The Corpse Reader

GLOSSARY

Alchemy: Jindanshu, or “gold and cinnabar technique,” is the term most commonly used to refer to external Taoist alchemy, or waidan. The first alchemical techniques are mentioned in works such as the Huainanzi using the term huanbaishu, or “white and yellow technique,” colors that designate silver and gold or their substitutes. Cinnabar also took on considerable importance in the manufacture of pills or long-life elixirs. This operation is known as liandanshu (“cinnabar refinement technique”) or xiandanshu (“cinnabar immortality technique”). Numerous chemical and botanical discoveries were made in the application of these procedures, with various therapeutic uses. During the Han dynasty, Taoist alchemists, in trying to formulate an immortal elixir, created numerous fires by experimenting with mixes of sulfur and saltpeter (potassium nitrate). One of these alchemists, Boyang Wei, wrote a text on alchemy called The Kinship of the Three, pointing to the explosive properties of certain materials. Many of the early mixes of Chinese gunpowder contained toxic substances such as mercury and arsenic and can therefore be considered a form of early chemical warfare. From the time of the Tsong dynasty, the term dandingpai, or “cinnabar and crucible,” began to be used to refer to alchemy in general.

Bialar: In Cí Song’s time, men always went out with their heads covered by a cap, a mortarboard, a bonnet, or a skullcap, and with their hair tied in a bun underneath. Clothes, and in particular a person’s hat, reflected social status. A winged cap might “fly” horizontally over the ears or have a turned-down brim, depending on the rank of the wearer. Poor people bundled up a threadbare strip of cloth and placed it on their heads.

Birthdays: The Chinese count people’s ages differently from how it is done in the West. In the West, the birthday is the anniversary of one’s birth, but in China people are considered one year old at birth, and turn two years old at the first lunar new year (the first new moon in January or February) of their life. For example, a child born in November will be two years old by the end of February, even though only three to four months have passed. The date of birth was recorded only to determine the person’s horoscope rather than to measure age.

Conservation Chamber: Also known as tong bing jian, or “bronze icebox,” this was a small metal chest with ice-filled compartments for conserving food, ice cream, or drinks. One of the first proven refrigerators was found in the province of Hubei and dated to around 300 BC.

Coolie: A lower-class worker or servant or an unqualified peon. The term has been used in the West as a pejorative reference to the Asian labor force that immigrated to the Americas in the nineteenth century. It is associated with the English word coolie as used in reference to a stevedore or longshoreman. The word originated as gūlí or kŭlì, which translates as “the bitter use of brute force,” and has cognates in the Bengali kuli and the Hindu qūlī.

Hanfu: The traditional clothing worn by the Han tribe, which has made up the majority of the population throughout China’s history. The hanfu consisted of a loose-fitting white gown with wide sleeves that crossed the chest and attached to the belt. Beneath this, men wore pantaloons. Homeless or destitute people wore hemp jackets and scruffy pantaloons and turbans. Women and men wore black silk caps and long-sleeved silk tunics dyed turquoise, vermilion, and purple, and fastened with jade, gold, or rhinoceros horn buckles. The outfits were regulated by sumptuary laws, provisions that restricted the wearing of the most luxurious garments to the upper classes. These laws were ineffective in practice. Imperial fashions were blatantly imitated by the socially aspirational mercantile classes, and nine out of ten people ignored the law. The hanfu influenced traditional dress in other countries, such as the kimono in Japan, the hanbok in Korea, and the áo tú than in Vietnam.

Hourglass/Water Clock: These were used in China for thousands of years BC. In AD 1086 the Chinese scientist Su Song invented an astrological clock powered by water, outdoing the contemporaneous mechanical European clocks for precision. This clock, in the form of a six-meter-tall tower, used a tank from which water flowed out over paddles on a wheel to put mechanisms in motion. These mechanisms made various figures appear to indicate the hours and, with the accompaniment of a gong and tabors, moved a celestial sphere with stars and constellations. On a daily basis, this clock was accurate within two minutes.

Jin, Yurchen: An Asian people inhabiting the area around the River Amur, located on what is now Russia’s border with China. Antecedents of the Manchu people, in 1127 they sacked Kaifeng, which had until then been the Chinese capital, leading to the abdication of the Northern Tsong dynasty. After the Chinese fled the capital, a new dynasty arose to the south, making its center in Lin’an. The Southern Tsong continued to battle the powerful Jin for more than a decade until a peace treaty was signed ceding all of northern China to the invaders. Despite several attempts, the Southern Tsong never regained these territories.

Li: A measure of distance equivalent to 560 meters, or 1,837 feet. Punishments by exile sometimes varied from 2,000 to 3,000 li in distance, that is, between roughly 1,000 to 1,500 kilometers, or 600 to 900 miles.

Lin’an (current-day Hangzhou): The Southern Tsong dynasty’s capital city. After the Jin invasion, the Tsong retreated south and made their capital in Hangzhou, renaming it Lin’an. The city has since taken back its previous name.

Moxibustion: An Eastern medicinal therapy using the root of a sage plant pressed into the shape of a cigar, or moxa. The end is lit and either pressed against the patient’s skin, producing a controlled burn, or placed next to acupuncture holes to pass heat into them.

Mu: A measurement of land equivalent to 666 square meters, or 2,185 square feet.

Neo-Confucianism: Three philosophies peacefully coexisted during the Tsong dynasty: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. However, within the bureaucratic elite, neo-Confucianism gained in popularity. This movement upheld the moral standards and traditional policies of Confucianism but joined them with Taoist and Buddhist concepts, including ideas extracted from The Book of Changes (I Ching) and yin-yang theories associated with the taiji symbol. A typical neo-Confucian motif is contained in the painting known as The Three Masters Are One, which depicts Confucius, Buddha, and Laozi drinking from the same pitcher. But many neo-Confucians declared themselves opposed to such trends, rejecting Buddhism as a faith system and condemning the adoration of Buddha. In spite of this, neo-Confucian texts adapted Buddhist thinking and beliefs as a way of enhancing Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism was the official creed in China from the time of its development during the Tsong dynasty until the beginning of the twentieth century. Among its many strictures, neo-Confucianism prohibited the opening up of corpses, though it allowed the examination of those already opened as a cause or consequence of death. Homosexuality was also considered libidinous and reprehensible.

Palanquin: A kind of chair or litter, usually closed and covered, used in the East to transport royalty and high-ranking officials.

Poisonous Waters: An encyclopedia from the time of the Chin dynasty containing what is possibly the first recorded reference to dengue fever. The volume was written between 420 and 265 BC, edited formally in AD 610 during the Tang dynasty, and reedited in AD 992 during the Northern Tsong dynasty. Dengue fever is a severe illness transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in fetid or polluted water. A particularly life-threatening variety is dengue hemorrhagic fever, which causes loss of liquid and blood due to coagulation problems, which can bring about shock and death in as little as four hours.

Prefecture: During the Southern Tsong dynasty, China was divided, for administrative purposes, into sixteen circuits (lu) or provinces (tao), each roughly the same size as Ireland, and with a governor who was the judicial intendant. Each circuit was subdivided into ten to twenty prefectures, locally governed administrative units with a certain number of officials and assistants. Every prefecture was then divided into subprefectures, or districts (hsien), between two and twenty per prefecture, each usually overseen by two or three officials. The subprefect (chih-hsien or hsien-ling), who acted as judge and magistrate and carried out other administrative functions, had under him a registrar (chupu), who was in charge of tax collection, as well as a sheriff or chief of police (hsien-wei), who was responsible for keeping the peace and ensuring laws were upheld.

Punishments: Lingchi, or death by one thousand cuts, was the worst punishment in the penal code. But there were many other forms of punishment. Whipping with bamboo canes was one of the most common; the length, width, and weight of the canes were strictly stipulated and categorized. The jia was a yoke made of a square piece of dry wood that could be separated in half and had a hole in the middle for the head. Handcuffs, also known as wives, were made of dry wood and could only be used on men; foot shackles were made of metal.

Qián: The principal monetary unit in China was a thin coin that had a hole in the center so it could be hung from a cord or attached to one’s belt. A cord with a thousand qián would weigh around five kilos, or eleven pounds, and be equivalent to one tael (approximately forty grams of pure silver). During the Tsong dynasty, there was also paper money. Initially, paper bills were similar to credit notes that could be changed for quantities of money deposited with wealthy merchants; in later years there were credit certificates and a regularized paper money unit. Forgery was punishable by death and informants were offered generous rewards; both notices were printed on the bills themselves alongside the image of a hanged or quartered forger so that illiterates would understand the warning. Also for the benefit of illiterates, bills had a picture of the number of pigs roughly equivalent to the value of the bill.

Ritual and Filial Piety: Rituals organized society and were structured according to a rigid hierarchy: a man was not defined by his personality but by how well he observed the rites—that is, by behaving in a regulated way with respect to his social rank. As with their biological fathers, inferiors owed respect to their “father emperor,” a virtuous, benevolent being who had the right and duty to rule others. In traditional Chinese culture, ceremonial specialization was a constant theme between court members and aristocratic families, above all in the Confucian period. The Li Ji and the Bohutong (Book of Rites) both stipulated that the mourning period after the death of a father was three years and that the most orthodox way of observing this was to withdraw from public life, wear burlap, and live in a hut near the burial site. Poor people unable to cease working observed the mourning period by refraining from participation in festive occasions, marriage, and sexual activity. Chinese people offered sacrifices to their dead during funeral rites—whether Taoist, Buddhist, Confucian, or a combination of the three.

Sampan: A plain sailing vessel without a keel between 3.5 and 4.5 meters long, or 11 feet to 14 feet, used either for fishing or as a residence. Sampan literally means “three planks,” in reference to the simplicity of making such a vessel, which requires one plank for the bottom and two for the sides. The sampan is possibly the oldest known sailing boat and has kept its original design since it came into existence in AD 600. It came to be known as the “junk rig.”

Time: Year 1 corresponds in the West with the birth of Christ, and in Muslim countries with Mohammed’s flight from Mecca in AD 622. But in Imperial China there is more than one initial date—every time a new emperor comes to power. Each emperor may also decree new eras within his reign, sometimes according to the zodiac. In Ningzong’s reign (1194–1224), four separate eras occurred. The first, lasting from 1195 to 1200, was named the Qingyuan; the second, from 1201 to 1204, Jiatai; the third, from 1205 to 1207, Kaixi; and the fourth, from 1208 until Ningzong’s death in 1224 at the age of fifty-six, Jiading.

A year was divided into twelve moon months, usually beginning in February (first moon month) and finishing in January (twelfth moon month). Every year was separated into twenty-four climatic periods.

Days were broken up into twelve hourly intervals known as shichen (one Chinese hour is equivalent to two western hours). Each shichen is divided into eight ke (fifteen minutes), each containing fifteen fen, so a fen is equal to a minute. An hour is known as a tshuco, and a jike is a quarter of an hour.

This difference is particularly relevant when considering the death periods. The law stated that no more than four shichen could elapse between the time a death was reported and the time a relevant judge examined the corpse. Because I wanted to make the novel easier to read, I used “hour” instead of shichen; the maximum time allowed before beginning an examination would really have been eight western hours. The nighttime hours were not included, so in practice the time allowed before beginning an examination extended to sixteen Western hours.

The denomination and classification of the hours were as follows:

The denomination and classification of the months were as follows:

Since the introduction of Buddhism to China, years have also been named after signs of the zodiac and repeat in twelve monthly cycles corresponding with the hourly denominations.

The months are organized into three groups: Meng (first), Zhong (middle), and Ji (last). The seasons are named Chun (spring), Xia (summer), Qiu (autumn), and Dong (winter). The names of the months are formed using both concepts; for example, ki-tsin is the last month of autumn. Months can also be denominated in the same way as the hours and the years and are made up of three ten-day weeks.

University: Like the leaders of preceding dynasties, the Tsong advocated that the most virtuous and capable citizens, regardless of their social or economic extraction, should hold public offices. This idea was supported by a system of exams for civil service: any citizen could take the extremely difficult exams, and if he passed, he became a government employee, a career that could even lead one to become prime minister.

The Tsong set up elementary schools in every prefectural city. Even rural villages had basic universities, and these, along with the reduction in the prices of books due to the spread of the printing press, virtually brought illiteracy to an end.

In the capital, Lin’an, the proximity of the university to the court meant many students became involved in political activities that were criticized by senior government officials, who in turn didn’t hesitate to boycott classes. The situation became sufficiently alarming that Emperor Li-tsung’s notorious chief of staff, Chia Su-tao, began infiltrating student networks with spies.

The private academies, known as shu-yüan, were the only way to gain access to specialized higher learning in subjects like medicine; they included the Hanlin, the Bailudong, the Yuelu, the Chingshan, the Shugue, and the Yintianfu. In contrast to state schools, the masters at these academies taught more than the classics. Their teaching methods also included research, and masters would often present their own findings to students and then base further advances on the students’ work. Many academies—with grants from senior officials, wealthy merchants, and sometimes the state—could provide accommodations for both teachers and students. The most exclusive and influential academy, the Hanlin, was founded to train high-ranking court officials and archivists. The upper classes had easier access to such academies, and the large numbers of cultivated women in the higher echelons of society reflected the fact that females were also highly educated.

Violence: Physically violent punishments, often in the form of canings, were part of the fabric of medieval Chinese society. This was because physical pain was such a strong deterrent and because most of the population was not in a position to pay fines. Imprisonment always meant forced labor, either in the salt mines or in the army. Physical punishment was the usual recourse and was employed for any kind of ill conduct, including in the private or familial spheres.

Wu-tso: Before judges’ responsibilities were extended to include forensics, or corpse reading, these duties were carried out by the wu-tsos, poorly educated assistants who had to perform the most unsavory tasks, such as cleaning corpses, opening them up, and extracting and examining organs, while the judge would take notes. Generally, wu-tsos had other jobs as well, often as healers, butchers, or slaughterhouse workers.

Xylography: A primitive printing method using woodblocks carved with words and pictures. The carving was carried out by hand, and then watercolor paints were used as ink. The ink was transferred to the page by means of strong rubbing. The first printed book was the Diamond Sutra, stamped by Chieh Wang on May 11, 868, in China.

The first mobile printing press, made from complicated pieces of porcelain, was made in China by Sheng Bi between 1041 and 1049.