Blue Dragon (44 page)
Sashimi (Japanese): Raw fish.
Seiza: Japanese kneeling position.
Sensei (Japanese): Master.
Seppuku: Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment: hari-kiri.
Sha Tin: A New Territories ‘New Town’, consisting of a large shopping centre surrounded by a massive number of highrise developments on the banks of the Shing Mun River.
Shaolin: Famous temple, monastery and school of martial arts, as well as a style of martial arts.
Shen: Shen has two meanings, in the same sense that the English word spirit has two meanings (‘ghost’ and ‘energy’). Shen can mean an Immortal being, something like a god in Chinese mythology. It is also the spirit that dwells within a person, the energy of their soul.
Shenzhen: The city at the border between Hong Kong and China, a ‘special economic zone’ where capitalism has been allowed to flourish. Most of the goods manufactured in China for export to the West are made in Shenzhen.
Sheung Wan: The western end of the Hong Kong Island MTR line; most people get off the train before reaching this station.
Shoji (Japanese): Screen of paper stretched over a wooden frame.
Shui (Cantonese): ‘Water’.
Shui gow: Chinese dumplings made of pork and prawn meat inside a dough wrapping, boiled in soup stock.
Shroff Office: A counter in a car park where you pay the parking fee before returning to your car.
Sifu (Cantonese): Master.
Siu mai: Dim sum served at yum cha; a steamed dumpling with a skin of wheat flour containing prawn and pork.
Sow mei (Cantonese): A type of Chinese tea, with a greenish colour and a light, fragrant flavour.
Stanley Market: A famous market on the south side of Hong Kong island, specialising in tourist items.
Star Ferry: Small oval green and white ferries that run a cheap service between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.
Sticky rice: Dim sum served at yum cha; glutinous rice filled with savouries such as pork and thousand-year egg, wrapped in a green leaf and steamed.
Tae kwon do: Korean martial art.
Tai chi: A martial art that consists of a slow series of movements, used mainly as a form of exercise and chi manipulation to enhance health and extend life. Usable as a lethal martial art by advanced practitioners. There are several different styles of tai chi, including Chen, Yang and Wu, named after the people who invented them.
Tai chi chuan: Full correct name for tai chi.
Tai Koo Shing: large enclosed shopping mall on the north side of Hong Kong.
Tao Teh Ching: A collection of writings by Lao Tzu on the elemental nature of Taoist philosophy.
Tao, the: ‘The Way’. A perfect state of consciousness equivalent to the Buddhist Nirvana, in which a person becomes completely attuned with the universe and achieves Immortality. Also the shortened name of a collection of writings (the Tao Teh Ching) on Taoist philosophy written by Lao Tzu.
Taoism: Similar to Buddhism, but the state of perfection can be reached by a number of different methods, including alchemy and internal energy manipulation as well as meditation and spirituality.
Tatami (Japanese): Rice-fibre matting.
Temple Street: A night market along a street on Kowloon side in Hong Kong. Notorious as a triad gang hangout as well as being one of Hong Kong’s more colourful markets.
Ten Levels of Hell: It is believed that a human soul travels through ten levels of Hell, being judged and
punished for a particular type of sin at each level. Upon reaching the lowest, or tenth, level, the soul is given an elixir of forgetfulness and returned to Earth to reincarnate and live another life.
Teppan (Japanese): Hotplate used for cooking food at teppanyaki.
Teppanyaki (Japanese): Meal where the food is cooked on the teppan in front of the diners and served when done.
Thousand-year egg: A duck egg that’s been preserved in a mixture of lime, ash, tea and salt for one hundred days, making the flesh of the egg black and strong in flavour.
Tikuanyin (Cantonese; or Tikuanyum): Iron Buddha Tea. A dark, strong and flavourful black Chinese tea. Named because, according to legend, the first tea bush of this type was found behind a roadside altar containing an iron statue of Kwan Yin.
Tin Hau (Cantonese): Taoist deity, worshipped by seafarers.
Triad: Hong Kong organised-crime syndicate. Members of the syndicates are also called triads.
Tsim Sha Tsui: Main tourist and entertainment district on Kowloon side, next to the Harbour.
Tsing Ma Bridge: Large suspension bridge connecting Kowloon with Lantau Island, used to connect to the Airport Expressway.
Typhoon: A hurricane that occurs in Asia. Equivalent to a hurricane in the US or a cyclone in Australia.
Wakizashi: Japanese dagger, usually matched with a sword to make a set called a daisho.
Wan Chai: Commercial district on Hong Kong Island, between the offices and designer stores of Central and the shopping area of Causeway Bay. Contains office
buildings and restaurants, and is famous for its nightclubs and girlie bars.
Wan sui (Putonghua): ‘Ten thousand years’; traditional greeting for the Emperor, wishing him ten thousand times ten thousand years of life.
Wei? (Cantonese): ‘Hello?’ when answering the phone.
Wing chun: Southern style of Chinese kung fu. Made famous by Bruce Lee, this style is fast, close in (‘short’) and lethal. It’s also a ‘soft’ style where the defender uses the attacker’s weight and strength against him or her, rather than relying on brute force to hit hard.
Wire-fu: Move kung-fu performed on wires so that the actors appear to be flying.
Won ton (Cantonese): Chinese dumplings made mostly of pork with a dough wrapping and boiled in soup stock. Often called ‘short soup’ in the West.
Won ton mien (Cantonese): ‘won ton noodles’; won ton boiled in stock with noodles added to the soup.
Wu shu (Putonghua): A general term to mean all martial arts.
Wudang (Putonghua): A rough translation could be ‘true martial arts’. The name of the mountain in Hubei Province; also the name of the martial arts academy and the style of martial arts taught there. Xuan Wu was a Celestial ‘sponsor’ of the Ming Dynasty and the entire mountain complex of temples and monasteries was built by the government of the time in his honour.
Wudangshan (Putonghua): ‘Shan’ means ‘mountain’; Wudang Mountain.
Xie xie (Putonghua): ‘Thank you.’
Xuan Wu (Putonghua) pronounced, roughly, ‘Shwan Wu’: means ‘Dark Martial Arts’; the Black Turtle of the North, Mr Chen.
Yamen: Administration, as in Yamen Building.
Yang: One of the two prime forces of the Universe in Taoist philosophy. Yang is the Light: masculine, bright, hot and hard.
Yang and yin: The two prime forces of the universe, when joined together form the One, the essence of everything. The symbol of yang and yin shows each essence containing a small part of the other.
Yellow Emperor: An ancient mythological figure, the Yellow Emperor is credited with founding civilisation and inventing clothing and agriculture.
Yin: One of the two prime forces of the universe in Taoist philosophy. Yin is Darkness: feminine, dark, cold and soft.
Yuexia Loaren (Putonghua): ‘Old Man Under the Moon’; a Taoist deity responsible for matchmaking.
Yum cha (Cantonese): Literally ‘drink tea’. Most restaurants hold yum cha between breakfast and midafternoon. Tea is served, and waitresses wheel around trolleys containing varieties of dim sum.
Yuzhengong (Putonghua): ‘Find the True Spirit’; the name of the palace complex on Wudang Mountain.
Zhu Que (Putonghua) pronounced, roughly, Joo Chway: the Red Phoenix of the South.
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T
he journey is far from complete, but the publication of the final book in the Dark Heavens trilogy is something of a milestone, and I’d like to thank those who helped along the way.
Alana and Fiona, who have been reading this story from the first day I started writing it, and have provided help, encouragement, advice, and viral marketing.
My family in Canberra who have told everybody they know all about my books with unrestrained pride.
Anni Haig-Smith my agent, who is accountant, advisor, and sometimes babysitter.
Stephanie Smith who took a gamble on an unpublished author which I hope has paid off as much as she wished it to. All the staff at HarperCollins, who work so very hard to make these books as successful as they could possibly be, and a particular thank you to Darren Holt for making the covers of my books so eye-catching.
My kids, Will and Maddy, who have given up trying to talk to me when I’m tapping away at my computer and just walk away with bemused resignation.
My wonderful husband Jason who is my one-man cheer squad.
Hikari Remora. You guys rock and yes, you do provide me with inspiration, and yes watch for yourselves in future volumes.
All my fans. I’m still a bit bewildered at the concept that I have fans. I’ve received so many wonderful emails and letters and I appreciate every single one of them. Don’t despair, everybody, this is just the beginning of the story and there is very much more to come.
Kylie Chan
June 2007
Twenty years ago Kylie Chan married a Hong Kong national in a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony in Eastern China. She and her husband lived in Australia for eight years, then in Hong Kong for ten years. She has seen a great deal of Chinese culture and come to appreciate the customs and way of life.
Two years ago she closed down her successful IT consultancy company in Hong Kong and moved back to Australia. She decided to use her knowledge of Chinese mythology, culture, and martial arts to weave a story that would appeal to a wide audience.
Since returning to Australia, Kylie has studied kung fu (Wing Chun and Southern Chow Clan styles) as well as tai chi and is now a senior belt in both forms. She has also made an intensive study of Buddhist and Taoist philosophy and has brought all of these together into her storytelling.
Kylie is a mother of two who lives in Brisbane.
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Dark Heavens
White Tiger (1)
Red Phoenix (2)
Blue Dragon (3)
Voyager
An imprint of HarperCollins
Publishers
First published in Australia in 2007
This edition published in 2010
by HarperCollins
Publishers
Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
www.harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Kylie Chan 2007
The right of Kylie Chan to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted by her under the
Copyright
Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000
.
This work is copyright.
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Chan, Kylie.
Blue dragon.
ISBN 978 0 7322 8298 1 (pbk.).
ISBN 978 0 7304 0113 1 (Epub).
I. Title. (Series : Dark heavens ; Book three).
A823.4
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