A lot of those Cave's editions have some "For Sale On Taiwan Only" disclaimers along with the original copyright information. I always thought Cave's had some special right to sell reprints of certain titles. Were they all bogus? Could you get out-and-out bootlegs there back in the old days when piracy was rampant?

The "For Taiwan Only" titles are disappearing. I was there about a year ago and there were still a few such dusty sinological tomes there, but not in the numbers there were in the past. I remember buying the translation of the Honglou meng there a few years ago, and I could only find cheapies for 2-3 of the 5-volume set--for the rest, I had to buy the standard Penguin editions. I've heard of people snapping up a whole set of Science and Civilization in China there for super-cheap way back when.

True, a lot of them are Taiwan editions, but my Mathews is definitely pirated.

Calling #6 from the Child's Garden (Rain) Felix Britannia is a stroke of genius.

I was in Taiwan in 1983 and obvious, unapologetic pirate editions were common. I have 2 vols. of Needham.

There also were authorized Taiwan editions, as well as Taiwan reprints of public domain books. Public domain books in Asian studies from India are still cheap. Unfortunately there seems to be no central aggregation of English publishers.

To me "cheng-yu" should be translated "cliche". But China has a systematized body of cliches (up to 20,000) gathered over 2500+ years, so quite intelligent conversations can be conducted entirely in cliches, as long as you know enough of them. Especially since it's allowed to coin cliches based on the common culture and the literature. I'd love to see a colection of post-Mao Chinese cliches.

"Of Indian publishers".

There are many clichés, not all of which are expressed in four characters. "Mao Tsetung's thought is our guiding light" is a cliché but not a cheng-yu.

John: Were the obvious and unapologetic pirate editions available at Cave's, alongside the authorized Taiwan editions?

By the way, LH, I just turned to the back of the book I am reading to find a label reading "Shida shuyuan," another one you may remember.