Some characters， some places， pronunciation guide and some “thank you”
All persons who are mentioned in this book have been given a different name by me than those they have got in reality. Also I have slightly altered some events in terms of time， place， storyline， or characters， in order to make recognising anyone more difficult and to protect the privacy of individuals.
I want to thank the translator Andreas M.hn (and the translation reviewer Nardina Alongi) who – as far as I can tell – did a very good job in transferring the style of my original German book into (British) English and their patience in the discussions with me.
Name Who is it？ How is it pronounced？
LaoWei (老卫) this is me L.o： emphasis from high to low and back Wèi： emphasis from high to low stress， the vowels in “wei” are like those in “bay”
WeiSiLin (卫斯林) my full name SiLin： Initial voiceless “s”， the “i” is very low back in the throat； lin = “linn”
SunLi (孙黎) my first staff SunLi： sounds almost like “Sue-Ann-Lee”， just that there is no hiatus at the “-” but a gliding vowel.
Engineer Chu (禇) her husband Chu： “choo” (note： in PinYin， “u” is sometimes “ü”， for example， with Professor Xu)
HaoKang (昊康) her son How kang (I will spare the reader from that “hao” is -actually emphasised with the 3rd voice， i. e. h.o )
Professor Xu (许教授) Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences， almost my joint venture partner See above
Wang (王) Craftsman “W” as in “where， why， water”， “a” as in “calm”
Name Who is it？ How is it pronounced？
LuLu (璐璐) his wife “Loo-loo”， with a very short “oo”
Song (宋) Da Song Former farmer “Song” Da like “dah”； the Older Song
Xiao Song Song DeLian (宋德廉) his son， chief physician Little Song， the “x”， as mentioned above for Xu： a -crossover between soft “sh” and “s” His full name， the “d” is followed by a very short vowel like that in “turn”， lian may be either “Lee-ahn” or “Lee-Ann” (but with a short “ee”)
Engineer Su (苏) Formerly an engineer， now bird photographer “Soo”
ShiTou， “Stones” (石头) Football player The “i” is very much in the back of the throat
YeDan (叶郸) Early pensioner， painter， professor “Yeh-dahn” with a short “a”
Fang ShiFu (方师傅) Drivers who used to be racer “Fang”： “a” like in “calm”， but short； “Shi” see above for my friend “Stones”， “Fu” = “foo” or “phoo”
BaiJiu (白酒) Not a person but a shot， literally “white w in e”， b u t t hi s i s misleading Bai as “ba-ee” jiu： “j” as in “James” ， then “ee-ouw”， all together： “jee-ouw”
Si Hai Gong Yuan (四海公园) A favourite park “Si” as above， “hai” like “hi”， then “gong” as written， “yuan” has this darn ü-sound while “-an” is just like the first name， “Ann”
Lian Hua Shan Gong Yuan (莲花山公园) A not h e r f avou r ite park Lian = “Lee-Ann”
Xia Sha Cun (下沙村) “Village” in ShenZhen Xia roughly like “chee-ah”， cun= “coo-Ann” (no hiatus， just glide from the “oo” to the “a”： “ooa”！)
Name Who is it？ How is it pronounced？
Fu Tian (福田) District of ShenZhen Fu = “phoo”； Tian = “Tea-Ann”
ShenZhen (深圳) The main location of events in this book Shen = the way it looks， zh = a voiced sh， as in French “journal”
BeiJing (北京) Capital of China， occasionally mentioned “Bei” like “bay”， Jing = the way it looks
Two persons who are playing an active role in this book， SunLi and ZhangMiao (you will get to know them later) have reviewed this English translation of the original second German edition， and have checked it for accuracy whereever I as a foreigner could have misinterpreted something. A third person (who does not play a role in this book)， a Chinese business partner， also reviewed the English manuscript.
I am very grateful to all three of them for their suggestions， hints and the active debates with me. As a result， this English version is slightly different from the German original (which neither of the three was able to review)， not drastically different， only in a few details which I can confirm with some modest degree of satisfaction.
Moreover I am grateful that SunLi and ZhangMiao not only had allowed me to include some personal details already for the German version (while they did not know what I would write about)， but finally after reading the English version approved and released with some smile.