Read The White Mountain Online
Authors: David Wingrove
The White Mountain (47 page)
| hun | the higher soul or âspirit 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 | âthe 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 âredheads', 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, âfire men' |
| I Lung | the âFirst Dragon', Senior Minister and Great Lord of the âMinistry', also known as âthe Thousand Eyes' |
| jou tung wu | literally âmeat animal': âIt 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 troughâ¦' |
| 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! | âgood health!' or âcheers!' â 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 1662â1722) is considered a golden age for the art of porcelain-making. The lavender-glazed bowl in âThe Sound Of Jade' is, however, not kang-hsi but Chun chou ware from the Sung period (960â1127) and considered amongst the most beautiful (and rare) wares in Chinese pottery |
| kao liang | a strong Chinese liquor |
| Ko Ming | ârevolutionary'. 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 â who broke the Mandate through his lack of justice, benevolence and sincerity â was deemed not criminal but a rightful expression of Heaven's anger |
| k'ou t'ou | the fifth stage of respect, according to the âBook 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 | âbitter 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 â however hard and onerous â spawned the word âcoolie' by which the West more commonly knows the Chinese labourer. Such men were described as âmen of bitter strength', or simply âku 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 âHe who listens to the sounds of the world', or âKuan 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 | âRunning 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 âsharp knife' or âfast knife'. It can also mean to be sharp or fast (as a knife). An associated meaning is that of a âclod' or âlump 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 | âBlue Sky' |
| Lang | a covered walkway |
| lao chu | singsong girls, slightly more respectable than the common men hu |
| lao jen | âold man' (also weng ); used normally as a term of respect |
| lao kuan | a âGreat Official', often used ironically |
| lao shih | term that denotes a genuine and straightforward man â bluff and honest |
| lao wai | an outsider |
| li | a Chinese âmile', 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 | âpropriety'. See the Li Ching or âBook Of Rites' for the fullest definition |
| Li Ching | âThe 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 âBook of Ceremonies'. Two stages above the more familiarly known â 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 â involving three prostrations â was more elaborate and was reserved for Heaven and its son, the Emperor (see also san k'ou ) |
| liumang | punks |
| lu nan jen | literally âoven man', title of the official who is responsible for cremating all of the dead bodies |
| lueh | âthat invaluable quality of producing a piece of art casually, almost uncaringly' |
| lung t'ing | âdragon 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 â both down and across â 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 âgame 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 â winds, dragons, bamboos and circles |
| mao | a unit of currency. See yuan |
| mao tai | a strong, sorghum-based liquor |
| mei fa tzu | common saying, âIt is fate!' |
| mei hua | âplum blossom' |
| mei mei | sister |
| mei yu jen wen | âsubhumans'. Used in Chung Kuo by those in the City's uppermost levels to denote anyone living in the lower hundred |
| men hu | literally, âthe one standing in the door'. The most common (and cheapest) of prostitutes |
| min | literally âthe people'; used (as here) by the Minor Families in a pejorative sense, as an equivalent to âplebeian' |
| Ming | the dynasty that ruled China from 1368 to 1644. Literally, the name means âBright' or âClear' or âBrilliant'. It carries connotations of cleansing |
| mou | a Chinese âacre' 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 | âMother', a general term commonly addressed to any older woman |
| mui tsai | rendered in Cantonese as âmooi-jai'. Colloquially, it means either âlittle sister' or âslave 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 âMan' |
| Ni Hao? | âHow are you?' |
| niao | literally âbird', 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 âMiss' |
| Pa shi yi | literally âEighty-One', here referring specifically to the Central Council of the New Confucian officialdom |
| pai nan jen | literally âwhite man' |
| pai pi | âhundred pens', term used for the artificial reality experiments renamed âShells' by Ben Shepherd |
| pan chang | supervisor |
| pao yun | a âjewelled cloud' ch'a |
| pau | a simple long garment worn by men |
| pau shuai ch'i | the technical scientific term for âhalf-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 âanimal 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 â as a shadow â 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 |
| san kuei chiu k'ou | the eighth and final stage of respect, according to the âBook of Ceremonies', it involves kneeling three times, each time striking the forehead three times against the ground before rising from one's knees (in k'ou t'ou one strikes the forehead but once). This most elaborate form of ritual was reserved for Heaven and its son, the Emperor. See also liu k'ou |
| san k'ou | abbreviated form of san kuei chiu k'ou |
| San Kuo Yan Yi | The Romance of the Three Kingdoms , also known as the San Kuo Chih Yen I . China's great historical novel, running to 120 chapters, it covers the period from AD 168 to 265. Written by Lo Kuan-chung in the early Ming dynasty, its heroes, Liu Pei, Kuan Chung and Chang Fei, together with its villain, Ts'ao Ts'ao, are all historical personages. It is still one of the most popular stories in modern China |
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