by Kylie Chan
Fung shui (or feng shui): The Chinese system of geomancy that links the environment to the fate of those living in it. A house with good internal and external fung shui assures its residents of good luck in their life.
Guangdong: The province of China directly across the border from Hong Kong.
Guangzhou: The capital city of Guangdong Province, about an hour away by road from Hong Kong. A large bustling commercial city rivalling Hong Kong in size and activity.
Gundam (Japanese): Large humanoid robot armour popular in Japanese cartoons.
Gung hei fat choy (Cantonese): Happy New Year.
Gwun Gong (or Guan Gong): A southern Chinese Taoist deity; a local General who attained Immortality
and is venerated for his strengths of loyalty and justice and his ability to destroy demons.
H’suantian Shangdi (Cantonese): Xuan Tian Shang Di in the Wade-Giles method of writing Cantonese words.
Har gow: Dim sum served at yum cha; a steamed dumpling with a thin skin of rice flour dough containing prawns.
Hei sun (Cantonese): Arise.
Ho ak (Cantonese): Okay.
Ho fan (Cantonese): Flat white noodles made from rice; can be either boiled in soup or stir-fried.
Hong Kong Jockey Club: Hong Kong private institution that runs and handles all of the horseracing and legal gambling in Hong Kong. There can be billions of Hong Kong dollars in bets on a single race meeting.
Hutong (Putonghua): Traditional Chinese house, square and built around a central courtyard.
ICAC: Independent Commission Against Corruption; an independent government agency focused on tracking down corruption in Hong Kong.
Jade Emperor: The supreme ruler of the Taoist Celestial Government.
Journey to the West: A classic of Chinese literature written during the Ming Dynasty by Wu Cheng’En. The story of the Monkey King’s journey to India with a Buddhist priest to collect scriptures and return them to China.
Kata (Japanese): A martial arts ‘set’; a series of moves to practise the use of the weapon or hand-to-hand skills.
KCR: A separate above-ground train network that connects with the MTR and travels to the border with Mainland China. Used to travel to towns in the New Territories.
Kitchen God: A domestic deity who watches over the activities of the family and reports annually to the Jade Emperor.
Koi (Japanese): Coloured ornamental carp.
Kowloon: Peninsula opposite the Harbour from Hong Kong Island, a densely packed area of highrise buildings. Actually on the Chinese Mainland, but separated by a strict border dividing Hong Kong from China.
Kowloon City: District in Kowloon just before the entrance to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel.
Kwan Yin: Buddhist icon; a woman who attained Nirvana and became a Buddha but returned to Earth to help others achieve Nirvana as well. Often represented as a goddess of Mercy.
Lai see (Cantonese): A red paper envelope used to give cash as a gift for birthdays and at New Year. It’s believed that for every dollar given ten will return during the year.
Lai see dao loy (Cantonese): ‘Lai see, please!’
Lantau Island: One of Hong Kong’s outlying islands, larger than Hong Kong Island but not as densely inhabited.
Li: Chinese unit of measure, approximately half a kilometre.
Lo Wu: The area of Hong Kong that contains the border crossing. Lo Wu is an area that covers both sides of the border; it is in both Hong Kong and China.
Lo Wu Shopping Centre: A large shopping centre directly across the Hong Kong/Chinese border on the Chinese side. A shopping destination for Hong Kong residents in search of a bargain.
Love hotel: Hotel with rooms that are rented by the hour by young people who live with their parents (and therefore have no privacy) or businessmen meeting their mistresses for sex.
M’goi sai (Cantonese): ‘Thank you very much.’
M’hai (Cantonese): Literally, ‘no need’, but it generally means ‘you’re welcome’.
Macau: One-time Portuguese colony to the west of Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta, about an hour away by jet hydrofoil; now another Special Administrative Region of China. Macau’s port is not as deep and sheltered as Hong Kong’s so it has never been the busy trade port that Hong Kong is.
Mah jong: Chinese game played with tiles. The Chinese play it differently from the polite game played by many Westerners; it is played for money and can often be a cut-throat competition between skilled players, rather like poker.
manga: Japanese illustrated novel or comic book.
MTR: Fast, cheap, efficient and spotlessly clean subway train system in Hong Kong. Mostly standing room, and during rush hour so packed that it is often impossible to get onto a carriage.
New Territories: A large area of land between Kowloon and Mainland China that was granted to extend Hong Kong. Less crowded than Hong Kong and Kowloon, the New Territories are green and hilly with highrise New Towns scattered through them.
Nunchucks: Short wooden sticks held together with chains; a martial arts weapon.
Opium Wars: (1839–60) A series of clashes between the then British Empire and the Imperial Chinese Government over Britain’s right to trade opium to
China. It led to a number of humiliating defeats and surrenders by China as they were massively outclassed by modern Western military technology.
Pa Kua (Cantonese): The Eight Symbols, a central part of Taoist mysticism. Four of these Eight Symbols flank the circle in the centre of the Korean flag.
Pak Tai: One of Xuan Wu’s many names; this one is used in Southern China.
Peak Tower: Tourist sightseeing spot at the top of the Peak Tram. Nestled between the two highest peaks on the Island and therefore not the highest point in Hong Kong, but providing a good view for tourist photographs.
Peak Tram: Tram that has been running for many years between Central and the Peak. Now mostly a tourist attraction because of the steepness of the ride and the view.
Peak, the: Prestigious residential area of Hong Kong, on top of the highest point of the centre of Hong Kong Island. The view over the Harbour and highrises is spectacular, and the property prices there are some of the highest in the world.
Pokfulam: Area of Hong Kong west of the main business districts, facing the open ocean rather than the harbour. Contains large residential apartment blocks and a very large hillside cemetery.
Putonghua: Also called Mandarin, the dialect of Chinese spoken throughout China as a standard language. Individual provinces have their own dialects but Putonghua is spoken as a common tongue.
Qing Long (Putonghua): (pronounced, roughly, Ching Long): The Azure Dragon of the East.
Ramen (Japanese): Instant two-minute noodles.
Repulse Bay: A small swimming beach surrounded by an expensive residential enclave of high- and low-rise apartment blocks on the south side of Hong Kong Island.
Salute, Chinese: The left hand is closed into a fist and the right hand is wrapped around it. Then the two hands are held in front of the chest and sometimes shaken.
Sashimi (Japanese): Raw fish. Sensei (Japanese): Master.
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.<
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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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
About the Mythology
In undertaking to write this story I had to do a tremendous amount of research on the nature of Taoism and the deities that appear in the book. I’m by no means an expert, but I thought the reader would like a small amount of further information on how Chinese beliefs fit together.
Chinese folk beliefs are a mixture of animism, Buddhism and Taoism, which all seem to fit seamlessly together with a liberal dose of Confucian philosophy. Buddhism and Taoism both teach that a person who transcends the barriers inherent in our physical world will attain Immortality. Therefore, many famous historical figures are considered to be still around today and can be called upon to intervene when times are tough.
Chinese believe that the spirits of their ancestors continue to guide and protect them, and therefore must be cared for and regularly visited. There are two festivals a year when families visit the graves of dead relatives to clean the graves and provide food and offerings of paper money and consumer goods. The paper offerings are burned and help the dead relatives live a life of ease in the Afterlife.
Buddhism, with its philosophy of reincarnation, is also prevalent, with the belief that a person who casts off worldly needs can attain a perfect state of alignment with the Universe, or Nirvana. People who have attained this state are called Buddhas (there is more than one) and may return to Earth in human or animal form to help those in need. Kwan Yin is one of the most famous of these Bodhisattvas and the image of a Buddha on a car dashboard or in a roadside altar is often that of Kwan Yin.