An Inch of Ashes (50 page)

mui tsai

rendered in Cantonese as ‘mooi-jai’. Colloquially, it means either ‘little sister’ or ‘slave 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 ‘Man’

Ni Hao?

‘How are you?’

niao

literally ‘bird’, 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 ‘Miss’

Pa shi yi

literally ‘Eighty-One’, here referring specifically to the Central Council of the New Confucian officialdom

pai nan jen

literally ‘white man’

pai pi

‘hundred pens’, term used for the artificial reality experiments renamed ‘Shells’ by Ben Shepherd

pan chang

supervisor

pao yun

a ‘jewelled cloud’
ch’a

pau

a simple long garment worn by men

pau shuai ch’i

the technical scientific term for ‘half-life’

p’i 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 ‘animal 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 – as a shadow – 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 ‘Book 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

sao mu

the ‘Feast of the Dead’

shang

the south

shan shui

the literal meaning is ‘mountains and water’, but the term is normally associated with a style of landscape painting that depicts rugged mountain scenery with river valleys in the foreground. It is a highly popular form, first established in the T’ang Dynasty, back in the seventh to ninth centuries
AD

shao lin

specially trained assassins, named after the monks of the
shao lin
monastery

shao nai nai

literally, ‘little grandmother’. A young girl who has been given the responsibility of looking after her siblings

she t’ou

a ‘tongue’ or taster, whose task is to safeguard his master from poisoning

shen chung

‘caution’

shen mu

‘she who stands in the door’: a common prostitute

shen nu

‘god girls’: superior prostitutes

shen t’se

special elite force, named after the ‘palace armies’ of the late T’ang dynasty

Shih

‘Master’. Here used as a term of respect somewhat equivalent to our use of ‘Mister’. The term was originally used for the lowest level of civil servants, to distinguish them socially from the run-of-the-mill ‘Misters’ (
hsian sheng
) below them and the gentlemen (
ch’un tzu
) above

shou hsing

a peach brandy

Shui Hu Chuan

Outlaws of the Marsh
, a long historical novel attributed to Lo Kuan-chung but re-cast in the early sixteenth century by ‘Shih Nai-an’, a scholar. Set in the eleventh century, it is a saga of bandits, warlords and heroes. Written in pure
pai hua
– colloquial Chinese – it is the tale of how its heroes became bandits. Its revolutionary nature made it deeply unpopular with both the Ming and Manchu dynasties, but it remains one of the most popular adventures among the Chinese populace

siang chi

Chinese chess, a very different game from its Western counterpart

Ta

‘Beat’, here a heavily amplified form of Chinese folk music, popular amongst the young

ta lien

an elaborate girdle pouch

Ta Ssu Nung

the Superintendency of Agriculture

tai

literally ‘pockets’ but here denoting Representatives in the House at Weimar. ‘Owned’ financially by the Seven, historically such
tai
have served a double function in the House, counterbalancing the strong mercantile tendencies of the House and serving as a conduit for the views of the Seven. Traditionally they had been elderly, well-respected men, but more recently their replacements were young, brash and very corrupt, more like the hoppoes of the Opium Wars period

t’ai chi

the Original, or One, from which the duality of all things (
yin
and
yang
) developed, according to Chinese cosmology. We generally associate the
t’ai chi
with the Taoist symbol, that swirling circle of dark and light supposedly representing an egg (perhaps the
Hun Tun
), the yolk and the white differentiated

tai hsiao

a white wool flower, worn in the hair

Tai Huo

‘Great Fire’

T’ai Shan

Mount T’ai, the highest and most sacred of China’s mountains, located in Shantung province. A stone pathway of 6,293 steps leads to the summit and for thousands of years the ruling emperor has made ritual sacrifices at its foot, accompanied by his full retinue, presenting evidence of his virtue. T’ai Shan is one of the five Taoist holy mountains, and symbolizes the very centre of China. It is the mountain of the sun, symbolizing the bright male force (
yang
). ‘As safe as T’ai Shan’ is a popular saying, denoting the ultimate in solidity and certainty

Tai Shih Lung

Court Astrologer, a title that goes back to the Han dynasty

T’ang

literally, ‘beautiful and imposing’. It is the title chosen by the Seven, who were originally the chief advisors to Tsao Ch’un, the tyrant. Since overthrowing Tsao Ch’un, it has effectively had the meaning of ‘emperor’

Ta Ts’in

the Chinese name for the Roman Empire. They also knew Rome as Li Chien and as ‘the land West of the Sea’. The Romans themselves they termed the ‘Big
Ts’in
’ – the
Ts’in
being the name the Chinese gave themselves during the Ts’in dynasty (
AD
265–316)

te

‘spiritual power’, ‘true virtue’ or ‘virtuality’, defined by Alan Watts as ‘the realization or expression of the Tao in actual living’

t’e an tsan

‘innocent westerners’. For ‘innocent’ perhaps read naive

ti tsu

a bamboo flute, used both as a solo instrument and as part of an ensemble, playing traditional Chinese music

ti yu

the ‘earth prison’ or underworld of Chinese legend. There are ten main Chinese Hells, the first being the courtroom in which the sinner is sentenced and the last being that place where they are reborn as human beings. In between are a vast number of sub-Hells, each with its own Judge and staff of cruel warders. In Hell, it is always dark, with no differentiation between night and day

Tian

‘Heaven’, also, ‘the dome of the sky’

tian-fang

literally ‘to fill the place of the dead wife’; used to signify the upgrading of a concubine to the more respectable position of wife

tiao tuo

bracelets of gold and jade

T’ieh Lo-han

‘Iron Goddess of Mercy’, a
ch’a

T’ieh Pi Pu Kai

literally, ‘the iron pen changes not’, this is the final phrase used at the end of all Chinese government proclamations for the last three thousand years

ting

an open-sided pavilion in a Chinese garden. Designed as a focal point in a garden, it is said to symbolize man’s essential place in the natural order of things

T’ing Wei

the Superintendency of Trials, an institution that dates back to the T’ang dynasty. See Book Eight,
The White Mountain
, for an instance of how this department of government – responsible for black propaganda – functions

T’o

‘camel-backed’, a Chinese term for ‘hunch-backed’

tong

a gang. In China and Europe these are usually smaller and thus subsidiary to the Triads, but in North America the term has generally taken the place of Triad

tou chi

Glycine Max, or the black soybean, used in Chinese herbal medicine to cure insomnia

Tsai Chien!

‘Until we meet again!’

Tsou Tsai Hei

‘the Walker in the Darkness’

tsu

the north

tsu kuo

the motherland

ts’un

a Chinese ‘inch’ of approximately 1.4 Western inches. Ten
ts’un
form one
ch’i

Tu

Earth