Hong Meiling

Main Profile

	Name:	紅 美鈴（ほん　めいりん） Hong Meiling
	Alternate spellings:	Hong Meirin, Hoan Meirin
	Species:	Youkai
	Abilities:	Control of "Chi", martial arts
	Age:	Unknown
	Occupation:	Gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion
	Location:	Scarlet Devil Mansion
	Description:	Aqua-colored eyes and long, scarlet hair that symbolizes both her name and the place that she's guarding. Her green beret and dress resemble traditional Chinese clothing. Her beret has a gold star on the front that reads long (dragon).
	Relationships:	Remilia Scarlet (Mistress) Flandre Scarlet (Mistress's younger sister) Patchouli Knowledge (Mistress's friend) Sakuya Izayoi (Chief Maid)
	Appearances:	Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (Stage 3 Boss) Immaterial and Missing Power (Playable Character, Possible Opponent) Shoot the Bullet (Stage 5-1, 5-3, 5-5, 5-7 Boss)
	Titles:	See Character Titles

Hong Meiling is a youkai, though it isn't known to which specific category she actually belongs. 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.

Fun Facts

• The character for Hong literally means "Scarlet" in Japanese and "Red" in Chinese, and Meiling "Beautiful Bell." A common name (the Meiling part at least). These characters are read in Japanese as "Kurenai Misuzu" and you'll sometimes see her name mispronounced or miswritten as that.

• However, she is more widely known as and called "Chuugoku" (中国, which translates to China), 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 "Chuugoku", 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. However, the debate ended -or sort of- when a user said 'Why don't we just call her 'Chuugoku' as her cloth seems to identify her the most. As result, although ZUN said Hong Meiling is the correct pronounciation in an interview, people kept on calling Meiling as Chuugoku.

• Meiling's nickname is further ingrained into the minds of fans by her clothing, and also by the name of her stage BGM... "Chinese Tea".

• While that alone sounds quite miserable, that incident made her "The mock character of Touhou series" from a hardly-remembered minor boss... She's gained quite a lot of popularity since then. She recently managed 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.

• 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 by a knife) It should be noted that the song in this video is actually sung to the tune of Kaguya's theme music.

• 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 to not have a storyline.

Official Profiles

Embodiment of Scarlet Devil - おまけ.txt

Hong Meiling

○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。

Chinese Girl Hong Meiling Ability: Control of Chi 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.

Immaterial and Missing Power - 上海アリス通信.txt

Book Synopsis

Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red

Main article: Article and Interview: Meiling

Not translated yet.

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.