The Art of War (39 page)

Shen Chen

son of Shen Fu

Shen Fu

The First Dragon, Head of the Ministry (‘The Thousand Eyes’)

Shepherd, Alexandra

wife of Amos Shepherd and daughter of Charles Melfi

Shepherd, Amos

Great-great grandfather of Hal Shepherd. Chief advisor to Tsao Ch’un and architect of City Earth

Shepherd, Augustus

Son of Amos Shepherd

Shepherd, Augustus Raedwald

Great-great uncle to Ben Shepherd

Shepherd, Beth

daughter of Amos Shepherd

Shu Liang

Senior Legal Advocate

Shu San

Junior Minister to Lwo Kang

Si Wu Ya

‘Silk Raven’; wife Supervisor Sung

Ssu Lu Shan

official of the Ministry, the ‘Thousand Eyes’

Su Ting-an

Master of
wei chi
from the 18th century

Su Tung-p’o

Han official and poet of the 11th century

Svensson

Marshal in Security

Tai Yu

Moonflower’, maid to Gustav Ebert; a GenSyn clone

Teng

common citizen of Chung Kuo

Teng Fu

Guard on the Plantation

Teng Liang

Minor Family princess betrothed to Prince Ch’eng I

Trish

Artificial Intelligence ‘filter avatar’ for Jake Reed’s penthouse apartment

Ts’ao Pi

Number Three’ steward at Tsao Ch’un’s court in Pei Ch’ing

Tsao Ch’l Yuan

youngest son of Tsao Ch’un

Tsao Ch’un

ex-member of the Chinese politburo and architect of ‘the Collapse’. Mass murderer and tyrant; ‘creator’ of Chung Kuo

Tsao Heng

second son of Tsao Ch’un

Tsao Hsiao

Tsao Ch’un’s elder brother

Tsao Wang-po

eldest son of Tsao Ch’un

Tsu Chen

one of the original Seven, advisor to Tsao Ch’un

Tsu Lin

eldest son of Tsu Chen

Tsu Shi

steward to Gustav Ebert, a GenSyn clone

Tsu Tiao

T’ang of West Asia

Tu Mu

assistant to Alison Winter at GenSyn

Wang An-Shih

Han official and poet of the 11th century

Wang Chang Ye

eldest son of Wang Hsien

Wang Hui So

one of the original Seven, advisor to Tsao Ch’un

Wang Lieh Tsu

second son of Wang Hsien

Wang Lung

eldest son of Wang Hui So

Wang Yu-lai

‘Cadre’, servant of the Ministry, ‘The Thousand Eyes’, instructed to report back on Jiang Lei

Wei

a judge

Weis, Anton

banker and Dispersionist

Wen P’ing

Tsao Ch’un’s man. A bully

Weo Shao

chancellor to Tsao Ch’un

Winter, Alison

Jake Reed’s girlfriend at New College and evaluation executive at GenSyn

Winter, Jake

son of Alison Winter

Wolfe

elite guard in the Domain

Wu Chi

AI (Artificial Intelligence) to Tobias Lahm

Wu Hsien

one of the original Seven, advisor to Tsao Ch’un

Wyatt, Edmund

company head, Dispersionist, and (unknown to him) father of Kim Ward

Wyatt, Edmund

businessman and (unknown to him) father of Kim Ward

Yang Hong Yu

legal advocate

Yang Lai

Minister under Li Shai Tung

Yo Jou Hsi

a judge

Yu Ch’o

family retainer to Wang Hui So

aiya!

a common expression of surprise or dismay

amah

a domestic maidservant

Amo Li Jia

The Chinese gave this name to North America when they first arrived in the 1840s. Its literal meaning is ‘The Land Without Ghosts’.

an

A saddle. This has the same sound as the word for peace, and thus is associated in the Chinese mind with peace.

catty

the colloquial term for a unit of measure formally called a
jin
. One catty – as used here – equals roughly 1.1. pounds (avoirdupois), or (exactly) 500 gm. Before 1949 and the standardization of Chinese measures to a metric standard, this measure varied district by district, but was generally regarded as equalling about 1.33 pounds (avoirdupois).

ch’a

Tea. It might be noted that
ch’a shu
, the Chinese art of tea, is an ancient forebear of the Japanese tea ceremony
chanoyu
.
Hsiang p’ien
are flower teas,
Ch’ing ch’a
are green, unfermented teas.

ch’a hao t’ai

literally, a ‘directory’

ch’a shu

The art of tea, adopted later by the Japanese in their tea ceremony. The
ch’a
god is Lu Yu and his image can be seen on banners outside teahouses throughout Chung Kuo.

chan shih

a ‘fighter’, here denoting a
tong
soldier

chang

ten
ch’i
, thus about 12 feet (Western)

Chang-e

The goddess of the Moon, and younger sister of the Spirit of the Waters. The moon represents the very essence of the female principal,
Yin
, in opposition to the Sun, which is
Yang
. Legend has it that Chang-e stole the elixir of immortality from her husband, the great archer Shen I, then fled to the Moon for safety, where she was transformed into a toad, which, so it is said, can still be seen against the whiteness of the moon’s surface.

chang shan

Literally ‘long dress’, which fastens to the right. Worn by both sexes. The woman’s version is a fitted, calf-length dress similar to the
chi pao
. A south China fashion, it is also known as a
cheung sam
.

chao tai hui

an ‘entertainment’, usually, within
Chung Kuo
, of an expensive and sophisticated kind

chen yen

true words; the Chinese equivalent of a mantra

ch’eng

The word means both ‘City’ and ‘Wall’.

Ch’eng Ou Chou

City Europe

Ch’eng Hsiang

‘Chancellor’, a post first established in the Ch’in court more than two thousand years ago

ch’i

a Chinese ‘foot’; approximately 14.4 inches

ch’i

‘Inner strength’; one of the two fundamental ‘entities’ from which everything is composed.
Li
is the ‘form’ or ‘law’, or (to cite Joseph Needham) the ‘principal of organization’ behind things, whereas
ch’i
is the ‘matter-energy’ or ‘spirit’ within material things, equating loosely to the
Pneuma
of the Greeks and the
prana
of the ancient Hindus. As the sage Chu Hsi (
AD
1130–1200) said, ‘The
li
is the
Tao
that pertains to “what is above shapes” and is the source from which all things are produced. The
ch’i
is the material [literally instrument] that pertains to “what is within shapes”, and is the means whereby things are produced... Throughout the universe there is no
ch’i
without
li
. Or
li
without
ch’i
.’

chi ch’i

common workers, but used here mainly to denote the ant-like employees of the Ministry of Distribution

Chia Ch’eng

Honorary Assistant to the Royal Household

chi’an

a general term for money

chiao tzu

a traditional North Chinese meal of meat-filled dumplings eaten with a hot spicy sauce

Chieh Hsia

Term meaning ‘Your Majesty’, derived from the expression ‘Below the Steps’. It was the formal way of addressing the Emperor, through his Ministers, who stood ‘below the steps’.

chi pao

literally ‘banner gown’, a one-piece gown of Manchu origin, usually sleeveless, worn by women

chih chu

a spider

ch’in

A long (120 cm), narrow, lacquered zither with a smooth top surface and sound holes beneath, seven silk strings and thirteen studs marking the harmonic positions on the strings. Early examples have been unearthed from fifth century
BC
tombs, but it probably evolved in the fourteenth or thirteenth century
BC
. It is the most honoured of Chinese instruments and has a lovely mellow tone.

Chin P’ing Mei

The Golden Lotus, an erotic novel, written by an unknown scholar – possibly anonymously by the writer Wang Shih-chen – at the beginning of the seventeenth century as a continuation of the
Shui Hui Chuan
, or ‘Warriors of the Marsh’, expanding chapters 23 to 25 of the
Shan Hui
, which relate the story of how Wu Sung became a bandit. Extending the story beyond this point, the
Golden Lotus
has been accused of being China’s great licentious (even, perhaps, pornographic) novel. But as C.P. Fitzgerald says, ‘If this book is indecent in parts, it is only because, telling a story of domestic life, it leaves out nothing.’ It is available in a three volume English-language translation.

ch’ing

pure

ching

Literally ‘mirror’, here used also to denote a perfect GenSyn copy of a man. Under the Edict of Technological Control, these are limited to copies of the ruling T’ang and their closest relatives. However, mirrors were also popularly believed to have certain strange properties, one of which was to make spirits visible. Buddhist priests used special ‘magic mirrors’ to show believers the form into which they would be reborn. Moreover, if a man looks into one of these mirrors and fails to recognize his own face, it is a sign that his own death is not far off. [See also
hu hsin chung
.]

ch’ing ch’a

green, unfermented teas

Ch’ing Ming

The Festival of Brightness and Purity, when the graves are swept and offerings made to the deceased. Also known as the Festival of Tombs, it occurs at the end of the second moon and is used for the purpose of celebrating the spring, a time for rekindling the cooking fires after a three-day period in which the fires were extinguished and only cold food eaten.

Chou

Literally, ‘State’, but here used as the name of a card game based on the politics of Chung Kuo. See Book Four, ‘The Feast Of The Dead’.

chow mein

This, like chop suey, is neither a Chinese nor a Western dish, but a special meal created by the Chinese in North America for the Western palate. A transliteration of
chao mian
(fried noodles), it is a distant relation of the
liang mian huang
served in Suchow.

ch’u

the west

chun hua

Literally, ‘Spring Pictures’. These are, in fact, pornographic ‘pillow books’, meant for the instruction of newly-weds.

ch’un tzu

An ancient Chinese term from the Warring States period, describing a certain class of noblemen, controlled by a code of chivalry and morality known as the
li
, or rites. Here the term is roughly, and sometimes ironically, translated as ‘gentlemen’, The
ch’un tzu
is as much an ideal state of behaviour – as specified by Confucius in the
Analects
– as an actual class in Chung Kuo, though a degree of financial independence and a high standard of education are assumed a prerequisite.

chung

a lidded ceramic serving bowl for
ch’a

chung hsin

loyalty

E hsing hsun huan

A saying: ‘Bad nature follows a cycle.’

er

two

erh tzu

son

erhu

a traditional Chinese instrument

fa

punishment

fen

A unit of currency; see
yuan
. It has another meaning, that of a ‘minute’ of clock time, but that usage is avoided here to prevent any confusion.

feng yu

A ‘phoenix chair’, canopied and decorated with silver birds. Coloured scarlet and gold, this is the traditional carriage for a bride as she is carried to her wedding ceremony.

fu jen

‘Madam’, used here as opposed to
t’ai t’ai,
‘Mrs’

fu sang

The hollow mulberry tree; according to ancient Chinese cosmology this tree stands where the sun rises and is the dwelling place of rulers.
Sang
(mulberry) however has the same sound as
sang
(sorrow) in Chinese.

Han

Term used by the Chinese to describe their own race, the ‘black-haired people’, dating back to the Han dynasty (210
BC
–
AD
220). It is estimated that some ninety-four per cent of modern China’s population are
Han
racially.

Hei

Literally ‘black’. The Chinese pictogram for this represents a man wearing war paint and tattoos. Here it refers specifically to the genetically manufactured half-men, made by GenSyn and used as riot police to quell uprisings in the lower levels of the City.

ho yeh

Nelumbo Nucifera, or lotus, the seeds of which are used in Chinese medicine to cure insomnia

Hoi Po

the corrupt officials who dealt with the European traders in the nineteenth century, more commonly known as ‘hoppos’

Hsia

a crab

hsiang p’en

flower
ch’a

hsiao

Filial piety. The character for
hsiao
is comprised of two parts, the upper part meaning ‘old’, the lower meaning ‘son’ or ‘child’. This dutiful submission of the young to the old is at the heart of Confucianism and Chinese culture generally.

Hsiao chieh

‘Miss’, or an unmarried woman. An alternative to
nu shi
.

hsiao jen

‘Little man/men’. In the
Analects
, Book XIV, Confucius writes, ‘The gentleman gets through to what is up above; the small man gets through to what is down below.’ This distinction between ‘gentlemen’ (
ch’un tzu
) and ‘little men’ (
hsiao jen
), false even in Confucius’s time, is no less a matter of social perspective in Chung Kuo.

hsien

Historically an administrative district of variable size. Here the term is used to denote a very specific administrative area, one of ten stacks – each stack composed of 30 decks. Each deck is a hexagonal living unit of ten levels, two
li
, or approximately one kilometre, in diameter. A stack can be imagined as one honeycomb in the great hive that is the City. Each
hsien
of the city elects one Representative to sit in the House at Weimar.

Hsien Ling

Chief Magistrate, in charge of a
Hsien.
In Chung Kuo these officials are the T’ang’s representatives and law enforcers for the individual
hsien
. In times of peace each
hsien
would also elect one Representative to sit in the House at Weimar.

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.