# II: The Inexorable Justice of the Mandarin Shan Tien explained — Kai Lung’s Golden Hours

> Chapter companion for Kai Lung’s Golden Hours by Ernest Bramah.

## What happens

Kai Lung is imprisoned in Yu-ping and placed in a walled enclosure with a shutter overlooking the yamen garden. Hwa-mei visits him, bringing fruit and advising him to use his storytelling skills to delay his trial. Li-loe warns Kai Lung that Ming-shu has arranged for him to be tried first. At the trial, Ming-shu accuses Kai Lung of treason, but when Kai Lung mentions the story of Wong Ts'in and the Willow Plate, the Mandarin Shan Tien orders him to relate it, overriding Ming-shu's objections.

## Themes in this chapter

### Justice and Injustice

The trial is a sham orchestrated by Ming-shu, with false accusations and no real witnesses, highlighting the corruption and injustice of the system.

### The Power of Storytelling and Art

Kai Lung's ability to tell the story of Wong Ts'in becomes his only hope for survival, demonstrating the power of narrative to influence fate.

### Wisdom and Cunning

Hwa-mei devises a clever plan to use Kai Lung's storytelling to delay his execution, and Kai Lung himself uses his wit to navigate the trial.

## Character check-ins

### Kai Lung

Imprisoned in Yu-ping, placed in a walled enclosure, visited by Hwa-mei, and later put on trial before Mandarin Shan Tien.

### Hwa-mei

Visits Kai Lung at the shutter, brings him fruit, and advises him to tell the story of the Willow Plate to delay his execution.

### Li-loe

The doorkeeper who places Kai Lung in the enclosure, warns him of the imminent trial, and accepts bribes.

### Shan Tien

The Mandarin presiding over the trial, initially dismissive but becomes interested in Kai Lung's story of Wong Ts'in.

### Ming-shu

The secretary who accuses Kai Lung of treason and plots to have him executed, but is overruled by Shan Tien.

## Key lines

> By having access to this enclosure you will be able to walk where otherwise you must stand. That in itself is cheap at the price of three reputed strings of inferior cash. Furthermore, it is possible to breathe.

Li-loe tells Kai Lung that the enclosure allows him to move around and breathe, which is worth the bribe of three strings of cash.

_Li-loe justifies his extortion by pointing out the relative comfort of the enclosure compared to a cramped cell._

> You are deep in the subtler kinds of wisdom, such as the weak possess.

Kai Lung acknowledges that Hwa-mei's plan is clever and subtle, typical of those who lack overt power.

_Kai Lung praises Hwa-mei's cunning strategy to delay his trial through storytelling._

> The objection is superficial and cannot be sustained. If an evilly-disposed one raised a sword to strike this person, but was withheld before the blow could fall, none but a leper would contend that because he did not progress beyond the intention thereby he should go free.

Shan Tien dismisses Ming-shu's objection by arguing that an intended crime is as punishable as a completed one, using the analogy of a sword raised to strike.

_Shan Tien uses a legalistic argument to justify forcing Kai Lung to tell the story, overriding Ming-shu's protest._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters/ii-the-inexorable-justice-of-the-mandarin-shan-tien
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/kai_lung_s_golden_hours_se/chapters