an ancient Chinese term from the Warring States period, describing a certain class of noblemen, controlled by a code of chivalry and morality known as the li, or rites. Here the term is roughly, and sometimes ironically, translated as ‘gentlemen’. The ch’un tzu is as much an ideal state of behavior – as specified by Confucius in the Analects – as an actual class in Chung Kuo, though a degree of financial independence and a high standard of education are assumed prerequisites.

literally ‘redheads’, the name the Chinese gave to the Dutch (and later English) seafarers who attempted to trade with China in the seventeenth century. Because of the piratical nature of their endeavours (which often meant plundering Chinese shipping and ports) the name has connotations of piracy.

‘revolutionary’. The T’ien Ming is the Mandate of Heaven, supposedly handed down from Shang Ti, the Supreme Ancestor, to his earthly counterpart, the Emperor (HuangTi). This Mandate could be enjoyed only so long as the Emperor was worthy of it, and rebellion against a tyrant – who broke the Mandate through his lack of justice, benevolence, and sincerity – was deemed not criminal but a rightful expression of Heaven’s anger.

a four-stringed lute used in traditional Chinese music.

The Romance of The Three Kingdoms is a long book of 120 chapters, covering a hundred years, from the downfall of the Han dynasty to China’s reunification under the Tsin in 265 AD. Based partly on fact, part on myth, it is still regularly read in public and is China’s most engrossing heroic saga. Its opening words say much of the Han’s attitudes towards history – “The empire when united tends to disruption, and when partitioned, strives once more for unity.” Anyone studying Chinese history would see the truth in those words.

‘elegance’ – this is much more the expression of a concept, that of a certain sense of perfection embodied within that elegance, than a simple descriptive term.

‘music’. Again, the word is used conceptually, almost poetically here.

England, or, more often these days, the United Kingdom.