His family background was never referred to again, and I never did find out just what his surname was.
In the third place, I do not know how Ah Q's name was written. While he was living, everyone called him Ah Quei;[1] but after his death he was promptly forgotten—it is not the lot of such as he to have his name "writ on bamboo and silk." This happens to be the first attempt of the sort and hence is the first to encounter this difficulty. I have often considered whether the quei in Ah Quei stands for quei meaning cassia or for quei meaning honor. If his derived name had been Yueh-t'ing [moon pavilion], or if he had celebrated his birthday during the month of the harvest moon, then it must have been quei meaning cassia, which legend associates with the moon. But he did not have any derived name as far as I know, nor did he ever send out invitations for birthday verses. It would be arbitrary to use quei meaning cassia. Again, if he had had a brother named Fu meaning wealth, then his name must have been quei meaning honor. But he did not have any brother and it would be groundless to write it quei meaning honor. Other characters with the sound of quei cannot possibly fit our requirement as they are all more or less obscure. I once consulted the licentiate, the son of His Honor Chao, but for all his learning he was not able to enlighten me. His conclusion was that the problem could no longer be solved because Ch'en Tu-hsiu's campaign in the magazine New Youth for the adoption of the Latin alphabet had destroyed our national culture.
As a last resort I asked a friend of mine back home to consult the official documents bearing on Ah Q's trial. Eight months later, the answer came saying that he could not locate
- ↑ In Latin letters in the original text.
