Part 31 (1/2)

10 Translator's Note: The Second Artillery Corps controls China's nuclear missiles.

11 Translator's Note: Qian Zhongshu (19101998) was one of the most famous Chinese literary scholars of the twentieth century. Erudite, witty, and aloof, he consistently refused media appearances. One might think of him as a Chinese Thomas Pynchon.

12 Translator's Note: For more on Ding Yi, see Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu.

13 Author's Note: See Isaac Asimov's short story ”The Billiard Ball.”

14 Translator's Note: This refers to w.a.n.g's status as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

15 Translator's Note: Hairen () means ”Man of the Sea.” This is a play on w.a.n.g Miao's name (), which can be read to mean ”sea.”

16 Translator's Note: The Warring States Period lasted from 475 BC to 221 BC. But King Wen of Zhou reigned much earlier, from 1099 BC to 1050 BC. He is considered the founder of the Zhou Dynasty, which overthrew the corrupt Shang Dynasty.

17 Translator's Note: King Zhou of Shang reigned from 1075 BC to 1046 BC. The last king of the Shang Dynasty, he was a notorious tyrant in Chinese history.

18 Translator's Note: Zhao Ge was the capital of Shang China, where King Zhou held court.

19 Translator's Note: Fu Xi is the first of the Three Sovereigns, a Chinese mythological figure. He was one of the progenitors of the human race along with the G.o.ddess Nwa.

20 Translator's Note: Ji Chang is King Wen's given name.

21 Author's Note: Chien-s.h.i.+ung Wu was one of the most outstanding physicists of the modern era, with many accomplishments in experimental physics. She was the first to experimentally disprove the hypothetical ”law of conservation of parity” and thereby lend support to the work of theoretical physicists Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang.

22 Translator's Note: Er guo tou is a distilled liquor made from sorghum, sometimes called ”Chinese vodka.”

23 Translator's Note: Mozi was the founder of the Mohist school of philosophy during the Warring States Period. Mozi himself emphasized experience and logic, and was known as an accomplished engineer and geometer.

24 Translator's Note: This was a Chinese 16-bit minicomputer modeled on the American Data General Nova.

25 Translator's Note: A maser is like a laser, but for electromagnetic radiation, typically microwaves, not in the visible light range.

26 Translator's Note: The Third Front program was a secret, military-led industrialization effort during the Cultural Revolution that built factories in China's interior, where they would be less vulnerable to American and Soviet attacks.

27 Translator's Note: Hand-written posters using large Chinese characters have become a.s.sociated with the Cultural Revolution in the popular imagination. However, they have a long history in China as tools of propaganda as well as protest both before and after the Cultural Revolution.