every step unnerves them. In the end, viewers are shocked that Yutan’s premonition had turned into stark reality. She had an even worse fate – she was ‘steamed’ or ‘boiled’ alive in a humongous vat!  In Episode 30 of Scarlet Heart, beginning from 27:57 she was seen being boiled or steamed. Her crimes, among others, included being a spy sent by Yintang to spy on Emperor Yongzhen, and instigating Hong Shi, the emperor’s third son to fight for the Crown Prince position. The ugly truth is that being the sworn sister, personal companion and maid of Ruoxi had not prevented the Yongzhen emperor from inflicting such a barbaric punishment on her. The drama is full of examples of other gruesome and cruel acts. One is the dismemberment of an official who had conspired against Yinzhen. Yinxiang, the 13th Prince, took the rap for Yinzhen and was placed under house arrest for 10 years. The victim’s body was ripped apart by four horses whose feet were chained to his hands and legs. The horses had been whipped to go in opposite directions. Another example is forcing Li Dequan, the loyal Head Eunuch of the deceased Kangxi Emperor, to drink poison to prevent him from leaking invaluable information concerning the crucial succession mandate of the Emperor Kangxi on his deathbed. There were insinuations that the Fourth Prince had executed a coup de’tat in order to ascend the throne. Yet another act of cruelty of the Yongzhen Emperor relates to Eunuch Zhang whose tongue had been sliced and limbs chopped off for some unknown reasons. Literal translations can be problematic and the meaning can be lost in translation.  ‘Treading On Thin Ice’, another  translation, is closer to the meaning of the title, ‘Bu Bu Jing Xin’.  The title, ‘Scarlet Heart’ is interesting since ‘scarlet’ (brilliant red colour with a tinge of orange) speaks of power, luxury, wealth, passion, courage, joy, immorality and sin.