Yuezheng Longya

Yuezheng Longya (Simplified Chinese: 乐正龙牙; Traditional Chinese: 樂正龍牙) is an upcoming Chinese VOCALOID4 to be developed by Shanghai HENIAN Co. Ltd.

Longya was a runner up entry to the first "VOCALOID™ CHINA" contest in 2012 which was held for choosing the design of the first Chinese VOCALOID and he was a Vsinger supporting character for three years. In July 2015, he was confirmed to receive a VOCALOID voicebank.

He was voiced by the Chinese singer and voice actor, Jie Zhang (张杰; Zhāng Jié), who was selected based on suggestions from Chinese VOCALOID fans.

Concept
According to the short animation series promoting VOCALOID CHINA, Longya is Ling's older brother and the heir to the Yuezheng corporation. He has an agile mind and many people look up to him. Like his sister, he is straightforward, but he also possesses the ability to make important decisions correctly and has the strong aura of a leader. His weakness includes troublesome issues and the only time he's not bothered is when they are related to his younger sister. He is very protective over Ling and can become slightly hysterical when dealing with situations related to her.

In June 2016, Longya was given additional information about his character. He is a postgraduate financial student and studies at Ling's school as they share the same campus. He is usually busy since he will take on the family business after he graduates but still sets aside time for band practice in which he is the leader and drummer. He often disappears whenever trouble occurs, but always returns to clean up the mess. He becomes very intense while playing the drums and people call him "Drum Destroyer" for some reason.

According to Shanghai HENIAN's official website, his birthday is October 2. He is listed as a Libra.

Etymology
His original name was Yayin (牙音), however, this was dropped because it was written in a Japanese naming style rather than Chinese.

The surname Yuèzhèng (乐正) comes from the governor of music during the Zhou Dynasty. The existence of this surname was proven when two historical books (《元和姓纂》&《尚友录》) state that: the "Zhou Dynasty's 'Yuèzhèng' Position was used as a surname", therefore hinting that the name existed as early in Zhou Dynasty, which was more than 2,600 years.

After the Zhou took over the Chinese empire, the positions of the governing system were used as surnames. During this time, there was a head position called "Yuèzhèng", which was responsible for music and melodies at the palace. Any descendants of this governor will bear the same surname.

During the Zhou Dynasty, people took great measures with politeness and rituals. The Yuezhengs were heavily looked upon by the emperor and the standard of music can directly affect a country's impression to the outside world.

"Lóng" (龙) means “dragon” in Chinese, while "Yá" (牙) means “teeth”, “tooth”, or "fang". Combined, his first name means “Dragon's teeth”.

Appearance
The design was originally drawn by aya, but was refined and redrawn by Chinese illustrator, ideolo.

In his debut design, located on Longya’s gold belt, there is a charm with a Sanskrit character which represents the "Wood" element, the "East" position, the color "Green", and the "Spring" season. This character’s Chinese equivalent is "角" (jué), one of the 5 Traditional Chinese melody characters.

Longya received a new design for his VOCALOID4 release. The new boxart design features a long-sleeved white shirt with stylized designs at the cuffs, replacing the arm-warmers from the older design. He wears black fingerless gloves. His gold and green belts were removed. The Sanskrit character is located on the buckle of his black belt and on the back of his right glove. On his chest is a long gold ribbon. His boots are in a different style, and his right boot has two green straps while his left foot has one green strap followed by two white straps. He no longer has the pouch from his old design and the collar at his neck is more open. His headphone design was changed slightly.

Relations

 * Yuezheng Ling: Younger sister
 * Luo Tianyi: Companion
 * Mo Qingxian: Companion
 * Zhiyu Moke: Companion
 * YANHE: Companion
 * Bei Chen: Official pet

Marketing
Yuezheng Longya was a fan-designed VOCALOID that was entered in the first "VOCALOID CHINA" contest like Luo Tianyi. He was created with VOCALOID fans in mind.

VOCALOID CHINA PROJECT released a five-part promotional animation series for the VOCALOID CHINA characters. On May 15, 2012, the full first PV was made available at CF03 and mainly featured Tianyi with Ling making a brief cameo at the end. Longya’s official introduction takes place in the second episode.

When Longya was officially introduced as an upcoming VOCALOID on July 30, 2015, Vsinger decided to conduct research as to how many fans of Longya existed and support him in becoming a VOCALOID. Fans needed to share the Weibo post containing his announcement by August 30 and it must have a total of 100,000 shares. This was to raise more awareness of his existence and announcement, as well as gaining more fans. The goal was reached on August 8.

On August 14, 2015, Vsinger asked fans to give them suggestions for his voice provider. The suggestions were run through a filter to decide who his provider would be. On October 2, Jie Zhang appeared onstage at CXC Nanjing International ACG Festival and revealed that he was the voice provider for Longya.

On June 3, 2016, Vsinger asked fans to give them suggestions for Longya's VOCALOID4 design.

Before his release, Longya was featured at the Vsinger Live concert on June 17, 2017 along with the rest of the Vsinger cast. He performed In Your Breath.

Trivia

 * Longya and Ling are the first brother and sister combination of the VOCALOID franchise and are the first Chinese siblings. However, they are third set of siblings in the franchise as whole, as the previous two pairs were Japanese VOCALOIDs.