This page started out as just an outline table of contents, a list of the 76 chapters. Over the years I have added to it. It now includes full text for each chapter accompanied by an audio clip of me reading the chapter.
The audio is not of the highest quality, and I am short of some of the skills required for this kind of reading. I am no good at accents, for example. My characters speak English with numerous accents: Chinese of course, but also Italian, German, Hungarian, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Australian, and American. I have not attempted to do more than occasionally hint at these varieties of spoken English.
I have tried to sing only once, at the beginning of Chapter 45, and apologize for the result.
And if you want to criticize my pronunciation of Tibetan … okay.
Each chapter is "set up" with an epigrammatic couplet, in the style of old Chinese novels. I have included these couplets here, as a rough guide to events; though a particular couplet may not make sense until you have read the chapter …
| Dedication and Author's Note |
| Southwest China: Summer 1965 | |
|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | New Costumes at the Swimming Pool We Have Friends All Over the World! |
| Chapter 2 | A Fairy Weeps a Lake of Tears Moon Pearl Dances in the Bamboo Grove |
| Chapter 3 | A Bird Who Takes Fright at the Sound of the Bow The Liang Family Entertains Ardent Young Guests |
| Chapter 4 | Down with Bourgeois Things! Father Becomes a Big Character Poster |
| Chapter 5 | Moon Pearl No Longer Cares for Loquats A Scholar Unwisely Speaks His Mind |
| Chapter 6 | The Wood Has Been Made Into A Boat Through the Palace of Green Porcelain to the Willow Palisade |
| Northeast China: Fall 1967 | |
| Chapter 7 | Flat All Around Brings Forth an Upright Official An Enterprising Young Man Tells of His Conquests |
| Chapter 8 | Clean Up the Class Ranks! Weilin Joins a Daring Expedition |
| Chapter 9 | Mother Divulges a Terrible Secret The Barefoot Doctor Shows His Art |
| Chapter 10 | Weilin Ventures a Bold Suggestion An Old Campaigner Earns Merit for His Next Life |
| Chapter 11 | Strange Blessings Fall on Weilin's Head A Brief Experience of the Seafaring Life |
| Southwest China: Fall 1967 | |
| Chapter 12 | If You Don't Love Opera, You're Not a Human Being Half Brother Answers Chairman Mao's Call |
| Chapter 13 | A Startling Demonstration of the Power of Poetry Peach Blossom Lets Down the School |
| Chapter 14 | Moon Pearl Makes the Acquaintance of Yellow Tiger A Situation in the Affairs of Our Country |
| Beijing: Fall 1971 | |
| Chapter 15 | A Young Man's Tears Flow at Parting An American President Makes Little Impression |
| Chapter 16 | Big Ten Bestows Favor on the Han Family Moon Pearl Encounters a Potent Demon |
| Chapter 17 | Words of Encouragement Beneath the White Stupa An Old Revolutionary's Principles Come Under Siege |
| Chapter 18 | Moon Pearl Seeks Divine Assistance Strange Portents Foretell Great Changes |
| Chapter 19 | The Stage Trembles As a Great Man Departs The White-Haired Girl Takes a Victim |
| Chapter 20 | Comrade Deng Xiaoping Finds Food for His Soul Father Returns to His Principles |
| Chapter 21 | A Great Party Shows Symptoms of Decline Moon Pearl Receives a New Name |
| Chapter 22 | The World's Greatest Tenor Enters the Middle Kingdom Teacher Powell Bids Farewell to a Favorite Student |
| Chapter 23 | Father Regrets Past Indulgence Secretary Kang Conducts a Special Examination |
| Hong Kong: Summer 1970 | |
| Chapter 24 | An Offering Declined, an Offering Accepted A Famous Boxer Displays True Compassion |
| Chapter 25 | Fourth Uncle Holds a Full Month Party Hong Kong — A Paradise for Shoppers! |
| Chapter 26 | When Constabulary Duty's To Be Done The Excellent and Manly Game of Rugby Football |
| Chapter 27 | Holly and Ivy Prompt Certain Significant Changes Christmas Feasting Recalls a King of Ancient Times |
| Chapter 28 | The Voice of a Goddess Touches Weilin's Heart A Lookout Helps Further Some Business Discussions |
| Chapter 29 | A Foreign Official Shows Skill in Rhetoric The Wu Clan Takes in an Orphan |
| Chapter 30 | One Romantic Young Lady Endures a Rebuff Another is Broken by Despair |
| Chapter 31 | Thought Processes of a Mathematician The Hazards of Playing the Financial Markets |
| Chapter 32 | Excessive Purity Turns Away Affection Weilin Finds the Tinder Box At Last |
| Chapter 33 | Enterprise Blossoms in the Middle Kingdom Big Fu is Overwhelmed by Greatness |
| Chapter 34 | Pilgrimage to the White Goddess Harmony Disturbed by Strange Events |
| Tibet: Fall 1981 | |
| Chapter 35 | Moon Pearl Ventures to the Far West A Fellow Traveler Hopes for News from India |
| Chapter 36 | A Brief Introduction to the Culture of Our National Minorities Why Are There So Few Trees in Tibet? |
| Chapter 37 | Johnny Liu Waits for an East Wind Unexpected Encounter on the Mountaintop |
| Chapter 38 | Secretary Ma Speaks Out Against Demons Norbu Swears a Solemn Oath |
| Chapter 39 | Does Heaven Speak? Old Bolmo Rescues a Snake |
| Chapter 40 | Secretary Ma Loses His Temper The Demographics of Our Western Regions Explained |
| Chapter 41 | When the Lips Are Gone, the Teeth Are Cold Signor Cinelli Honors the Privileges of Royalty |
| Chapter 42 | Some Speculations on the Diffusion of Culture Moon Pearl Undergoes an Audition |
| London: Summer 1983 | |
| Chapter 43 | A Suitably Poetic Welcome to Shakespeare's Island Diplomatic Skills on Display at a Royal Palace |
| Chapter 44 | Mr Lubetsky Psychoanalyzes a Voice A Visit to the Land of Saints and Scholars is Mooted |
| Chapter 45 | Fate Fulfills a Rash Vow An Experience Too Strange for Words |
| New York: Winter 1984 | |
| Chapter 46 | A Chance Encounter by the Ice Dragon Solitary Pleasures Prevail Over Party Spirit |
| Chapter 47 | Tales of Success in the Land of Opportunity An Intimate Alliance With a Trusted Friend |
| Chapter 48 | Discontent in Wealth, High Above the City An Old Acquaintance Has Taken Poetic Advice |
| Chapter 49 | A Great Man Regrets His Flippancy Moon Pearl's Guiren Brings Her a Triumph |
| Chapter 50 | A Romantic Tragedy Has Weilin's Full Attention The Way That Can Be Spoken Of Is Not the True Way |
| Chapter 51 | From the Top of Mount Tai the World Looks Small Some Illusions the Mathematical Temperament is Prone To |
| Chapter 52 | Precious Jade Reveals His Nature St Agatha Watches Over the Dance of Three |
| Chapter 53 | A High Mandarin Pursues Enlightenment Significance of a Good Municipal Water Supply |
| Chapter 54 | A Rare, Illegal Delicacy Proves Disappointing The Lotus Is Broken But the Threads Still Connect |
| Chapter 55 | Johnny Liu Mates Expedience with Sincerity A Chivalrous Gentleman Performs a Second Rescue |
| Chapter 56 | Moon Pearl Finds Solace at the Seashore And Braves the Lions in an Ancient Arena |
| Chapter 57 | Money Can Move the Gods An Ironically-Named Heroine Comes to Grief |
| Chapter 58 | Technology Holds Many Traps for the Sly Man A Mountain of Troubles Turns the Thoughts to Home |
| Beijing: Spring 1989 | |
| Chapter 59 | Teacher Zou Makes an Attractive Offer The Students of Beijing Petition the Emperor |
| Chapter 60 | Importance of Showing the Correct Attitude A Sentimental Education |
| Chapter 61 | An Ancient Philosopher Teaches Us All A Lesson The Flowers of May Bloom in the Wild |
| Chapter 62 | Seventeen-Arch Bridge Leads to a Temple Ghost An Appearance on Stage Brings Old Friends Together |
| Chapter 63 | Moon Pearl Performs an Act of Deception Norbu Seeks the Consolations of Religion |
| Chapter 64 | Wang Senior's Speech Fails to Persuade The People Confront Their Army |
| Chapter 65 | Half Brother Offers His Opinion Our Nation's Leaders Fuss and Fret |
| Chapter 66 | Who'd Miss Out on a Revolution? Yuehan Attains His Heart's Desire |
| Chapter 67 | Beneath a Fallen Nest, How Can There Be Unbroken Eggs? Norbu Goes in Search of a Classmate |
| Chapter 68 | A Perilous Journey, A Fragrant Haven The Secret of Great Opera Singers Revealed |
| Chapter 69 | A Worldly Man Yearns for Tranquility A Kind Protector Bids a Warrior's Farewell |
| New York: Summer 1989 | |
| Chapter 70 | Two Scholars Guard a Precious Treasure There is No Armor Against Fate |
| Chapter 71 | A New Year Brings New Life Tasting the Air in a Famous Park |
| Chapter 72 | News from a Place Far Away Three Calls on the Thatched Hut |
| Chapter 73 | Reminder of a Promise Long Forgotten A Maker of Wigs Lifts Moon Pearl's Spirits |
| Chapter 74 | I Have Lived for Art, I Have Lived for Love A Loyal Foster Parent Seeks Comfort |
| Chapter 75 | An Invalid is Transported to the Seaside Painting the Eyes of the Dragon |
| Chapter 76 | A Hero Crosses the Ocean to Find Shelter Weilin Voyages Beyond the River of Stars |
| An Operatic Glossary |