Louis Cha - The Deer and the Cauldron

SPRING FRAGRANCE Spring Fragrance Wei, Yangzhou trollop, Trinket’s mother.

SU QUAN see Hong, Madame

SUN SIKE, Colonel (1628’1700) One of Trinket’s deputy

commanders on the Yangzhou expedition.

SUN YANLING (died 1677) Military Governor of Guangxi Province, married to Kong Sizhen, the only surviving child of General Kong Youde. SWEET DEW PARLOUR The main reception hall at the Vernal Delights bordello. TAI, Colonel He replaces General Ajige as commander of the Vanguard Regiment. TAIWAN At the time of the Ming’Qing transition, when this novel takes place, this island, about 210 miles long by 70 miles wide, was a wild place, and not considered part of China proper. It had been given the name Formosa (literally Beautiful Isle) by the Portuguese when they first tried to colonize it in the early seventeenth century. It is separated from the mainland by a channel about 100 miles wide, and presented itself as the perfect base for the resistance, led by Marshal Zheng (Coxinga). He ended up establishing what was virtually his own kingdom on the island (he was called by the European powers the King of Taiwan). It was finally taken from his family in 1683. At first attached to Fujian Province as a Prefecture, it only became a province in its own right as late as 1887. A mere eight years later, at the close of the Sino’Japanese war in 1895, it became a Japanese colony, and remained so until the end of the Second World War. TANG RUOWANG see Schall, Adam von TAO, Aunt Tao Hongying, once a maid serving Princess Chang, the Princess Royal, daughter of the last Ming Emperor (see White Nun). She has sworn vengeance on the Tartars. Adopts Trinket as her ‘real’ nephew. TERTIUS Qi Biaoqing, sarcastic Triad. THEODORE Tsar of Russia; Princess Sophia’s twenty’year’old younger brother, a bedridden invalid, who reigned from 1676 to 1682. THIN DHUTA Alias Lump’of’Hesh, or Meatball; originally a very thin disciple of the Mystic Dragon Sect, he becomes as fat as a pumpkin after taking the Leopard Embryo Pill and failing to get the Antidote in time. One of the Fake’Empress Dowager’s lovers.

TIAN Favourite consort of Chong Zhen Emperor. TIGER Trinket’s first son, by Green. >,’. ‘.’ s

TOLBUSIN, Alexei Successor to Golitsyn as Governor of Albazin. TRANSFORMATION LODGE Triad Lodge of Zhejiang Province.

TONG GUOGANG (died 1690) Bannerman of Chinese descent, Kang Xi’s maternal uncle.

TRINKET Wei Xiaobao, the novel’s principal character. He is an incorrigible scamp bom to Spring Fragrance in the Yangzhou whorehouse, Vernal Delights. He is an egregious impostor, knave, and poltroon, and a young man of many identities. In the course of his (never very convincing) attempts to learn kungfu from Whiskers Mao he acquires the nom de guerre Little White Dragon. In the Imperial Palace he kills, and takes the identity of, the eunuch Laurel. He meets and befriends the young Manchu monarch Kang Xi, whom he knows as Misty, and who calls him by the affectionate nickname Laurie. Subsequently in his encounter with the Triads he is made Master of the Green Wood Lodge. During his eventful visit to Snake Island, he is appointed White Dragon Marshal of the Mystic Dragon Sect. In order to enable him to travel to the Wutai Mountains, the Emperor appoints him Lieutenant Trinket Wei of the Imperial Guard. He is subsequently promoted to Lieutenant’Colonel and adopts the Manchu’style sobriquet Wishy’Washy. As a monk, he takes the nom de religion Father Treasure. Kang Xi makes him first a Viscount (Lord Wei), and subsequently promotes him step by step until he becomes a Duke (First Class). Princess Sophia makes him Count of the Eastern Tartar Region.

TUHAI Conservative Manchu Grand Chancellor.

VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623’1688) Flemish Jesuit priest, patronized by the Emperor Kang Xi for his great skill in the art of the calendar, the creation of ingenious mechanical toys, and the manufacture of cannon. Chinese name, Nan Huairen. He learned not only Chinese, but also Manchu, and was personally responsible for teaching Kang Xi the Elements of Euclid and the principles of astronomy. VOBOLSKY One of the musketeers sent to guard Princess Sophia in the hunting lodge outside Moscow; later promoted to Captain and sent east to Fort Albazin, with Chironov. WANG JINBAO (1626’1685) One of Trinket’s deputy commanders on the Yangzhou expedition. WANG WU CLAN see Situ Bolei WEI ZHOUZHE Grand Chancellor of the Hall for Protecting Harmony, an elder with white hair and flowing white beard. WEN YOUFANG Former gambling partner of Trinket. WHISKERS Mao Eighteen, notorious brigand, who escapes from prison at the beginning of the First Book, befriends Trinket, and takes him to Peking. He appears again towards the end of the Third Book. WHITE NUN One’armed Shifu of Green Girl and Trinket; also called Tribulation; once upon a time Princess Chang, the Princess Royal, daughter of the last Ming Emperor Chong Zhen. A refined and beautiful woman, practitioner of the deadly Buddhist style of kungfu known as Iron Sword. WIDOW ZHUANG Her husband and many other Zhuang menfolk were executed at Oboi’s orders, as part of the Ming History Inquisition (see Prologue to the First Book). She and other Zhuang womenfolk escape on their way to penal servitude in the northeast, and take up residence in a ‘haunted house’ where they set up shrines to the victims of the purge and wait for vengeance. WU LIUQI The General known as Beggar Wu. Red Banner Master of the Triad Obedience Lodge of Guangdong Province; also Military Governor of Guangdong. He becomes the sworn brother of Doublet in the course of the Third Book.

WU, Satrap (1612’1678) Wu Sangui, the Big Traitor, was a turncoat Ming general who joined forces with the Manchu commander Dorgon to drive the Chinese rebel Li Zicheng (General Bash’em) out of Peking. For this he was rewarded with a princely tide, ‘Prince of the West’. He subsequently established his own fiefdom (or Feudatory realm) in the south’west, in Yunnan Province.

WU, Shaker Wu Lishen, the Shaker Lion, retainer of the Mu Family, Martial Arts veteran and brother’in’law of Iron Dragon Liu.

WU WEIYE (1609’1672) Celebrated poet of the Ming’Qing transition period, famous for his narrative ballads, one of which, ‘The Ballad of the Peerless Consort’, is recited extensively by the lady herself, Chen Yuanyuan, for Trinket’s benefit in Chapter 20. Readers wishing to consult a complete translation of the ballad can find it in Lo and Schultz eds., Waiting for the Unicorn (Bloomington, 1986), translated by John Coleman and Gloria Shen.

WU YINGXIONG (died 1674) The Little Traitor, Young Wu, eldest son and heir of Satrap Wu. Marries Kang Xi’s sister, the Princess Ning. Historically, the Satrap’s eldest son did indeed marry a princess, but it was the Princess Kechun, half’sister of the Emperor Shun Zhi, Kang Xi’s father.

WU ZHIRONG Prefect of Yangzhou; previously responsible for the Ming History Inquisition (see First Book), in which many members of the Zhuang family perished.

XIA GUOXIANG, General Commander’in’Chief of the Satrap’s

troops, married to the Satrap’s daughter.

XU TIANCHUAN Apothecary Xu, the Eight’Armed Ape, Triad plaster’seller.

XU XUETING see Blue Dragon Marshal

L

YONG LI see Prince Gui YOUNG COUNT Mu Jiansheng, brother of the Little Countess; head of the Mu Family. YUAN CHENGZHI Son of Yuan Chonghuan; legendary adept of the Mount Hua School of kungfu.

YUAN CHONGHUAN (1584’1630) Ming general, responsible for the execution of Mao Wenlong in 1629. Falsely accused of treachery and executed by Lingering Death in the market’place. Described by the late’Qing scholar Liang Qichao as ‘China’s greatest soldier’. Louis Cha has written an extended biographical study of Yuan, which is attached to his early (1956) novel The Sword Stained with Royal Blood. ZENG ROU Beautiful fifteen’year’old female member of the Wang Wu Clan, daughter of one of Situ Bolei’s officers. In the Third Book she becomes one of Trinket’s seven wives. ZHA SHENXING (1650’1727) Distinguished poet belonging to the same Haining family as Zha Shibiao, Zha Yihuang, and Louis Cha (whose real name is Zha Liangyong). His poetry has often been compared to that of the two famous poets of the Song dynasty, Su Dongpo and Lu You. ZHA YIHUANG (1601’1676) Loyalist scholar who for a time joined the court of the Ming Pretender, the Prince of Lu. He features prominently in the Prologue to the First Book, and reappears towards the end of the Third Book in the company of Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, and Lii Liuliang. Together they are known as the Four Gentlemen of the Resistance. ZHANG KANGNIAN Palace Guard, friend of Trinket’s. ZHANG YONG (1616’1684) One of Trinket’s deputy commanders on the Yangzhou expedition. ZHAO LIANGDONG (1621’1697) Lieutenant’Colonel, second in command in Trinket’s expedition against the Wang Wu Clan. AAAVI inciycch,T^ imc^n^^^^,^