The Garlic Ballads

Gao Ma was running straight into the sun, nearly blinded by its brightness. The fresh air of freedom rolled like waves over the snowy fields. He ran like a man possessed, oblivious to his surroundings, hellbent on revenge. He rose into the air as if riding the clouds and soaring through the mist, until he realized with wonder that he was sprawled in the icy snow, facedown. He sensed something hot and sticky spurting out of his back. With a soft “Jinju …” on his lips, he buried his face in the wet snow.

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