TRANSLATOR’S NOTE
The translator is grateful to William Tay for bringing this novel to his attention soon after its appearance in a Chinese magazine; to Joseph Lau and Xiaobing Tang for ideas and encouragements;- and to Courtney Hodell for her editorial insights and unflagging enthusiasm. The Taiwan Hung-fan 1989 edition was used, while other versions were consulted. Parts of Chapter Nineteen and all of Chapter Twenty have been revised, in conjunction with the author.
CHARACTER AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Surnames (family names) always precede given names and titles (our author is Mr. Mo, not Mr. Yan). It is common in rural villages for a single surname to predominate; it is also common for rural and urban Chinese alike to address one another not by name but by family hierarchical title-Elder Brother, Aunt, Cousin-even in the absence of blood relationships. The major characters in the novel are:
GAO YANG (“Sheep” Gao): a garlic farmer
HIS WIFE XINGHUA: his blind daughter
GAO MA (“Horse” Gao): a garlic farmer
GAO ZHILENG: a parakeet raiser
GAO JINJIAO: the village boss (formally “director”)
The FANG family:
FANG YUNQIU (Fourth Uncle): head of the household
FOURTH AUNT: his wife
FANG YIJUN (also Number One, Elder Brother): his son FANG YIXIANG (also Number Two, Second Brother): his son
FANG JINJU (Golden Chrysanthemum): his daughter
DEPUTY YANG (Eighth Uncle): a local dignitary
SECRETARY WANG (Wang Jiaxiu): the local party boss
YU QIUSHUI: a peasant
ZHANG KOU: a blind minstrel
The proximate pronunciation of modern Chinese has not been materially aided by the pinyin (“spell-sound”) system. For the most part, the key is in the vowels:
a as in father (except after y, when it is the same as e)
e as in met
i as in see (in and ing are the same as in English)
O as in pork
u as in mood
ao as in cow
ei as in hay
iu as in use
ou as in old
u after j, q, x, and y, as the German ü (über)
c is pronounced as ts (its)
q is pronounced as ch (chill)
x is pronounced as sh (she)
z is pronounced as ds (yards)
zh is pronounced as j
Mo Yan
