A Bond Undone

by Jin Yong

  To put it in very generalised terms, firmness is associated with yang (things that are tough, hard and strong), and suppleness with yin (things that are soft and malleable). For example, water can be considered as “supple”, as it will change shape to fit any container, yet a trickle, over time, has the ability to bore through rock – something that is solid and unyielding, or “firm”.

  In this volume, the word “firm” recurs in the discussions of martial arts, especially as a way to characterise the way strength is channelled. It should be noted that the discussion of strength in the novel is not so much about how many kilograms of weight someone can lift or pack into a punch, but rather how the power of a strike has the ability to penetrate beyond the surface of the skin and shake the flesh, bone and organs beneath.

  P. 114 DIZI FLUTE

  A traditional Chinese transverse, side-blown flute, which is held horizontally when played. Usually made of bamboo, though also sometimes from the wood of another tree, or of metal or jade, its airy and bright sound can be found in most genres of Chinese folk music and Chinese opera. Uniquely, the dizi has an additional hole between the blowing hole and the finger holes, mounted with a thin membrane of bamboo tissue, creating a distinctive resonance and timbre.

  P. 114 TOP SCHOLAR

  Imperial China had an elaborate, multi-tiered public examination system to select educated men for state office. First implemented in the Tang dynasty (619–907), it remained in place up until the early twentieth century, towards the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), when the Imperial Court and its system of government was pressured into reform. The Top Scholar, sometimes translated as Principal Graduate, is the candidate ranked the highest among all those sitting the examination in the Imperial Palace.

  P. 114 BOOK OF SONGS

  One of the Five Confucian Classics, Book of Songs, also called Classic of Poetry, is the first anthology of Chinese verse. Containing some three hundred temple, court and folk songs dating back to the Zhou dynasty (c. eleventh century – 221 B.C.), the collection was, it is thought, compiled by Confucius (551–479 B.C.), and is studied and recited to this day, by children as well as scholars.

  Lotus Huang quotes a line from the first and best-known poem in the Book of Songs, which, to Confucius, expressed the balance of “pleasure without being immoral, sorrow without wallowing in misery”.

  P. 159 KANG BED-STOVE

  Found in central and northern China even to this day, the bed-stove – kang, in Chinese – is an important interior feature that warms homes during freezing winters. A brick or fired-clay platform, often taking up a third of the room, its hollow interior is connected to the cooking fire or stove in the kitchen or in the same room. The latter’s hot exhaust heats up the earthen mass of the kang. A well-built bed-stove can retain heat for a good portion of the day without requiring much fuel or attention. Its warm surface is the site of social life and household activities throughout the day, and it also provides ample space for restful sleep at night.

  P. 161 WINDOW PAPER

  China is a relatively late developer when it comes to glass making. The first recorded use of glass panes was on specific portions of a handful of windows in one of the palaces within the Forbidden City in Beijing, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Traditionally, Chinese windows consisted of wooden frames with a geometric lattice, which was pasted over with paper – to block out wind and dust, but which would still allow light to come through.

  P. 161 SCHOLAR’S ROCKS AND MINIATURE ARTIFICIAL MOUNTAINS

  Scholar’s rocks and miniature artificial mountains are essential elements in a traditional Chinese garden. They are chosen for their sculptural shapes, distinctive textures and depth of colour, as focal points of the garden; they bring to mind soaring peaks or mountain paradises where immortals and deities dwell. The meticulous placement of these rocks, among ponds and springs, shrubs and miniature trees, pavilions and covered corridors, create the sense of being in the natural world, albeit in an entirely artificial environment. As one moves through a Chinese garden, its scenery shifts according to changing perspectives: be that the time of the day, changing seasons, or the viewing eye. Such a garden expresses the owner’s taste, aspirations and personal cultivation – an integral part of the literati culture.

  P. 172 ZHANG YUHU

  Yuhu, or the Scholar of Yuhu, is the self-styled literary name of poet, statesman and calligrapher Zhang Xiaoxiang (1132–70). Yuhu refers to the city, Wuhu, south of the Yangtze River, where his family eventually settled after retreating south with the Song Empire during the Jin invasion. Zhang Xiaoxiang supported General Yue Fei’s military campaign to claim back land lost to the Jin and petitioned to clear Yue Fei’s name; as a result, he attracted the ire of Chancellor Qin Hui.

  P. 177 THE CAVES OF CELESTIAL MASTER ZHANG AND HERMIT SHAN JUAN THE VIRTUOUS

  These caves are well-known sights that have attracted travellers for hundreds of years and can still be visited today. The Cave of Celestial Master Zhang is named after two Taoist figures, Zhang Daoling (A.D. 34–156) and Zhang Guolao (c. mid-seventh to mid-eighth century). Both were believed to have lived in the limestone cave as hermits. The cave of Hermit Shan Juan the Virtuous is also a natural limestone cave, named after the recluse, Shan Juan, who refused legendary leader Emperor Shun’s (c. twenty-third century B.C.) offer of the throne, preferring to roam the land instead, travelling to Yixing to live a life distanced from worldly demands. The cave is famous for its stalactites and underground river.

  P. 179 MYSTERIOUS GATES / EIGHT TRIGRAMS / FIVE ELEMENTS

  The Mysterious Gates are commonly referred to as a method of divination, though the method was most likely first applied on the battlefield as a way to devise formations and military dispositions. It determines the success or failure of any endeavour based on the interaction between time, space, people and divine forces, making predictions through a combination of astrology, geography, and an understanding of the seasons as they relate to the material world. The Mysterious Gates are intricately linked to the system of the Eight Trigrams, as well as the Five Elements, both of which are fundamental to traditional Chinese thought, explaining cosmology through the interrelationships between matter and natural phenomena – how they develop, co-exist and destroy each other.

  A trigram is a symbol made up of three lines, each either solid or broken, with, altogether, eight unique combinations – the Eight Trigrams. When two trigrams are paired together, they form a hexagram; in total, there are sixty-four different combinations, here. These symbols are a key concept in the I’Ching. The interplay of the Eight Trigrams are held to explain all occurrences in nature and are a cornerstone of Chinese philosophy, touching every aspect of culture and science, including martial arts and music.

  The concept of the Five Elements contributes no less to the Chinese understanding of the world: namely, the interaction between metal, wood, water, fire and earth. The existence of each depends on another. Yet, each element can also destroy another. For example, fire requires wood to burn, but, in turn, can be extinguished by water. The Five Elements also correlate to cardinal directions, seasons, colours, musical tones and bodily organs: they underpin explanations of the physical world as well as unseen structures and processes, from medicine to morality, from politics to society.

  In Roaming Cloud Manor, these concepts are important to the overall spatial layout, resulting in an unexpected placement of man-made structures and vegetation, so that the whole functions somewhat like a maze. Only those familiar with the underlying philosophy, like Lotus Huang, are able to navigate it without becoming hopelessly lost.

  P. 196 THE SONG CHANCELLOR SHI MIYUAN

  Shi Miyuan (1164–1233) served as Chancellor of the Song Empire between 1208 and 1233. An advocate of peace with the Jin, he was also instrumental in installing Emperor Lizong, a minor prince outside the line of succession, to the throne (he reigned from 1224 to 1264), allowing him to exert great influence
over the Imperial Court.

  P. 200 PINGJIANG

  Pingjiang is modern-day Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

  P. 209 XIAO FLUTE

  Traditional Chinese end-blown flute, which is held vertically when played. Its tone is more mellow and sombre than the horizontal side-blown dizi, and it is an instrument closely associated with the literati – indeed, it is sometimes described as the scholarly gentlemen’s voice. It is often played as a solo instrument or paired with another instrument favoured by learned men, the fretless, seven-string zither, or qin. Commonly made from bamboo, but sometimes of jade or metal, the modern xiao is around seventy to eighty centimetres in length.

  P. 218 WANG XIANZHI / WANG XIZHI / MADAM WEI / ZHONG YAO

  Four calligraphers whose work shaped Chinese calligraphy. It is believed that Zhong Yao (151–230) contributed to the formation of the tall, rectangular Regular Script, as Chinese writing evolved from a squatter, wider Clerical script, which was first developed around the third century B.C. Regular Script is the forerunner of the “typeface” we see in print and standard handwriting today.

  Madam Wei (272–349), whose full name was Wei Shuo, learned from Zhong’s work, developing theories of calligraphy and ways of using the brush that remain fundamental to the art.

  As a child, Wang Xizhi (303–61) was taught calligraphy by Madam Wei. He remains one of the most celebrated and admired practitioners and his style has been emulated throughout the centuries. However, no work by his own hand has survived, except those carved in stone. All we know of his calligraphy comes from copies made by later calligraphers.

  Wang Xianzhi (344–386) was Wang Xizhi’s son and studied calligraphy from his father. He is best known for his Cursive Script, a very fast way of writing that blends individual strokes of characters into a continuous flowing line, conveying a great sense of energy and movement. Again, his work only survives through a handful of reproductions made during later dynasties.

  P. 277 FLORAL CARVING YELLOW WINE

  Yellow wine is one of the oldest alcohols in the world – it is mentioned in written records dating back at least two thousand years. It can be made of rice, sorghum, millet or wheat, depending on the region where the wine is produced. It is not uncommon for the wine to be aged for a decade or two, however, because it is not distilled, its alcohol content is no more than twenty per cent.

  Floral Carving yellow wine is made with glutinous rice and is specific to the Zhejiang region. The city of Shaoxing is its most famous producer. The name Floral Carving likely comes from the ceramic container in which the wine is aged. Such vessels are decorated with auspicious patterns and sometimes painted before being buried, leaving the wine to mature. In the past, families would brew such wine after the birth of a child, only unearthing them at the child’s marriage, presenting them as a dowry or gifts to be drunk at the celebration.

  Yellow wine from Shaoxing tends to be slightly sweet, rather similar to sherry in taste, and is often used in Chinese cooking, for example, drunken chicken is traditionally marinated with a yellow wine of good vintage.

  P. 288 DISCIPLE OF EIGHT POUCHES

  The number of pouches indicates how senior a member is in the Beggar Clan. There are only nine Disciples of Eight Pouches, who sit close to the top of the hierarchy, just beneath the Chief of the Clan and the Disciples of Nine Pouches, of which there are four; the most junior beggars have no pouches at all. The Beggar Clan is a fictional community that has appeared in martial arts novels by different authors.

  P. 323 UNDEAD

  The undead, here, refers to “hopping cadavers”, one of the many supernatural creatures in Chinese mythology. They are dead bodies that somehow did not decay, and instead became reanimated. They tend to shun the light and prefer darkness, and survive by sucking on the qi, or life energy, of a living person. The common explanation of why these creatures “hop” – instead of being able to move naturally – is that their bodies are stiff from rigor mortis. There are many stories, films and games that feature this kind of supernatural figure, and they may have been inspired by the custom of transporting the dead back to their hometown for burial.

  P. 332 GE HONG

  Ge Hong (284–364) was a physician and Taoist who left behind writings detailing chemical reactions and his efforts at alchemy – a Taoist attempt to achieve immortality – as well as some of the earliest extant descriptions of and remedies for infectious diseases, including smallpox.

  P. 332 HE SPLASHED INK ON THE SHORE, LEAVING DEEP MARKS, SHAPED LIKE PEACH BLOSSOMS, IN THE ROCKS

  Jin Yong notes that he has seen floral markings on the rocks when visiting Peach Blossom Island, one of the largest of the Zhoushan Islands, an archipelago of more than a thousand islands at the mouth of Hangzhou Bay, across from Ningbo, in Zhejiang province. The author adds that the patterns were in fact fossilised remains of trilobites and other prehistoric marine life.

  P. 346 HUIZONG / ZHENGHE REGNAL ERA

  Emperor Huizong (1082–1135) was better known for his calligraphy and paintings than his ability to govern. He invented the Slender Gold style of calligraphy, so called because the form resembles gold filigree work: delicate and full of twists and turns. His paintings, mostly of birds and flowers, were treasured for their meticulous detail, accurate colours and elegant composition, and can still be found in museum collections today. Huizong’s pursuit of the arts meant that he left the management of the country – domestic affairs as well as military matters – to the court, resulting in his favourite eunuchs amassing enormous power. Furthermore, the territorial ambitions of the Jurchen Jin Empire were overlooked, to great personal and national cost. When the Jin forces pressed close to the capital, Kaifeng, in 1125, he abdicated and fled to the south-east of the country, and, by 1127, he had been abducted with his son, the Emperor Qinzong, after the Jin sacked the city. He died eight years later, as an exiled captive in Manchuria, in the far north, a decade later.

  In China, the custom of an Emperor declaring an era name as they ascended to the throne began around the second century B.C.; the year was named the first year of that era. Some Emperors used only one era name throughout their reign, others changed them according to personal preference or political needs. Era names are often auspicious and sometimes express the ideas that the Emperor held regarding his role or hopes for the realm. Emperor Huizong bestowed six different era names during his reign, from 1100 to 1125; the Zhenghe era was between 1111 and 1118, and its name means “Harmonious Governance”.

  P. 346 TAOIST CANON OF TEN THOUSAND LONGEVITIES

  It is believed that a Taoist canon was first compiled in the fifth century, when around 1,200 scrolls or volumes of Taoist teachings and commentaries were collected by monks. During the Tang dynasty, in the eighth century, Emperor Xuanzong ordered the compilation of another Taoist canon, which eventually became the Taoist Canon of the Kaiyuan Reign. This work, of at least 3,700 volumes, was destroyed during wartime, at the end of the dynasty. During the Song dynasty, several Emperors compiled Taoist canons, expanding on their predecessors’ work; the first of the era was around 4,300 volumes in length. When it came to Emperor Huizong, not only did he bring the total number to 5,481, he also had the texts carved and printed. However, this version has not survived.

  P. 346 HUANG SHANG

  A historical figure in charge of the printing of the Taoist canon, who lived between 1044 and 1130. Huang Shang was also Minister of Rites, an important government role overseeing religious rituals, court ceremonies, imperial examinations and foreign relations.

  P. 347 MANICHAEISM

  A religion founded in Persia in the third century, by Mani (c. 216–74). It is based on a primeval, dualistic struggle between light and darkness – with light seen as spiritual and good, and darkness as material and evil – with salvation possible through knowledge of spiritual truth.

  The religion spread quickly through the Roman Empire, reaching Spain by the fourth century. However, by the fifth century, it had mostly disappeared from We
stern Europe and, by the seventh century, from the rest of the Roman Empire.

  Manichaeism’s spread to the east, especially to China, began in the seventh century, with the opening of trade routes. The religion gained recognition from the Imperial Chinese Court in 732, but, in 843 – still during the Tang dynasty (619–907) – it was proscribed. However, Manichaeism was likely practised in China until at least the fourteenth century, through the Song dynasty (960–1279), the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and the early years of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).

  P. 347 GRAND SUPREME ELDERLY LORD / GREAT SAGE AND FIRST TEACHER CONFUCIUS / TATHAGATA BUDDHA

  These three figures are crucial to the three main religions or spiritual systems in China: Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism.

  The Grand Supreme Elderly Lord is one of the Three Pure Ones – the highest deities in the hierarchy of the Taoist pantheon. He is believed to be the founder of Taoism and to have been manifested in the human form through Laozi (c. sixth century B.C.), the author of Classic of the Way and Virtue, also known by the Romanisation of its Chinese title, Tao Te Ching or Dao De Jing.

  The Great Sage and First Teacher Confucius refers to the philosopher whose ideas are the cornerstone of Chinese morality, ethics and social relationships. His influence touches the cultures of many East Asian countries. Confucius lived between 551 and 479 B.C.

  Tathagata is one of the titles assumed by a buddha, often used by the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama to refer to himself.

  P. 358 THE EIGHT TACTICAL FORMATIONS DEVISED BY THE MILITARY STRATEGIST ZHUGE LIANG

  Zhuge Liang (A.D. 181–234) was an adviser to Liu Bei, founder of the Shu-Han dynasty (221–263) during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280). His name remains a byword for exceptional intelligence and insight, and he was immortalised in the popular imagination by the fourteenth-century historical novel Romance of Three Kingdoms, attributed to the author Luo Guanzhong, as well as countless other plays and stories. Zhuge Liang was credited with the invention of the Eight Tactical Formations, based on the directions of the Eight Trigrams laid out on a wheel and the cyclical relationship of creation and destruction of the Five Elements, as noted above in the entry on the Mysterious Gates/Eight Trigrams/Five Elements. However, few details of the Formations are known. They are believed to be strategic combined-arms deployments of cavalry and infantry that encouraged high morale and provided each soldier with sufficient space to wield weapons in combat, along with intelligent use of topography to entrap opposing forces by disrupting their organisation.