An Inch of Ashes (49 page)

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 White Mountain 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. The
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

sing-song 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

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