The True Story of Ah-Q

Lu Xun

[1] In Chinese this novel was called Supplementary Biographies of the Gamblers.

[2] The Three Cults were Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The Nine Schools included the Confucian, Taoist, Legalist and Moist schools, as well as others. Novelists, who did not belong to any of these, were considered not quite respectable.

[3] A book by Feng Wu of the Ching dynasty (1644-1911).

[4] A phrase first used in the third century B.C. Bamboo and silk were writing material in ancient China.

[5] The cassia blooms in the month of the Moon Festival. Also, according to Chinese folklore, it is believed that the shadow on the moon is a cassia tree.

[6] 1880- 1942. A professor of Peking University at this time, he edited the monthly New Youth. Later he became a renegade from the Chinese Communist Party.

[7] An old school primer, in which the surnames were written into verse.

[8] This phrase was often used in self-praise by Hu Shih, the well-known reactionary politician and writer.

[9] A quotation from Mencius (372-289 B.C.).

[10] A quotation from the old classic Zuo Zhuan.

[11] Ta Chi, of the twelfth century B.C., was the concubine of the last king of the Shang dynasty. Pao Szu, of the eighth century B.C., was the concubine of the last king of the Western Chou dynasty. Tiao Chan was the concubine of Tung Cho, a powerful minister of the third century A.D.

[12] Confucius said that at thirty he "stood firm." The phrase was later used to indicate that a man was thirty years old.

[13] A line from The Battle of Dragon and Tiger, an opera popular in Shaohsing. It told how Chao Kuang-yin, the first emperor of the Sung dynasty, fought with another general.

[14] [Note: Day 14] The day on which Shaohsing was freed in the 1911 Revolution.

[15] [Note: Chung Chen] Chung Chen, the last emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1628 to 1644. He hanged himself before the insurgent peasants army under Li Tzu-cheng entered Peking.

[16] [Note: censer] Highly decorative bronze censers were made during the Hsuan Te period (1426-1435) of the Ming dynasty.

[17] The Liberty Party was called Zi You Dang. The villagers, not understanding the word Liberty, turned Zi You into Shi You, which means persimmon oil.

[18] The highest literary degree in the Ching dynasty (1644-1911).

[19] An immortal in Chinese folk legend, always portrayed with flowing hair.

[20] One of the earliest legendary monarchs in China.

[21] "In twenty years I shall be another stout young fellow" was a phrase often used by criminals before execution, to show their scorn of death.