The Kai Lung Stories of Ernest Bramah

The style of The Tribulations of Liu is based upon that adopted by Ernest Bramah in his "Kai Lung" stories—though of course Ernest Bramah did it far better than I can.

My first encounter with Kai Lung was at school, when a passage from "The Story of Wong Ts'in and the Willow Plate Embellishment" in Kai Lung's Golden Hours was set as a comprehension exercise. In the passage, the storyteller Kai Lung relates how certain craftsmen working for the rich porcelain-maker Wong Ts'in confront their employer:

"Suitable greetings, employer of our worthless services," remarked their leader, seating himself upon the floor unbidden. "These who speak through the mouth of the cringing mendicant before you are the Bound-together Brotherhood of Colour-mixers and Putters-on of Thought-out Designs, bent upon a just cause."

The craftsmen's leader, Fang by name, then presents Wong Ts'in with a series of demands (including what amounts to a 300 per cent pay rise!) and concludes by telling Wong Ts'in:

"...Having thus moderately stated our unbending demand, we will depart until the like gong-stroke of to-morrow, when, if our claim be not agreed to, all will cast down their implements of labour with the swiftness of a lightning-flash and thereby involve the whole of your too-profitable undertaking in well-merited stagnation. We go, venerable head; auspicious omens attend your movements!"

Thus a modern scenario of conflict between union and management is amusingly translated into an ancient Chinese setting. I subsequently read as many of the Kai Lung books as I could buy in second-hand book sales or borrow from the local library. The stories are full of humour, often turning on the peculiar conventions of Kai Lung's China:

"Restrain your greetings," said the leader of the two harshly, in the midst of Kai Lung's courteous obeisance; "and do not presume to disparage yourself as if in equality with the one who stands before you..."

They also contain many of the aphorisms by which Kai Lung and his compatriots are guided in their lives:

It is easier to judge than to administer justice.

Were there no shadows we should cease to appreciate the sun.

None but a nightingale should part his lips merely to emit sound.

Few can exactly say what happened yesterday: who, then, shall predict the morrow?

When struck by a thunderbolt it is unnecessary to consult the Book of Dates as to the precise meaning of the omen.

Keep from before an angry bull, from behind a startled polecat, but as far as possible in all directions from a high official.

K'ai Lung hsiao shuo
These four Chinese characters appear on the front cover of Kai Lung's Golden Hours published by Richards Press. The first two characters are the storyteller's name and the last two form the Chinese word for a novel. Thus the whole phrase reads: "A Kai Lung novel". For those who prefer pinyin spellings the romanization is Kai Long xiaoshuo. The same characters also appear on the covers of some of the other Kai Lung books.

Although most of the books consist of a series of short stories together with a narrative indicating the circumstances in which they were related by Kai Lung, I think my favourite was a full-length novel in Kai Lung style entitled The Moon of Much Gladness, in which a resourceful maiden named Hwa-che endeavours to solve a mystery by applying the crime-detection methods of the "western barbarians".

You can read a complete Kai Lung story, The Story of Sing Tsung and the Exponent of Dark Magic, here on Colin's Taels. After that if you are not familiar with the Kai Lung stories and would like to read one of the books, I suggest starting with Kai Lung's Golden Hours. Although The Wallet of Kai Lung is the first book, some people find it hard going so it is better to leave it until you are used to the style.

There are various options for obtaining Kai Lung books. The Wallet of Kai Lung and Kai Lung's Golden Hours are available as free Project Gutenberg e-texts (see below). In Britain the American edition of Kai Lung's Golden Hours can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk and some of the books are obtainable secondhand. In the USA Kai Lung's Golden Hours and Kai Lung Beneath the Mulberry Tree are available new, some of the books are obtainable secondhand and commercial versions of the two e-texts can be purchased. Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com are both worth checking.

To find out more about the writings of Ernest Bramah, and what little is known of his life, visit the Ernest Bramah Bibliography by Mike Berro. The picture of Ernest Bramah (below) is one of the images on display there; my thanks to Mike Berro for permission to use it. The Project Gutenberg e-texts of The Wallet of Kai Lung and Kai Lung's Golden Hours are available on the site for free download.

"...he created his own China: a land of harsh sunlight or biting cold, of bare red-brown hills and deep gorges...a land where peasants—like mandarins and generals—spoke impeccable, if very involute, prose; a land where maidens were always as wily and determined as they were beautiful; and where, after due, humbly-phrased, persuasion, a village or an Emperor would listen enthralled to an elegant story adorned with its appropriate moral." —John Connell, Introduction to The Celestial Omnibus

Ernest Bramah 1867-1942