EVERYTHING UNDER THE SKY

My journey translating this nearly 400-page novel was nearly as intense (all right, I admit I’m somewhat prone to exaggeration) as the one Elvira, the protagonist, took through the vast and complex landscape of China. Filled with details regarding the country’s 5,000-year history, I breathed, ate, and dreamed about China for six months.

Coincidentally, my partner Jon and some of his family traveled to China, tracing their lineage back to the Ming Dynasty, and the route they traveled was nearly the same as Elvira’s. I took full advantage of their photos and stories to help bring the descriptions in the book alive.

Here are some of the places and adventures you’ll read about in the novel!

Shanghai

Zig Zag Bridge I watched the antiquarian with renewed interest as we walked toward a lake with murky green waters and a large, two-story building with a black roof and exaggerated upturned eaves set on a man-made island. Mr. Jiang had just stepped onto a strange zigzag bridge, followed by Paddy, who bent his head slightly to examine the floor, made of solid blocks of granite. The antiquarian looked ahead at the lone, run-down kiosk. My eyes had begun to get used to Chinese forms, and I could see how original this structure was. There was a certain beauty to it, something deeply sensual and harmonious, as elegant as the antiquarian himself.

“This bridge has four corners, Lao Jiang!” Tichborne shouted so we could all hear.

“No. You’re wrong. It has seven.”

“Seven?”

“It continues on the other side of the island.”

“It’s so long!” the Irishman complained. “How will we know where to look?”

Shortly after that, the five of us walked up and down the footbridge in search of anything that might catch our eye. […] Finally, we all met in front of the building’s closed doors and had to admit there was nothing out of the ordinary along the bridge except for the large number of shiny carp whose backs rose up out of the greenish water underneath. Some were as long as my arm and as fat as a barrel, and there were white, yellow, orangish, even black ones, all of them sparkling like diamonds or pearls.

“Why would they build a bridge like this?” I asked. “It takes much longer to walk from one end to the other.”

“Because of the spirits!” Biao exclaimed, a frightened look on his face.

“The Chinese believe bad spirits can only go in a straight line,” Paddy grunted, walking back toward the bridge on the right.

The First Emperor’s Tomb

Terracotta Warriors “Where are we?” my niece asked.

“I’d say we’re on the outer edge of the funeral palace,” Lao Jiang ventured, pointing to something hidden behind one of the columns. I took a few steps forward and got the fright of my life when I discovered a man kneeling, his body resting on his heels and his hands hidden inside his “sleeves that stop the wind.” He was very large, and his hair was neatly combed, parted straight down the middle and pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck.

“Is it a statue?” I asked. It was a silly question, because it obviously couldn’t be a human being, but it seemed terribly real, as real as any of us.

My niece laughed. “Of course it’s a statue, Auntie!”

“Yes, but not just any old statue. It’s magnificent,” Lao Jiang affirmed, truly impressed. He moved closer and called Biao over. The boy took a few hesitant steps. The antiquarian passed him the torch and held his arm up as high as he wanted it. Then he set his glasses on his nose and bent over to study the piece. “It’s a young servant in the Qin dynasty, made of baked clay. It’s extraordinary; you can still see the paint. Look at the color of his face and the red scarf tied around his neck. Incredible.”

Peking

Everything Lao Jiang had said about the sale of antiquities from the Forbidden City was absolutely true: furniture, calligraphies, rolls of paintings, and decorative objects were sold in surprising numbers and at ridiculous prices. All of it was obviously too valuable to have come from anywhere but the other side of the high wall between Peking and Puyi’s palace. It was hard to believe that the young, ambitious Puyi we’d been running from all those months was right there, so nearby. The overthrown emperor had never once left the Forbidden City and it was rumored in the Legations Quarter that if he ever did, it would be to go into exile.