chih chu a spider
ch’in a long (120 cm), narrow, lacquered zither with a smooth top surface and sound holes beneath, seven silk strings and thirteen studs marking the harmonic positions on the strings. Early examples have been unearthed from fifth century BC tombs, but it probably evolved in the fourteenth or thirteenth century BC. It is the most honoured of Chinese instruments and has a lovely mellow tone
Chin P’ing Mei The Golden Lotus, an erotic novel, written by an unknown scholar – possibly anonymously by the writer Wang Shih-chen – at the beginning of the seventeenth century as a continuation of the Shui Hui Chuan, or ‘Warriors of the Marsh’, expanding chapters 23 to 25 of the Shan Hui, which relate the story of how Wu Sung became a bandit. Extending the story beyond this point, The Golden Lotus has been accused of being China’s great licentious (even, perhaps, pornographic) novel. But as C.P. Fitzgerald says, ‘If this book is indecent in parts, it is only because, telling a story of domestic life, it leaves out nothing.’ It is available in a three-volume English-language translation
ch’ing pure
ching literally ‘mirror’, here used also to denote a perfect GenSyn copy of a man. Under the Edict of Technological Control, these are limited to copies of the ruling T’ang and their closest relatives. However, mirrors were also popularly believed to have certain strange properties, one of which was to make spirits visible. Buddhist priests used special ‘magic mirrors’ to show believers the form into which they would be reborn. Moreover, if a man looks into one of these mirrors and fails to recognize his own face, it is a sign that his own death is not far off. [See also hu hsin chung.]
ch’ing ch’a green, unfermented teas
Ch’ing Ming the Festival of Brightness and Purity, when the graves are swept and offerings made to the deceased. Also known as the Festival of Tombs, it occurs at the end of the second moon and is used for the purpose of celebrating the spring, a time for rekindling the cooking fires after a three-day period in which the fires were extinguished and only cold food eaten
Chou literally, ‘State’, but here used as the name of a card game based on the politics of Chung Kuo
chow mein this, like chop suey, is neither a Chinese nor a Western dish, but a special meal created by the Chinese in North America for the Western palate. A transliteration of chao mian (fried noodles), it is a distant relation of the liang mian huang served in Suchow
ch’u the west
chun hua literally, ‘Spring Pictures’. These are, in fact, pornographic ‘pillow books’, meant for the instruction of newly-weds
ch’un tzu an ancient Chinese term from the Warring States period, describing a certain class of noblemen, controlled by a code of chivalry and morality known as the li, or rites. Here the term is roughly, and sometimes ironically, translated as ‘gentlemen’. The ch’un tzu is as much an ideal state of behaviour – as specified by Confucius in the Analects – as an actual class in Chung Kuo, though a degree of financial independence and a high standard of education are assumed a prerequisite
chung a lidded ceramic serving bowl for ch’a
chung hsin loyalty
E hsing hsun huan a saying: ‘Bad nature follows a cycle’
er two
erh tzu son
erhu a traditional Chinese instrument
fa punishment
fen a unit of currency; see yuan. It has another meaning, that of a ‘minute’ of clock time, but that usage is avoided here to prevent any confusion
feng yu a ‘phoenix chair’, canopied and decorated with silver birds. Coloured scarlet and gold, this is the traditional carriage for a bride as she is carried to her wedding ceremony
fu jen ‘Madam’, used here as opposed to t’ai t’ai, ‘Mrs’
fu sang the hollow mulberry tree; according to ancient Chinese cosmology this tree stands where the sun rises and is the dwelling place of rulers. Sang (mulberry), however, has the same sound as sang (sorrow) in Chinese
Han term used by the Chinese to describe their own race, the ‘black-haired people’, dating back to the Han dynasty (210 BC–AD 220). It is estimated that some ninety-four per cent of modern China’s population are Han racially
Hei literally ‘black’. The Chinese pictogram for this represents a man wearing war paint and tattoos. Here it refers specifically to the genetically manufactured half-men, made by GenSyn and used as riot police to quell uprisings in the lower levels of the City
ho yeh Nelumbo Nucifera, or lotus, the seeds of which are used in Chinese medicine to cure insomnia
Hoi Po the corrupt officials who dealt with the European traders in the nineteenth century, more commonly known as ‘hoppos’
Hsia a crab
hsiang p’en flower ch’a
hsiao filial piety. The character for hsiao is comprised of two parts, the upper part meaning ‘old’, the lower meaning ‘son’ or ‘child’. This dutiful submission of the young to the old is at the heart of Confucianism and Chinese culture generally
Hsiao chieh ‘Miss’, or an unmarried woman. An alternative to nu shi
hsiao jen ‘little man/men’. In the Analects, Book XIV, Confucius writes, ‘The gentleman gets through to what is up above; the small man gets through to what is down below.’ This distinction between ‘gentlemen’ (ch’un tzu) and ‘little men’ (hsiao jen), false even in Confucius’s time, is no less a matter of social perspective in Chung Kuo
hsien historically an administrative district of variable size. Here the term is used to denote a very specific administrative area, one of ten stacks – each stack composed of thirty decks. Each deck is a hexagonal living unit of ten levels, two li, or approximately one kilometre, in diameter. A stack can be imagined as one honeycomb in the great hive that is the City. Each hsien of the city elects one Representative to sit in the House at Weimar
Hsien Ling Chief Magistrate, in charge of a Hsien. In Chung Kuo these officials are the T’ang’s representatives and law enforcers for the individual hsien. In times of peace each hsien would also elect one Representative to sit in the House at Weimar
hsueh pai ‘snow white’, a derogatory term here for Hung Mao women
Hu pu the T’ang’s Finance Ministry
hu hsin chung see ching, re Buddhist magic mirrors, for which this was the name. The power of such mirrors was said to protect the owner from evil. It was also said that one might see the secrets of futurity in such a mirror. See the chapter ‘Mirrors’ in The Broken Wheel for further information
hu t’ieh a butterfly. Anyone wishing to follow up on this tale of Chuang Tzu’s might look to the sage’s writings and specifically the chapter ‘Discussion on Making All Things Equal’
hua pen literally ‘story roots’, these were précis guidebooks used by the street-corner storytellers in China for the past two thousand years. The main events of the story were written down in the hua pen for the benefit of those storytellers who had not yet mastered their art. During the Yuan or Mongol dynasty (AD 1280–1368) these hua pen developed into plays, and, later on – during the Ming dynasty (AD 1368–1644) – into the form of popular novels, of which the Shui Hu Chuan, or ‘Outlaws of the Marsh’, remains one of the most popular. Any reader interested in following this up might purchase Pearl Buck’s translation, rendered as All Men Are Brothers and first published in 1933
Huang Ti originally Huang Ti was the last of the ‘Three Sovereigns’ and the first of the ‘Five Emperors’ of ancient Chinese tradition. Huang Ti, the Yellow Emperor, was the earliest ruler recognized by the historian Ssu-ma Ch’ien (136–85 BC) in his great historical work, the Shih Chi. Traditionally, all subsequent rulers (and would-be rulers) of China have claimed descent from the Yellow Emperor, the ‘Son of Heaven’ himself, who first brought civilization to the black-haired people. His name is now synonymous with the term ‘emperor’
hun the higher soul or ‘spirit soul’, which, the Chinese believe, ascends to Heaven at death, joins Shang Ti, the Supreme Ancestor, and lives in his court for ever more. T
he hun is believed to come into existence at the moment of conception (see also p’o)
hun tun ‘the Chou believed that Heaven and Earth were once inextricably mixed together in a state of undifferentiated chaos, like a chicken’s egg. Hun Tun they called that state’ (The Broken Wheel, Chapter 37). It is also the name of a meal of tiny sack-like dumplings
Hung Lou Meng The Dream of Red Mansions, also known as The Story of the Stone, a lengthy novel written in the middle of the eighteenth century. Like the Chin Ping Mei, it deals with the affairs of a single Chinese family. According to experts the first eighty chapters are the work of Ts’ao Hsueh-ch’in, and the last forty belong to Kao Ou. It is, without doubt, the masterpiece of Chinese literature, and is available from Penguin in the UK in a five-volume edition
Hung Mao literally ‘redheads’, the name the Chinese gave to the Dutch (and later English) seafarers who attempted to trade with China in the seventeenth century. Because of the piratical nature of their endeavours (which often meant plundering Chinese shipping and ports) the name continues to retain connotations of piracy
Hung Mun the Secret Societies or, more specifically, the Triads
huo jen literally, ‘fire men’
I Lung the ‘First Dragon’, Senior Minister and Great Lord of the ‘Ministry’, also known as ‘the Thousand Eyes’
jou tung wu literally ‘meat animal’: ‘It was a huge mountain of flesh, a hundred ch’i to a side and almost twenty ch’i in height. Along one side of it, like the teats of a giant pig, three dozen heads jutted from the flesh, long, eyeless snouts with shovel jaws that snuffled and gobbled in the conveyor-belt trough…’
kai t’ou a thin cloth of red and gold that veils a new bride’s face. Worn by the Ch’ing empresses for almost three centuries
kan pei! ‘good health!’ or ‘cheers!’ – a drinking toast
kang the Chinese hearth, serving also as oven and, in the cold of winter, as a sleeping platform
k’ang hsi a Ch’ing (or Manchu) emperor whose long reign (AD 1662–1722) is considered a golden age for the art of porcelain-making. The lavender-glazed bowl in ‘The Sound Of Jade’ is, however, not kang-hsi but Chun chou ware from the Sung period (960–1127) and considered amongst the most beautiful (and rare) wares in Chinese pottery
kao liang a strong Chinese liquor
Ko Ming ‘revolutionary’. The Tien Ming is the Mandate of Heaven, supposedly handed down from Shang Ti, the Supreme Ancestor, to his earthly counterpart, the Emperor (Huang Ti). This Mandate could be enjoyed only so long as the Emperor was worthy of it, and rebellion against a tyrant – who broke the Mandate through his lack of justice, benevolence and sincerity – was deemed not criminal but a rightful expression of Heaven’s anger
k’ou t’ou the fifth stage of respect, according to the ‘Book of Ceremonies’, involves kneeling and striking the head against the floor. This ritual has become more commonly known in the West as kowtow
ku li ‘bitter strength’. These two words, used to describe the condition of farm labourers who, after severe droughts or catastrophic floods, moved off their land and into the towns to look for work of any kind – however hard and onerous – spawned the word ‘coolie’ by which the West more commonly knows the Chinese labourer. Such men were described as ‘men of bitter strength’, or simply ‘ku li’
Kuan Hua Mandarin, the language spoken in mainland China. Also known as kuo yu and pai hua
Kuan Yin the Goddess of Mercy. Originally the Buddhist male bodhisattva, Avalokitsevara (translated into Han as ‘He who listens to the sounds of the world’, or ‘Kuan Yin’), the Han mistook the well-developed breasts of the saint for a woman’s and, since the ninth century, have worshipped Kuan Yin as such. Effigies of Kuan Yin will show her usually as the Eastern Madonna, cradling a child in her arms. She is also sometimes seen as the wife of Kuan Kung, the Chinese God of War
Kuei Chuan ‘Running Dog’, here the name of a Triad
kuo yu Mandarin, the language spoken in most of Mainland China. Also rendered here as kuan hua and pai hua
kwai an abbreviation of kwai tao, a ‘sharp knife’ or ‘fast knife’. It can also mean to be sharp or fast (as a knife). An associated meaning is that of a ‘clod’ or ‘lump of earth’. Here it is used to denote a class of fighters from below the Net, whose ability and self-discipline separate them from the usual run of hired knives
Lan Tian ‘Blue Sky’
Lang a covered walkway
lao chu singsong girls, slightly more respectable than the common men hu
lao jen ‘old man’ (also weng); used normally as a term of respect
lao kuan a ‘Great Official’, often used ironically
lao shih term that denotes a genuine and straightforward man – bluff and honest
lao wai an outsider
li a Chinese ‘mile’, approximating to half a kilometre or one third of a mile. Until 1949, when metric measures were adopted in China, the li could vary from place to place
Li ‘propriety’. See the Li Ching or ‘Book Of Rites’ for the fullest definition
Li Ching ‘The Book Of Rites’, one of the five ancient classics
liang a Chinese ounce of roughly 32gm. Sixteen liang form a catty
liu k’ou the seventh stage of respect, according to the ‘Book of Ceremonies’. Two stages above the more familiarly known ‘k’ou t’ou’ (kowtow) it involves kneeling and striking the forehead three times against the floor, rising to one’s feet again, then kneeling and repeating the prostration with three touches of the forehead to the ground. Only the san kuei chiu k’ou – involving three prostrations – was more elaborate and was reserved for Heaven and its son, the Emperor (see also san k’ou)
liumang punks
lu nan jen literally ‘oven man’, title of the official who is responsible for cremating all of the dead bodies
lueh ‘that invaluable quality of producing a piece of art casually, almost uncaringly’
lung t’ing ‘dragon pavilions’, small sedan chairs carried by servants and containing a pile of dowry gifts
Luoshu the Chinese legend relates that in ancient times a turtle crawled from a river in Luoshu province, the patterns on its shell forming a three by three grid of numeric pictograms, the numbers of which – both down and across – equalled the same total of fifteen. Since the time of the Shang (three thousand-plus years ago) tortoise shells were used in divination, and the Luoshu diagram is considered magic and is often used as a charm for easing childbirth
ma kua a waist-length ceremonial jacket
mah jong whilst, in its modern form, the ‘game of the four winds’ was introduced towards the end of the nineteenth century to Westerners trading in the thriving city of Shanghai, it was developed from a card game that existed as long ago as AD 960. Using 144 tiles, it is generally played by four players. The tiles have numbers and also suits – winds, dragons, bamboos and circles
mao a unit of currency. See yuan
mao tai a strong, sorghum-based liquor
mei fa tzu common saying, ‘It is fate!’
mei hua ‘plum blossom’
mei mei sister
mei yu jen wen ‘subhumans’. Used in Chung Kuo by those in the City’s uppermost levels to denote anyone living in the lower hundred
men hu literally, ‘the one standing in the door’. The most common (and cheapest) of prostitutes
min literally ‘the people’; used (as here) by the Minor Families in a pejorative sense, as an equivalent to ‘plebeian’
Ming the dynasty that ruled China from 1368 to 1644. Literally, the name means ‘Bright’ or ‘Clear’ or ‘Brilliant’. It carries connotations of cleansing
mou a Chinese ‘acre’ of approximately 7,260 square feet. There are roughly six mou to a Western acre, and a 10,000-mou field would approximate to 1,666 acres, or just over two and a half square miles
Mu Ch’in ‘Mother’, a general term commonly addressed to any older woman
mui tsai rendered in Cantone
se as ‘mooi-jai’. Colloquially, it means either ‘little sister’ or ‘slave girl’, though generally, as here, the latter. Other Mandarin terms used for the same status are pei-nu and yatou. Technically, guardianship of the girl involved is legally signed over in return for money
nan jen common term for ‘Man’
Ni Hao? ‘How are you?’
niao literally ‘bird’, but here, as often, it is used euphemistically as a term for the penis, often as an expletive
nu er daughter
nu shi an unmarried woman, a term equating to ‘Miss’
Pa shi yi literally ‘Eighty-One’, here referring specifically to the Central Council of the New Confucian officialdom
pai nan jen literally ‘white man’
pai pi ‘hundred pens’, term used for the artificial reality experiments renamed ‘Shells’ by Ben Shepherd
pan chang supervisor
pao yun a ‘jewelled cloud’ ch’a
pau a simple long garment worn by men
pau shuai ch’i the technical scientific term for ‘half-life’
pi-p’a a four-stringed lute used in traditional Chinese music
Pien Hua! Change!
p’ing an apple, symbol of peace
ping the east
Ping Fa Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, written over two thousand years ago. The best English translation is probably Samuel B. Griffith’s 1963 edition. It was a book Chairman Mao frequently referred to
Ping Tiao levelling. To bring down or make flat. Here, in Chung Kuo, it is also a terrorist organization.
p’o The ‘animal soul’ which, at death, remains in the tomb with the corpse and takes its nourishment from the grave offerings. The p’o decays with the corpse, sinking down into the underworld (beneath the Yellow Springs) where – as a shadow – it continues an existence of a kind. The p’o is believed to come into existence at the moment of birth (see also hun)
sam fu an upper garment (part shirt, part jacket) worn originally by both males and females, in imitation of Manchu styles; later on a wide-sleeved, calf-length version was worn by women alone
san three
San chang the three palaces
The White Mountain Page 34
