The lines from Lao Tzu are translated by Witter Bynner; from Yang Lian by John Minford; from the Book of Odes by Yang Xianyi, Gladys Yang and Hu Shiguang; from Lu Hsun by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans). Clarence’s guidebook is Peking by Juliet Bredon. The line quoted on p. 159 is from ‘A Poem for October’ by Mang Ke, translated by Susette Cooke and David Goodman; the lines quoted on p. 164 are from ‘The Old Summer Palace Drunk’ by Hei Dachun, translated by myself; the line quoted on p. 231 is from ‘The Answer’ by Bei Dao, translated by Bonnie S. McDougall; the lines quoted on p. 251 are from ‘The Fifth Modernization: Democracy’ by Wei Jingsheng, translated by Simon Leys. The passage from The Castle by Franz Kafka, translated by Edwin and Willa Muir, is quoted by kind permission of Penguin Books.
Official Hanyu pinyin is used for the romanisation of Chinese words except when an alternative form is already established, such as Lu Hsun, or for names, as in Retta’s diary, that predate 1949.