The East China Sea is located between China, South Korea, Japan and Ryukyu Islands, which divide it from the Philippine Sea. The East China Sea region is ruled by monsoon. Sometimes, the current Kuroshio from Japan enters the sea from the northern side.
East China Sea in “Mermaid Princess Amelia and the Lost Symphony”
In the mermaids’ world, it is home to a mermaid empire ruled by the Guo family. Amelia meets the emperor’s daughter, Guo Guiying, who however uses an English name in Europe, presenting herself as Greene Grant.
Judging by Greene’s looks, mermaids from that empire have dark green hair, and light brown eyes. It’s unknown, what their tails look like.
Greene is friends with Taisuke, who’s from Sambath’s colony in Japan’s Inland Sea. This indicates that there’s likely a positive relationship between her and his country.
The artifacts of the East China Sea, was a golden salt bowl encrusted with jade and shells.
East China Sea in “Stories from the Undersea World of Mermaid Princess Amelia, Vol. 2”
In Huang Yan’s Story
Coming Soon
In Greene’s Story
The East China Sea, as depicted in the story, is a realm of breathtaking beauty, sophisticated culture, and underlying peril. It is a kingdom that has mastered the art of blending ancient merfolk traditions with the glamorous, international style of the early 20th century, particularly the Art Deco movement that swept through Shanghai. This creates a unique underwater society that is both wondrously alien and strangely familiar. The architecture is not comprised of typical coral and rock formations, but of reconstructed buildings that mirror the land’s lost splendour, now adapted for aquatic life. The social fabric is a complex web of old-money aristocracy, ambitious new elites, artists, and criminals, all navigating a world where appearance is paramount and treachery lurks beneath a polished surface. The capital city, Lucheng, is the vibrant, beating heart of this empire, a place where fortunes are made, dreams are pursued, and secrets are easily drowned out by the murmur of the currents.
Lucheng: The Glamorous and Treacherous Capital
Lucheng is the dazzling, decadent capital of the East China Sea, a metropolis that serves as the story’s primary stage. It is a city of stark contrasts: immense wealth exists alongside desperate poverty, and stunning beauty masks deep-seated corruption. The city’s defining architectural feature is its Art Deco style. Most of its buildings were destroyed during the war with the Yellow Sea and subsequently rebuilt in the 1920s and 1930s, mirroring the international trend of the time. The cityscape is therefore characterized by fantastic embellishments, vibrant stained-glass elements that filter sunlight into dancing rainbows, lavish sculptures of sea deities and mythical beasts, and elaborate, high-contrast geometrical mosaics that adorn the façades. The effect is one of grandeur and artistic allure, a deliberate statement of the East China Sea’s resilience and modernity.
The city is a true fashion hub of the western Pacific, boasting a multitude of talented designers like Madame Liu. Its residents are style-conscious, with mermaids favoring elegant dresses reminiscent of 1930s Shanghai and mermen sporting sleek, Western-inspired jackets. Yet, for all its sophistication, Lucheng is not a safe city. Qiuling’s constant vigilance is a testament to the gangsters and criminals who operate in its shadowy backstreets and speakeasies, making it a place where a princess can never swim alone. It is a city of allure and artifice, where one must always be wary of the current beneath the calm surface.
The Jade Palace: This is the imperial residence, an ornate and sprawling complex that is a masterpiece of undersea architecture. It is a sanctuary of luxury and refinement, but also a gilded cage for Guiying. The palace features green agate floors, corridors adorned with lavish golden sculptures, and rooms like Guiying’s own sleeping chamber, which is ventilated by water ducts and illuminated by mesmerizing chemical reactions flowing through milk-colored wall carvings. The furniture is a mix of exquisite chinoiserie and pieces crafted from serpentine rock, like Guiying’s majestic sea dragon chair and her luxurious kang bed with pearly white silk bedding. The palace is a world unto itself, housing ballrooms, porcelain rooms, and living quarters, each space designed to project the power, history, and cultural sophistication of the imperial family. It is a place of both immense privilege and stifling expectation.
The Oriental Pearl Bank: Located in the wealthy western district of Lucheng, the bank is a magnificent jewel of opulence and the site of the story’s central mystery. It stands as a gilded treasury, its façade adorned with luminous pearls from the Thai Pearl Empire, symbolizing its immense wealth and security. The interior is a lavish, echoing foyer, but its true marvel lies in the octagonal crypt that houses the vault—the number eight symbolizing wealth in Chinese culture. The vault itself is a character: a mighty structure of stainless steel with a stern, austere exterior embossed with mythological figures. It is a technological and architectural marvel, a blend of Sambathian “living architecture” and Mu “spiritual architecture,” designed by the genius Shei Zhidao. This vertical, living maze, powered by salinity gradient energy, is as intelligent and secretive as it is terrifying, representing the peak of merfolk engineering and the ultimate challenge for any thief.
The Sea Nymph’s Ballroom: Within the Jade Palace, this ballroom is the epicenter of Lucheng’s high society. It is a spectacle of luxury, adorned with rich sea grass curtains, art deco mirrors, and lacquered furniture. The centerpiece is a grand seashell gramophone perched on a moss-grown scholar’s rock, playing eastern jazz for the gathered elite. It is here that the social hierarchy is on full display, with merpeople in their most glamorous attire—qingse dresses and stylish suits—networking, gossiping, and solidifying alliances. The ballroom is a stage for performance, both social and literal, and it is where the news of the bank robbery first breaks, shattering the illusion of perfect security and carefree luxury.
The Lucheng Library: This sanctuary of literature is an architectural wonder in its own right. Its resplendent jade structure is designed to look like a giant book with pages fluttering in the sea current, a testament to the empire’s reverence for knowledge. Inside, it has an air of intellectual grandeur, housing countless volumes that hold the secrets of the sea’s history, including the works of Shei Zhidao. It is a place of quiet research and earnest discovery, where Emperor Guo Hai and Guiying, aided by diligent volunteers, piece together the clues about the vault’s design, representing the pursuit of truth through scholarship.
The Pacific Harmony Foreign Music School: This institution reflects the cosmopolitan nature of Lucheng. It is a place where talented young merpeople like Ning Ning and Shui Ying hone their artistic skills. The corridors are filled with the captivating melodies of improvised piano pieces, a symbol of culture and refinement. The school represents a more personal and emotional world compared to the political intrigue of the palace, a place where personal passions are nurtured and young relationships, like the budding romance between Ning Ning and Shui Ying, can flourish away from the prying eyes of the court.
The Speakeasy: Hidden in the backstreets of Lucheng, this establishment represents the city’s underworld. It is a covert bar, its entrance watched by lookouts, accessible through a locked rear door. Inside, the atmosphere is thick with intrigue and the captivating sound of electro-swing music. The long wooden bar, crafted from a well-preserved, sunken boat, is where gangsters like Mr. Yue congregate. It is a world of shadows and secrets, where deals are made in whispers and identities are fluid. For Guiying, entering the speakeasy as “Guihua” is a thrilling, dangerous foray into a reality far removed from her sheltered palace life.
The Great Glam Clam Hotel: Occupying a prime location in Lucheng’s commercial hub, this hotel is the playground for the affluent and renowned. Adjacent to a warehouse filled with global goods, it epitomizes the city’s prosperity and its connections to the wider ocean. With its racecourse and theater, it is a center for entertainment and leisure for the elite, a place where the wealthy see and are seen. It symbolizes the materialistic and glamorous side of Lucheng that both attracts and alienates Guiying.
The Typhoon Fist Monastery: This temple in Lucheng is a bastion of discipline and martial arts tradition. It is a place where physical prowess and spiritual strength are cultivated, representing a different kind of power from the political and financial might of the bank or the palace. It is from here that the elite guards are drawn, and it serves as a network connecting masters and students across the seas, as seen when Master Zhen Qiang seeks help from its local proprietor.
Mocheng: The Town of Illusion
Nestled on the border between the East and South China Seas, Mocheng is a historical town steeped in mystery and enchantment. Famous for its vibrant magical scene, it is a place where the sorcery elements of both seas blend seamlessly. The town is characterized by its numerous modest family-owned theaters and grander stages that host captivating shows of sleight of hand, mind-reading, and large-scale illusions. It is a hub for aspiring magicians, a place where talent like Yue Lingwu’s can be honed but also where it can be easily lost in the crowd without the right connections. Mocheng represents the path not taken, the world of artistic passion and struggle that stands in contrast to the polished, commercialized glamour of Lucheng. It is a town of dreams and disillusionment, where a name can mean both everything and nothing.
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