Talk:Twoflower
"which is a country similar to China in the late 20th century". Late 20th century means something like 1970~1999? I think late 19th century (beginning of nationalist party and revolts) or early 20th century (nationalist party, republic, communist party, republic) is what should be referred to here.
I'm not even really sure if late 19th century is accurate. Peasant revolts have occured several times even in ancient China (The first emperor of the Ming dynasty was a peasant), and some of the descriptions in Interesting Times are more like Japan than China (e.g., the oversized warriors, swordmaking and the tea ceremony). Perhaps a more general statement "which is a country similar to classical [or ancient] China and Japan"?
- For referring to China, personally I advocate "early 20th century" although it started in late 19th century, because in early 20th century truly structured political parties, not just bands of revolutionaries, were formed. Peasant revolts indeed occurred in China throughout the ages, but it's mostly simply "the emperor's taxing too much, we don't have enough rice, let's revolt", there's no change in ideology or new ideas about government infrastructure, as Pretty Butterfly and the rest of the cache advocate.
- Referring to Japan is, in fact, a good idea for the cultural references, but I think that's more appropriate for the Agatean Empire article. Twoflower personally doesn't seem to me to be quite Oriental at all. As far as politics go, the situation in Interesting Times resembles China far more than Japan, so I think we can keep it at just referring to China in the Twoflower article.--Vsl 21:04, 16 April 2006 (CEST)
Perhaps early to middle nineteenth century? Wikipedia:-
A large rebellion, the Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864), involved around a third of China falling under control of the Taiping Tianguo, a quasi-Christian religious movement led by the "Heavenly King" Hong Xiuquan. Only after fourteen years were the Taipings finally crushed - the Taiping army was destroyed in the Third Battle of Nanking in 1864. The death toll during the 15 years of the rebellion was about 20 million,[22] making it the second deadliest war in human history.
After this, the remainder of the nineteenth century was nothing but successive rebellions:-
In addition, more costly rebellions in terms of human lives and economics followed with the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars, Nien Rebellion, Muslim Rebellion, Panthay Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion.
Japan didn't get off lightly either: the Shogunate had entered a period of decadence and terminal decline, and finally collapsed under American pressure in the late 1800's, not without a rebellion or two from ultra-conservative samurai.
--AgProv 09:41, 13 August 2008 (UTC)
A similar character elsewhere?
I must admit I haven't read many books with Twoflower in, but the impression I gained from Interesting Times and the Colour of Magic film frequently put's me in mind of the tourist in Monty Python's Flying Circus: Series 3 Episode 8 - The Cycling Tour (and visa versa - I can't watch the episode/clips without being put in mind of Twoflower), Particularly the scene with the (failed) execution (which at 01:46 also seems a little similar to the scene in Going Postal:
The hangman glanced down at the clerk, who’d struggled to the front of the crowd. ‘I bring a message from Lord Vetinari!’ the man shouted. ‘Right!’ said Moist. ‘He says to get on with it, it’s long past dawn!’ said the clerk.
while Monty Python just prior to the execution a last minute note arrives which says 'Carry on with the execution.' What isn't included in the first link but included here (excuse the monty python humor) at 09:00 is how the scene ends with an 'amazing escape'; again rather suitable considering the adventures of Rincewind and Twoflower. --Verity (talk) 01:20, 4 March 2014 (UTC)
The People's Beneficent Republic
...and other questions of authenticity. Who says The Discworld Emporium's fan-fiction is better than ours? --Old Dickens (talk) 00:23, 7 October 2016 (UTC)