The Middle Kingdom

by David Wingrove

  Chao Ni Tsu

  Grand Master of Wei Chi and computer genius. Servant of Tsao Ch’un

  Croft, Rebecca

  ‘Becky’, daughter of Leopold, with a lazy eye

  Dick, Philip K.

  American science fiction writer

  Ebert, Gustav

  genetics genius and co-founder of GenSyn, Genetic Synthetics

  Ebert, Wolfgang

  financial genius and co-founder of GenSyn, Genetic Synthetics

  Griffin, James B.

  Sixtieth President of the United States of America

  Hubbard, Mary

  wife of Tom Hubbard and mother of Cathy, Meg and Beth. Second wife of Jake Reed

  Hubbard, Tom

  Farmer; resident in Church Knowle. Husband of Mary Hubbard and father of Beth, Meg and Cathy. Best friend to Jake Reed

  Jiang Lei

  general of Tsao Ch’un’s Eighteenth Banner Army, also known as Nai Liu

  Ludd, Drew

  biggest grossing actor in Hollywood and star of Ubik

  Mao Tse

  first Ko Ming emperor (ruled ad 1948 to 1976)

  Tung Nai Liu

  ‘Enduring Willow’; pen name of Jiang Lei and the most popular Han poet of his time

  Palmer, Joshua

  ‘Old Josh’, record collector

  Reed, Anne

  first wife of Jake Reed; mother of Peter Reed and sister of Mary Hubbard (Jake’s second wife)

  Reed, Jake

  ‘Login’ or ‘Webdancer’ for Hinton Industries. Father of Peter Reed

  Reed, Peter

  son of Jake and Anne Reed; GenSyn Executive

  Trish

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

  Tsao Ch’un

  ex-member of the Chinese Communist Politburo and architect of ‘The Collapse’. Mass murderer and tyrant

  Wang Yu-lai

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

  GLOSSARY OF MANDARIN TERMS

  The transcription of standard Mandarin into a European alphabetical form was first achieved in the seventeenth century by the Italian, Matteo Ricci, who founded and ran the first Jesuit Mission in China from 1583 until his death in 1610. Since then several dozen attempts have been made to reduce the original Chinese sounds, represented by some tens of thousands of separate pictograms, into readily understandable phonetics for Western use. For a long time, however, three systems dominated – those used by the three major Western powers vying for influence in the corrupt and crumbling Chinese Empire of the nineteenth century: Great Britain; France; and Germany. These systems were the Wade-Giles (Great Britain and America – sometimes known as the Wade System), the Ecole francaise d’Extrême-Orient (France) and the Lessing (Germany).

  Since 1958, however, the Chinese themselves have sought to create one single phonetic form, based on the German system, which they termed the hanyu pinyin fang’an (Scheme for a Chinese Phonetic Alphabet), known more commonly as pinyin, and in all foreign language books published in China since 1 January 1979 pinyin has been used, as well as being taught now in schools alongside the standard Chinese characters. For this work, however, I have chosen to use the older, and to my mind, far more elegant transcription system, the Wade-Giles (in modified form). For those now used to the harder forms of pinyin the following may serve as a basic conversion guide, the Wade-Giles first, the pinyin after.

  p for b

  ch’ for q

  ts’ for c

  j for r

  ch’ for ch

  t’ for t

  t for d

  hs for x

  k for g

  ts for z

  ch for j

  ch for zh

  The effect is, I hope, to render the softer, more poetic side of the original Mandarin, ill-served, I feel, by modern pinyin.

  It is not intended to belabour the reader with a whole mass of arcane Han expressions here. Some – usually the more specific – are explained in contect. However, as a number of Mandarin terms are used naturally in the text, I’ve thought it best to provide a brief explanation of these terms.

  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 grams. 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. There 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 ‘principle 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 antlike 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

  Chie
h 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 Shihchen – 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 recognise 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 ‘The Feast Of The Dead’in Book Four.

  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 often stacks – each stack composed of 30 decks. Each deck is a hexagonal living unit often 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

  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

  hu t’ieh

  a butterfly. Anyone wishing to follow up on this tale of ChuangTzu’s might look to the sage’s writings and specifically the chapter, ‘Discussion on Making All Things Equal’

  hua pen

  literally‘ story roots’, these were précis guidebooks used by the street corner storytellers in China for the past two thousand years. The main events of the story were written down in the hua pen for the benefit of those storytellers who had not yet mastered their art. During the Yuan or Mongol dynasty (ad 1280-1368) these hua pen developed into plays, and, later on – during the Ming dynasty (ad 13 68-1644) into th
e form of popular novels, of which the Shui Hu Chuan, or ‘Outlaws Of The Marsh’, remains one of the most popular. Any reader interested in following this up might purchase Pearl Buck’s translation, rendered as All Men Are Brothers and first published in 1933

  Huang-ti

  originally Huang-ti was the last of the ‘Three Sovereigns’ and the first of the ‘Five Emperors’ of ancient Chinese tradition. Huang-ti, the Yellow Emperor, was the earliest ruler recognized by the historian Ssu-ma Ch’ien (13 6-85 bc) in his great historical work, the Shih Chi. Traditionally, all subsequent rulers (and would-be rulers) of China have claimed descent from the Yellow Emperor, the ‘Son of Heaven’ himself, who first brought civilization to the black-haired people. His name is now synonymous with the term ‘emperor’

  hun

  the higher soul or ‘spirit soul’, which, the Chinese believe, ascends to Heaven at death, joins Shang Ti, the Supreme Ancestor, and lives in his court for ever more

  hun tun

  ‘the 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