and thus far I have received no reverential treatment at the hands of Ah Q's sons and grandsons. A short sketch, perhaps? But Ah Q never had a long one. To settle the matter once and for all, we might consider this a personal record; but judging from my own writing, which is in the diction of wagon haulers and street mongers and very inferior in style, I dare not make more pretension than is seemly. So, as a last resort, I have no choice but to use as my title the two characters, "true story," taken from the phrase "Refrain from inconsequential speech; keep to the true story," which is a favorite quotation of the novelists, who are not included in the category of the three religions and the nine professions. Even if these two characters should be erroneously considered to be taken from the book of the ancients, the "Su-fa Ching-ch'uan,"2 there is no remedy for the situation.
Second, it is customary on commencing a record of this kind to open with the general introduction: "Mr. So-and-so, otherwise known as So-and-so, and who is a native of Such-and-such a district"; but I do not know Ah Q's surname. There was a time when he seemed to have the surname Chao, but a day later this had turned out to be a matter of doubt.
On this particular occasion, the Venerable Mr. Chao's son had attained the rank of Hsiu-t'sai.3
