Culture and Lifestyle

With **separate** articles for Flowers and Plants, and Food and Drink.

Amusements for Cultured Persons

Chess (围棋 wei2 qi2, or just 棋 qi2) - a boardgame known as 'Go' in Japan; played with black and white pieces (tokens) on the lines of an 18x18 grid. Since it is not played on the spaces of the grid, players have 19 (instead of 18) 'columns' to place their pieces on. The object of the game is to capture as many of the opponent's pieces as possible, and/or prevent the opponent from advancing further in the game.

Instances of chess featured in DGSD are as follows:

• Duan Yu discovered a chessboard with an unfinished game in the stone bedroom of the Boundless Cavern (Chapter 2).
• The Yellow-Browed Monk challenged Duan Yanqing to a game of chess in an attempt to secure Duan Yu's release from the stone hut at the Valley of Ten Thousand Calamities (Chapter 8).

Architectural Features and Furniture

Cobblestones (e2 luan3 shi4 鹅卵石) - used as paving for the winding path between the Little House of Zither Melodies and the Dwelling of the Many-Stringed Zither (Chapter 11).

Heated room (nuan3 ge2 暖阁) - Duan Zhengchun had dinner with Dao Baifeng, Duan Yu and Mu Wanqing in a heated room at the Residence of the Prince of the Southern Garrison (Chapter 7).

Hornfels (qing1 shi2 青石) - a type of metamorphic rock; dark gray to black in colour, dense and compact. Harder than glass; suitable for road building and railway ballast.

Appearances of hornfels in DGSD:

• Paving for the roads of Dali City (Chapter 6).
• The rock surface on which the Yellow-Browed Monk and Duan Yanqing etched a chessboard for a game (Chapter 8).
• Carved into a garden bench at the Highland Manor of Camellias (Chapter 12).

Memorial archway (pai2 fang1 牌坊) - This is a type of gateway that was found in cities of old. One of these marked the entrance to the Imperial Palace complex of Dali (Chapter 6).

Moon-gate (yue4 dong4 men2 月洞门) - This is large circular opening in a wall that is characteristic of Chinese architecture; found in the Boundless Cavern (Chapter 2).

Musical Instruments and Other Noise-Makers

Flute, horizontal (di2 笛) - Gao Shengtai used an iron horizontal flute both as a musical instrument and a weapon (Chapter 5). A'Bi was a maidservant who attended to her employer by playing the zither and the horizontal flute (Chapter 11).

Flute, vertical (xiao1 箫) - Wang Yuyan's voice sounded gentler than a melody played on a vertical flute (Chapter 12).

Whistle, iron (tie3 shao4 zi3 铁哨子) - used by 'Lao Da' the First Evil to announce his arrival on the cliff (Chapter 5).

'Wooden Fish' (mu4 yu2 木鱼) - a percussion instrument made of a hollow wooden block; originally used by Buddhist monks to beat rhythm when chanting scriptures. The Yellow-Browed Monk went to the Valley of Ten Thousand calamities with a bowl-sized 'Wooden Fish' that was made of iron and a matching hammer. The hammer was used to etch out 19 vertical lines on a large piece of hornfels with energy from the Finger of Buddha's Warrior Attendant, so that a chessboard can be created (Chapter 8).

Zither (qin2 琴) - a plucked instrument with at least 7 strings. The types featured in DGSD are (in order of appearance):

• The 'Se' (se4 瑟) - a zither with 16 or 25 strings; translated as the 'many-stringed zither' in this annotation of DGSD. One of the huts at the Embankment of the Swallows (belonging to the Murong Family in Suzhou) was named the 'Dwelling of the Brocade Many-Stringed Zither' after this instrument (Chapter 11, 3rd edition only).

• The 'Yaoqin' (yao2 qin2 瑶琴) - a zither with jasper mountings, hence the word 'yao', which is a formal reference for jasper and other precious forms of jade. A'Bi played a tune at Duan Yu's request on a 'yaoqin' that was approximately one chi (33.33 centimetres) shorter than that of the seven-stringed zither (qi1 xian2 qin2 七弦琴). This 'yaoqin' had 9 strings in different colours, and its sound served as the cue for the release of the trap-door through which Duan Yu, A'Bi and A'Zhu eventually escaped from Jiumozhi (Chapter 11).
• The 'Seven-Stringed Zither' (qi1 xian2 qin2 七弦琴) - this instrument was mentioned as a point of reference for A'Bi's 'yaoqin' (Chapter 11).

Terms of Address

Mei (mei4 妹) - In its first and original context, "mei" means "Younger Sister". When "mei" is attached as a suffix to someone's name, e.g. Qiushui- mei, it can function as a term of romantic affection, e.g. Wuyazi addressed his wife as 'Qiushui- mei' (Chapter 2).

Other

Baiyi, The (bai3 yi2 摆夷) - According to Jin Yong, 'Baiyi' is the old name for the 'Bai' (Bai2 白) minority tribe that is found largely in south-west China today (Chapter 7, 3rd edition only). However, according to china.org.cn, 'Baiyi' is actually a name that was used for the 'Dai' (Dai3 傣) tribe during the post-Qing-Dynasty years (after 1911 A.D) that preceded the Chinese revolution.

Dao Baifeng was a woman of Baiyi descent (Chapter 7).

Bangle, jade (yu4 zhuo2 玉镯) - Common item of jewellery among older women. Given by the Empress of Dali to Mu Wanqing (Chapter 6).

Polygamy - A common practice among royalty since ancient times; considered part and parcel of life by all and sundry. Besides a recognised wife, a man of royal descent would usually have concubines who could number from three to four, all the way to dozens. Marquis and other high-ranking noblemen would also take concubines (Chapter 7).

Thumb-ring (ban1 zhi3 班指, also ban1 zhi3 er2 扳指儿) - usually made of jade; originally an archery ring worn on the thumb of the right hand to prevent it from being cut by a taut bowstring. A'Zhu wore a thumb-ring when she was disguised as Sun the Third at the Little House of Zither Melodies (Chapter 11).

Tibetan incense (zang4 xiang1 藏香) - a kind of joss stick produced in Tibet. Jiumozhi used some Tibetan incense that gave out a bluish smoke to demonstrate his abilities at the Sabre of the Glowing Flame (Chapter 10).

Time Designations - A combination of elements known as the Ten Heavenly Stems (tian1 gan1 天干) and the Twelve Earthly Branches (di4 zhi4 地支) are used to designate years, months, days and hours. For example, years are denoted in 60-year cycles, beginning with a combination of the first Heavenly Stem of 'Jia' 甲 and the first Earthly Branch of 'Zi' 子. This results in the year of Jia-Zi 甲子年. Next up is the combination of 'Jia', the first Heavenly Stem, with the second Earthly Branch of 'Chou' 丑, making the year of Jia-Chou 甲丑年, and so on.

Zhong Ling was born in the year of Yi-Mao 乙卯 (according to the 3rd edition), which worked out to be the 16th year in the 60-year cycle that occured during her lifetime (Chapter 2).

Wu dialect, The (wu2 yu3 吴语) - a dialect spoke in major cities in south-eastern Jiangsu 江苏 and most of Zhejiang 浙江, including Shanghai 上海, Suzhou 苏州, Ningbo 宁波 and Wenzhou 温州. A'Bi spoke the Suzhou strain of the Wu dialect (Chapter 11). People in Suzhou counted in nines -- e.g. two nines were 18, three nines were 27, etc -- because the word for 'ten' in the Wu dialect sounded similar to the word for 'thief' (Chapter 11, 3rd edition only).