Maqiao Cidian

Basic information

Title: 马桥词典 (Dictionary of Maqiao)

Author: 韩少功 (Han Shaogong)

Original text:https://archive.org/details/maqiaocidian0007hans/page/n7/mode/1up

Translation (bardzo polecam, książka jest naprawdę dobra): https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofmaqi0000hans/page/n1/mode/1up

Presentation: [na google doc będzie]

Who is Who

Bandit Ma: see Ma Wenjie.

Benren: Benyi's same-pot brother; fled to Jiangxi during the Great Leap Forward.

Benyi (also Ma Benyi): Party Branch Secretary in Maqiao.

Commune Head He: leader of the local commune.

Fucha: Maqiao's accountant.

Kuiyan: "lazy" son of Zhaoqing.

Long Stick Xi: a mysterious outsider who introduced "tincture of iodine" to Maqiao.

Ma Ming: leader of Maqiao's "Daoist Immortals," inhabitant of the "House of Immortals."

Ma Wenjie: Maqiao's most famous modern historical figure and former County Leader.

Master Black (also Mou Jisheng): muscular but dim Educated Youth.

Master Nine Pockets: renowned beggar king of Changle.

Shuishui: wife of Zhihuang the stonemason, later a "dream-woman."

Three Ears: unfilial son of Zhaoqing, one of the "Daoist Immortals," later lover of Tiexiang.

Tiexiang: daughter of Master Nine Pockets, later wife of Benyi and lover of Three Ears.

Uncle Luo: former village leader; Maqiao's oldest cadre.

Wanyu: Maqiao's singing star.

Xiongshi: son of Zhihuang and Shui Shui, killed in delayed blast of Japanese bomb.

Yanwu: talented younger brother of Yanzao.

Yanzao: "Traitor to the Chinese," persecuted and bullied for being a landlord's son.

Zhaoqing: notoriously stingy inhabitant of Maqiao, father of Three Ears.

Zhihuang: Maqiao's stonemason, famed for his stupidity, married toShuishui.

Zhongqi: Maqiao's resident gossip and busybody.

ATTENTION COMRADES !!!!!!!

Due to technical issues (and the fact that I study sinology cause I am a technical dumb-ass that cannot even open a power point without sth catching on fire) the fragments will be given in a form of Google Doc. After reading them, pretty please upload the summary directly onto the wiki (or to google doc too, if you are feeling generous, i don't give a duck). Thank you for your attention comrades and God Save the Queen.

Fragments to summarize

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10WL6Nu4vHXLI87i5EIJqy_SywLchGPhmr4kYevAARqQ/edit?usp=sharing

(✿◠‿◠) Julia Dereżyńska

Confucian [道学]

Firstly, the narrator gives an example of the word's usage. Then he goes on to explain that the term referes to etiquette, morals and intelect, so it is a rather positive word, but then mentions that because of the hypocrisy of Confucianism over the years it can invoke an uncomfortable feeling. Then he asks philosophical questions, such as "can sympathy and affection exist between humans" and wonders if Maqiao people replaced other words with "Confucian" because they had doubts about human nature and what feelings can these doubts produce.

ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ Wiktoria Wolny

Lax

To explain this word, the narrator introduces us to the story of Zhaoqing. On one occasion, when the narrator was in danger as he almost fell from a height, Zhaoqing witnessed this and tried to summon some help, crying over the narrator's fate. The situation made a very strong impression on the narrator, but he did not know how he could thank Zhaoqing. It was only after Zhaoqing's death that he returned the favour by bringing him cotton blankets to his coffin, on which he could finally rest in peace and 'relax'.

The word 'lax' thus means ‘to rest’, ‘to relax’.