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Lou Ye’s Suzhou River and Purple Butterfly 2012 Silbergeld, “A Note on Transliteration,” p. x.Following Silbergeld’s lead, I use Hanyu Pinyin transliterations of thecharacters’ names rather than the transliterations offered by English-languagesubtitles found on most film prints and DVD releases. Silbergeld explainsthe meanings of the characters’ names in Hitchcock With a Chinese Face.The narrator’s name is uttered once, almost unintelligibly, by a policeofficer near the end of the movie (around 1:11:55). The narrator’s namesounds like Li Jiqian or Li Jiquan. Without benefit of either Chinese subtitlesor a Chinese-language script, I am unable to determine the narrator’s exactname and if the narrator’s name has any bearing on the movie’s themes.3 The English-language subtitles mistakenly translate “45 wan” RMB, theransom amount, as “45,000” RMB. “45 wan” is actually “450,000” RMB, whichMudan thinks is not a lot of money for her life. Silbergeld repeats this erroron p. 11 of Hitchcock With a Chinese Face.4 Some journalists and movie reviewers have written that the title is the nameof the anti-Japanese resistance group. However, none of the characters referto the anti-Japanese group as “Purple Butterfly,” though a butterfly pin on asuit jacket is used as an identifying mark and Yiling catches butterflies that flyinto her apartment.5 Continuing to follow Silbergeld’s lead, I use Hanyu Pinyin transliterations ofthe Chinese characters’ names rather than the spellings supplied by Englishlanguagesubtitles on some DVDs. Therefore, I use Xinxia instead of Cynthiaand Situ instead of Szeto. The use of “Cynthia” for Xinxia is potentially misleading,as it suggests that Xinxia has a predilection for Western practices – asuggestion that is not supported by anything else in the movie.6 Meng Ye, Purple Butterfly Background Information (http://www.monkeypeaches.com/0206M.html#020623C), MonkeyPeaches.com, June 23,2002. Accessed: February 1, 2007.Meng Ye, Purple Butterfly Viewing Guide (http://www.monkeypeaches.com/030824A.html), MonkeyPeaches.com, August 24, 2003. Accessed:February 1, 2007.“Governor Yu,” Purple Butterfly Viewing Guide (http://www.helloziyi.us/Articles/PB_Guide_DVD.htm), HelloZiyi.us, 2005. Accessed: February 1,2007.“Governor Yu” Purple Butterfly Page (http://www.helloziyi.us/Movies/Purple_Butterfly.htm), HelloZiyi.us, 2001–2002. Accessed: February 1, 2007.I confirmed Governor Yu’s subtitles by listening carefully to ToruNakamura’s line deliveries and by watching the Zoke Culture Region 0, ChinaDVD (released July 28, 2003), which has Simplified Chinese subtitles.7 Perhaps Xinxia doesn’t think or doesn’t know if she shot Yiling, though theediting during the train-station shootout suggests that Xinxia is the one whokilled Yiling.