Chung Nan Hai

See also: Chung-nan-hai and Chungnanhai

English

Etymology

Wade–Giles

Proper noun

Chung Nan Hai

1. (obsolete, proscribed) Alternative form of Chung-nan-hai
   • 1988, Anthony Grey, Peking: A Novel of China's Revolution, 1921-1978‎^[1], Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 580:

     Mao gave no indication that he had heard or understood Jakob; his clouded eyes were fixed vacantly on one of the long windows of the old Ming dwelling beyond which the waters of Chung Nan Hai — the Central and South lakes — sparkled in the afternoon sunshine.

   • 1991, Chris Mullin, The Year of the Fire Monkey‎^[2] (Fiction), London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 252:

     LIKE THE MANDARINS of old, the rulers of China live behind high walls. When they emerge, which they rarely do, they travel in cars with rear windows curtained like sedan chairs.
     They live in the Chung Nan Hai, a walled park adjacent to the Forbidden City from where ancient dynasties ruled the Celestial Empire.
     The wall surrounding the Chung Nan Hai is high and wide, painted vermilion in keeping with the decor of the Forbidden City. It has a circumference of many miles, intersected at intervals by gates guarded day and night by armed soldiers.

   • 2008 [1990], John Blofeld, “The Place I Love Most of All—Peking”, in Daniel Reid, transl., My Journey in Mystic China: Old Pu's Travel Diary‎^[3], Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 65–66:

     One day this old gentleman took me for a tour of the incomparable snowscapes in Chung Nan Hai Park.* Arrayed along the eastern shore of Chung Nan Lake stood a row of linked pavilions that seemed to be floating on the surface of the water. That day, strands of snowflakes sparkled like gems where they had collected between the humps of the enameled roof tiles. The breathtaking beauty of this vista made my soul turn somersaults.

     *This was formerly the private lake and garden complex of the imperial family. Mao Tse-tung and his entourage chose to live there during Mao’s reign in China.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Chung Nan Hai.