Yuezheng Ling

Yuezheng Ling (乐正 绫) is Chinese VOCALOID that was developed and distributed by Shanghai HENIAN Co. Ltd, and was released in July 2015 for the VOCALOID3 engine.

Ling was a runner up entry to the first "VOCALOID™ CHINA" contest in 2012, held for choosing the design of the first Chinese VOCALOID and was a VOCANESE supporting character for two years. On July 13th, 2014, she was confirmed to be receiving a VOCALOID voicebank.

She was voiced by QI Inory (祈Inory; Qí Inory), an internet singer and cosplayer. She was the winning participant for Ling's voice provider contest.

Concept
According to the short animation series promoting VOCALOID CHINA, Ling is a lively high school student. Her family runs the huge Yuezheng company, a business that makes instruments and music. Her personality is very straight forward, and can sometimes be seen as blunt as she does not care for details. She is extremely generous and energetic, for she spends 3/4 of the day running all over the place and sometimes, her high spirit causes boys to become jealous. She loves music, experiencing new things, and huge, fluffy dolls. However, Ling has many annoying issues in her life, mostly related to her older brother, Yuezheng Longya.

At Firefly Con 2015, additional traits and biographical information were added for Ling:


 * Nickname: "Ah Ling"
 * Official birthday: April 12th
 * Zodiac signs: Aries (astrological), tiger (lunar calendar)
 * Bloodtype: O
 * Birthplace: Shanghai
 * Favorite food: Sichuan cuisine
 * Favorite drink: Coffee and tea
 * Favorite brands: dior, Gucci, GIVENCHY, Vivian
 * She lives on an island and rides a helicopter.
 * Favorite transportation: Biking and racecars
 * Favorite book: Three Bodies
 * Least favorite food: Fish
 * Left-handed
 * Favorite idols: Mozart, Guns N' Roses, Avril Lavigne

It was also added that she is a fashionable rich girl and it was noted that the Vsinger cast were given official birthdays to allow them to have their own unique birthdays, rather than having them all in July. It would also allow fans to be able to celebrate each of them easily.

It was explained that the additional information was catered to roleplayers. The day after, SHN responded that they added the extra biography in an attempt to make her more realistic, but since the fans reacted poorly to it, they were willing to adjust it according to the fans opinions.

Etymology
Her original name was Ling Caiyin (绫 彩音), 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 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.

"Líng" (绫) is a type of very light and high quality silk that was produced in the Han dynasty. However, the material did not flourish until the Tang and Song dynasties and it was used to make canvases, frames, shirts, pajamas, books, gift boxes and more.

Appearance
The design was originally drawn by Rikuhao, but was refined and redrawn by illustrator ideolo. Unlike the winner and other runner ups, Ling's design was the least heavily edited.

Located on Ling's wrist, there is a charm with red Sanskrit character on it, which represents the "Fire" element, the "South" position, the color "red", and the "Summer" season. This character also appears on her logo and its Chinese equivalent is "徵", one of the 5 Traditional Chinese melody characters.

Relations

 * Yuezheng Longya: Older brother
 * Luo Tianyi: Companion
 * Mo Qingxian: Companion
 * Zhiyu Moke: Companion
 * Zhanyin Lorra: Companion

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

VOCALOID CHINA PROJECT released a five-part promotional animation series for the VOCALOID CHINA characters. On May 15th, 2012, at CFO3, the full first PV was made available, mainly featuring Tianyi with Ling making a brief cameo at the end. Ling's official introduction takes place in the second episode.

In the summer of 2014, Ling had a contest where fans could enter and compete into becoming her voice provider. In October, the winner for Ling was announced to be QI Inory.

In October 2014, Vsinger promoted their official eyewear line, created by KMYK Design. The glasses were inspired by Ling and Tianyi's characters for the song, 三月雨 (March Rain).

In January 2015, Vsinger promoted a 2015 calendar, celebrating the Year of the Ram. Ling and Zhanyin Lorra appear on the cover while the inside contents features all Vsinger characters.

In February 2015, two official t-shirts by Manchy were revealed. One used Ling's finalized design image and the other was a pixel version of her.

From July 1st 2015 to October 1st, a song writing was held. Participants could only use Tianyi, YANHE, and/or Ling's voicebanks and the themes were: Idyllic Land of Peach-Blossom Spring (桃花源), Midsummer Night (仲夏夜), and To Youth (致青春).

Her VOCALOID release took place at Firefly Con 2015 on July 17th, 2015.

Trivia

 * Ling has a feline-like companion named Shi Tian (释天). He is 10,000 years old and 200 cm tall. He has the ability to transform into her electric guitar.
 * She is the first VOCALOID to have a brother, Longya. They are also the first brother and sister combination and are the first Chinese siblings. However, they are third set of siblings in the VOCALOID franchise as whole, with the previous two pairs being Japanese VOCALOIDs.
 * She is one of the first Chinese VOCALOIDs to have their voice picked from a contest.
 * Every Chinese VOCALOID before Ling had a boxart with their artwork aligned to the middle and decoration behind them. Her boxart is the first to not use this format and her character fills most of the space, breaking the consistency.

Notable for...

 * First VOCALOID to be based on a runner up design
 * First supporting character to be made into a VOCALOID
 * First Vsinger supporting character to be made into a VOCALOID
 * First VOCALOID to have both their design and voice originate from a contest.
 * First VOCALOID fully developed by Shanghai HENIAN