The Garlic Ballads, page 33
SECRETARY WANG (Wang Jiaxiu): the local party boss
YU QIUSHUI: a peasant
ZHANG KOU: a blind minstrel
The proximate pronunciation of modern Chinese has not been materially aided by the pinyin (“spell-sound”) system. For the most part, the key is in the vowels:
a as in father (except after y, when it is the same as e)
e as in met
i as in see (in and ing are the same as in English)
O as in pork
u as in mood
ao as in cow
ei as in hay
iu as in use
ou as in old
u after j, q, x, and y, as the German ü (über)
c is pronounced as ts (its)
q is pronounced as ch (chill)
x is pronounced as sh (she)
z is pronounced as ds (yards)
zh is pronounced as j
Mo Yan, The Garlic Ballads
