DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Mandarin's Fan" by Fergus Hume. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

From the Records of Secret Agent “X” comes Curse of the Mandarin’s Fan (1938) written by G.T. Fleming-Roberts writing as Brant House. Chang was the lord of the Chinese underworld and Lim Toy was the goddess of the opium dens. Secret Agent X had no choice but to descend into the catacombs of the dragon. Curse Of The Mandarin’s Fan (1938) – Chang, Lord of Chinatown’s secret catacombs, ruler of an empire of hell—held the dire curse of a fan of evil. And the blood of the innocent was shed with the blood of the guilty . . . And even Secret Agent X, nemesis of master criminals, found himself hopelessly entangled in the mad vortex of crime’s rival kings. Chapter I – Queen of the Black Smoke Chapter II – Room of Sudden Sleep Chapter III – The Curse of Chang Chapter IV – The Brass Boot Chapter V – Death of Strange Design Chapter VI – Blue Madness Chapter VII – Master of Agony

History of fans in China

Western missionaries contributed largely to Chinese lexicography. Their involvement was basically a practical rather than a theoretical one. In order to preach and convert, it was necessary to speak Chinese. A missionary on post needed to learn at least two languages, the national Guanhua, the "language of the officials" or "Mandarin," and the local vernacular. The first lexicographical work by missionaries was a Portuguese-Chinese dictionary compiled in the late 1500s by Francisco Varo (1627-1687), a Spanish Dominican based in the province of Fujian, was legendary for his superb mastery in Mandarin. His Vocabulario de la Lengua Mandarina, a Spanish-Chinese dictionary, is made available to modern readers in the present study, which is based on two manuscripts held in Berlin and London. Volume 1 contains the text of Varo's glossary, with English translations offered for all Spanish glosses and Chinese characters added for all Chinese forms. Volume 2 includes a pinyin index to all Chinese forms in the text and a selective index to the English translations of the Chinese glosses. The Vocabulario is mainly devoted to the spoken language, but includes literary forms as well. Varo was also sensitive to other matters of usage, e.g., questions of style, new expressions coined by the missionaries, specific expressions in Chinese and in European culture, Chinese customs and beliefs, and aspects of grammar. The Vocabulario is recommended for readers interested in Chinese linguistics, lexicography, Sino-Western cultural relations and the history of Christianity in China.