by Lao She
catty: A catty is a Chinese unit of mass approximately equal to 500 grams.
Grand Marshal of the Army: Officially, the Grand Marshal of the Army and Navy was the highest military rank of the early Republic of China. Sun Yat-sen, Yüan Shih-k’ai and Chang Tso-lin were all grand marshals.
Olympia: An exhibition centre in West Kensington, London, first erected in 1886 as the National Agricultural Hall.
Three Immortals convent: A nunnery established since 1151 in the Buddhist monastery area of Pa-ta ch’u, to the northwest of old Peking.
Lung Ching tea: A popular variety of green tea from Hangchow (Hangzhou), China that was named an imperial tea by Emperor Kang-hsi in the Ch’ing dynasty.
chop suey: A dish invented in America by Chinese immigrants consisting of meat and eggs, stir-fried with sliced vegetables.
windlasses: A leveraging pulley system allowing the vertical transport of heavy objects, such as to bring water up from a well.
‘During the Festival of Pure Light, the rain is coming down wildly’: A famous line from the poem ‘Ch’ing Ming’ by the Tang dynasty poet, Tu Mu. Ch’ing Ming Festival is celebrated on the 104th day after the winter solstice, usually early April, to honour and tend to one’s ancestral graves.
hsiao-kua: A traditional tight-fitting shirt
if she goes to court: See note to breach of promise below.
Welwyn Garden City: Founded in 1920, Welwyn Garden City was the second of England’s Garden Cities, which were originally designed as self-contained communities surrounded by green belts with equal proportions of residence, industry and agriculture
breach of promise: Informally known as ‘heart balm’, a man’s promise of engagement to marry was considered a legally binding contract up to the early twentieth century. If he were to renege, he would be subject to litigation.
the old city of Welwyn: Welwyn lies over a kilometre to the north of Welwyn Garden City and is more commonly referred to as old Welwyn.
Evening Star: A local paper based in Ipswich, England began in 1885 as the Star of the East.
Ts’ao Ts’ao: A warlord, military genius and poet of the Three Kingdoms Period, he was frequently depicted as a cunning and deceitful man in classical opera, a persona that was popularised in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
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First published in Chinese as Er Ma by Fiction Monthly (Hsiao-shuo Yüeh-pao), 1929
This edition published by Penguin Group (Australia) in association with Penguin (Beijing) Ltd, 2013
Copyright © The Estate of Lao She, 1929
Translated from the Chinese by William Dolby
The moral right of the author has been asserted
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ISBN: 978-0-85797-564-5