sixth son of Li Chao Ch’in
Li Chao Ch’in
one of the original Seven, advisor to Tsao Ch’un
Li Fu Jen
third son of Li Chao Ch’in
Li Han Ch’in
first son of Li Shai Tung and heir to City Europe
Li Kuang
fifth son of Li Chao Ch’in
Li Peng
eldest son of Li Chao Ch’in
Li Po
T’ang dynasty poet
Li Shen
second son of Li Chao Ch’in
Li Weng
fourth son of Li Chao Ch’in
Lin Yua
first wife of Li Shai Tung
Ling
steward at the Black Tower
Ludd, Drew
biggest grossing actor in Hollywood and star of Ubik
Lung Ti
secretary to Edmund Wyatt
Lwo Kang
son of Lwo Chun-yi and Li Shai Tung’s Minster of the Edit of Technological Control
Ma Shao Tu
senior servant to Li Chao Ch’in
Maitland (Fu Jen)
Stefan Lehmann’s mother
Mao Tse T’ung
first Ko Ming emperor of China (ruled 1948–1976 AD)
Melfi, Charles
father of Alexandra Shepherd
Ming Hsin-far
senior advocate for GenSyn
Nai Liu
‘Enduring Willow’; pen name of Jiang Lei and the most popular Han poet of his time
P’eng Chuan
Sixth Dragon at the Ministry (‘The Thousand Eyes’)
P’eng K’ai-chi
Nephew of P’eng Chuan
Palmer, Joshua
‘Old Josh’, record collector
Pan Chao
the great hero of Chung Kuo, who conquered Asia in the 1st century AD
Pan Tsung-yen
friend of Jiang Lei
Pavel
Young worker on the Plantations
Pei Ko
one of the original Seven, advisor to Tsao Ch’un
Pei Lin-Yi
eldest son of Pei Ko
Ragnar
a mercenary
Raikkonen
Marshal in Security
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 and Tom Reed
Reed, Mary
sister of Jake Reed
Reed, Peter
son of Jake and Anne Reed. GenSyn Executive
Reed, Tom
son of Jane and Mary Reed
Media Liaison Officer for GenSyn
Schwartz
Aide to Marshal Aaltonen
Shao Shu
First Steward at Chun Hua’s mansion
Shao Yen
major in Security, friend of Meng Hsin-far
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
GLOSSARY OF MANDARIN TERMS
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 context. However, as a number of Mandarin terms are used naturally in the text, I’ve thought it best to provide a brief explanation of those 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 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.