Authors: David Wingrove

Son of Heaven (54 page)

Stamp, Terence	English actor
The Verve	English pop group
Young, Neil	Canadian singer-songwriter

GLOSSARY OF MANDARIN TERMS

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 behavior – 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 prerequisites.
Hung Mao	literally ‘redheads’, the name the Chinese gave to the Dutch (and later English) seafarers who attempted to trade with China in the seventeenth century. Because of the piratical nature of their endeavours (which often meant plundering Chinese shipping and ports) the name has connotations of piracy.
Ko Ming	‘revolutionary’. The T’ien Ming is the Mandate of Heaven, supposedly handed down from Shang Ti, the Supreme Ancestor, to his earthly counterpart, the Emperor ( HuangTi ). This Mandate could be enjoyed only so long as the Emperor was worthy of it, and rebellion against a tyrant – who broke the Mandate through his lack of justice, benevolence, and sincerity – was deemed not criminal but a rightful expression of Heaven’s anger.
pi p’a	a four-stringed lute used in traditional Chinese music.
San Kuo Chih Yen I	The Romance of The Three Kingdoms is a long book of 120 chapters, covering a hundred years, from the downfall of the Han dynasty to China’s reunification under the Tsin in 265 AD. Based partly on fact, part on myth, it is still regularly read in public and is China’s most engrossing heroic saga. Its opening words say much of the Han’s attitudes towards history – “The empire when united tends to disruption, and when partitioned, strives once more for unity.” Anyone studying Chinese history would see the truth in those words.
Wen ch’a te	‘elegance’ – this is much more the expression of a concept, that of a certain sense of perfection embodied within that elegance, than a simple descriptive term.
Yin yueh	‘music’. Again, the word is used conceptually, almost poetically here.
Ying Kuo	England, or, more often these days, the United Kingdom.

AUTHOR’S NOTE & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As the reader will have noted, SON OF HEAVEN introduces its major theme – the coming of China – rather late in the day, and for this reason I’ve not felt it
necessary to provide more than the scantest note on Chinese words and phrases used – a mere handful are in the Glossary. Similarly, I do not intend to dwell too long on other matters, except
to say that wei chi is the world’s oldest and most challenging game, known more commonly in the West by its Japanese name, Go.

Thanks this time go out to Brian Griffin for reading the thing in its earliest stages, also to Mike Cobley for encouragement and insights, and to Nic Cheetham, my latest editor and newest
champion, whose most radical suggestion – to remove 70,000 words and reconstruct the novel in two parts – has resulted in this current volume. To Caroline Oakley, who did such a superb
hard edit on the creature, thanks immensely for that, and for telling me – clearly and with good reason – where to end it.

Finally, to Susan and my girls – Jessica, Amy, Georgia and Francesca, a big thank you for enriching my life. To think they were but babes when this began.

Here’s to the journey ahead. Kan Pei!

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