The Emperor's Pearl.  This fourth volume of the New Series
I wrote in Kuala Lumpur,from March 5 to April 8 1960. After
eight years I was back again in the Far East,and again in
daily contact with the Chinese.I read many old and new Chi-
nese novels,and this made me lose some of the self-confiden-
ce I had felt in Beyrouth.I also went regularly to the Chi-
nese theatre,and the strong dramatic appeal of the plays
mademe take a dim view of the qualities of my novels.In the
summer of 1960 I decided to re-write the novel,making Yang
the curio-dealer the culprit instead of Dr.Pien. I also
changed the title from"The Dragonboat Race Murders" to The
Emperor's Pearl. Thereafter I let this ms. rest,because my
spare time was fully occupied with supervising the printing
of my three other novels.