rivers and lakes / all corners of the country / remote areas to which hermits retreat / section of society operating independently of mainstream society, out of reach of the law / the milieu in which wuxia tales play out (cf. 武俠|武侠[wu3xia2]) / (in late imperial times) world of traveling merchants, itinerant doctors, fortune tellers etc / demimonde / (in modern times) triads / secret gangster societies / underworld
the not-very-distant past / modern times, excluding recent decades / (in the context of Chinese history) the period from the Opium Wars until the May 4th Movement (mid-19th century to 1919) / capitalist times (pre-1949)
old-style money shop (a type of private bank that first appeared in the Ming dynasty, flourished in the Qing, and was phased out after 1949) / (in recent times) informal financial company, often operating at the edges of what is legal
to subdue / to check / to bring under control / (in former times) what one is allowed to wear depending on social status / uniform (army, party, school etc) / livery (for company employees) / CL:套[tao4]
military skill or technique (in former times) / all kinds of martial art sports (some claiming spiritual development) / self-defense / tradition of choreographed fights from opera and film (recent usage) / also called kungfu 功夫 / CL:種|种[zhong3]
middle period of a tripartite provincial exam (in former times) / midfield / mid-court (in sports) / half-time / intermission half-way through a performance
(military) ladder used for scaling the walls of a fortified place (i.e. for escalading) in ancient times / firefighters' extension ladder / stone steps on a mountain
south of Changjiang or Yangtze river / south of the lower reaches of Changjiang / often refers to south Jiangsu, south Anhui and north Zhejiang provinces / a province during Qing times / in literature, refers to the sunny south / Gangnam (district in Seoul, South Korea)
to continue in a post / (to hold a post) several times in succession / (to win a title) in successive years / to stay at number one / to defend a championship
(fig.) gulf / chasm / wide gap / (originally) the Hong Canal in Henan, which in ancient times formed the border between enemies Chu 楚[Chu3] and Han 漢|汉[Han4]
Confucian study of ethics / study of Daoism / school for Daoism in Tang and Song times / Daoist magic / another name for 理學|理学, rational learning of Song dynasty neo-Confucianism
seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times (idiom) / seeing for oneself is better than hearing from many others / seeing is believing
The four tones
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