The Garlic Ballads (45 page)

GAO YANG (“Sheep” Gao): a garlic farmer
HIS WIFE XINGHUA: his blind daughter
GAO MA (“Horse” Gao): a garlic farmer
GAO ZHILENG: a parakeet raiser
GAO JINJIAO: the village boss (formally “director”)

The FANG family:

FANG YUNQIU (Fourth Uncle): head of the household
FOURTH AUNT: his wife

FANG YIJUN (also Number One, Elder Brother): his son FANG YIXIANG (also Number Two, Second Brother): his son

FANG JINJU (Golden Chrysanthemum): his daughter

DEPUTY YANG (Eighth Uncle): a local dignitary
SECRETARY WANG (Wang Jiaxiu): the local party boss
YU QIUSHUI: a peasant
ZHANG KOU: a blind minstrel

a
as in father (except after
y
, when it is the same as
e)

e
as in met

i
as in see
(in
and
ing
are the same as in English)

O
as in pork

u
as in mood

ao
as in cow

ei
as in hay

iu
as in use

ou
as in old

u
after j,
q, x
, and
y
, as the German ü (über)

c
is pronounced as
ts (its)

q
is pronounced as
ch (chill)

x
is pronounced as
sh (she)

z
is pronounced as
ds
(yards)

zh
is pronounced as
j