Swallowing Clouds Book

	Preface	7
	Time Line	12
	A Word About Pronunciation	15
	Introduction	19
1	Beijing Men Built a Fire	23
2	Slicing through Water	33
Interlude 1	Phonetics, or Why some Characters Look Horribly Complicated	47
3	Sleep of the Truly Inebriated	53
4	Swallowing Clouds	67
5	Chinese Pigs Stand	79
Interlude 2	The Appalling Ignorance of Some Scribes	91
6	A Delicacy for Aging Men	97
7	No Contest Between Fish and a Bear with Eight Legs	109
8	Courtesans Do Not Eat Crabs	123
Interlude 3	To All You Carnivores	137
9	The Sweet Fragrance of Crops Ripening	139
10	How to Avoid Being Vulgar	155
11	The Pockmarked Woman and the Pearly Empress	171
Interlude 4	Words Are Like Our Children	189
12	Buddha Jumping over Walls	193
13	Act without Acting, Taste without Tasting	205
Interlude 5	Like Eating Potato Chips	229
14	The Sublime Faith in Illusions	237
15	Pieces of Her Heart	247
16	Elixirs and the Food of Health	261
17	From Banquets to Voyages of Discovery	281
	Epilogue: All Banquets Must Come to an End	295
App. A	How to Exercise Your Arm and Throat While Drinking	301
App. B	A Few Recipes	325
	Notes	339
	Bibliography	359
	Table of Dynasties	365
	Table of Some Common Radicals Used in This Book	366
	Table of Characters and Radicals Listed by Chapter	367
	Acknowledgments	377
	A Final Note	379