The Red Pavilion. The Writing of the Haunted monastery in the
"new" style had given me so much pleasure,that within six weeks
I began the third volume of the New Series,viz.The Red Pavilion,
which I completed in exactly one month,namely from 22 March to
22 April 1959. Tae plot of this novel started with the two cha-
racters The Shrimp and The Crab;somehow or other they emerged
in my imagination,and the plot was built up around this couple,
which I still consider one of my best creations.
Thus I had completed within half a year three novels of the New
Series.That summer The Hague informed me that in the autumn I
would be appointed Netherlands Ambassador to the Federation of
of Malaya (now called Malaysia).My London publisher Michael
Joseph Ltd.,informed me that although they liked my three
novels of the new series,they did not want to publish them
at once,and would not publish more than one volume a year.
Therefore I decided I would shift to another publisher,who
would be willing to publish two volumes a year;moreover I
was anxious to see how the public would react to the New
Series. A fter my arrival in Kuala Lumpur,I came to know
an enterprising young Chinese printer, director of a firm
called Art Printing Works;he had printed only tickets,
theatrical programs,pamphlets etc.,and was keen on trying
his hand on a book.We agreed that he would print, at my
cost,2000 copies of The Red Pavilion,and distribute those
books in S.E.Asia,for 5% of the sales. I designed the cover
myself,chose the type,and personally supervised the entire
manufacturing process,which gave me an enormous amount of
pleasure.The favourable reviews in the Chinese-language
press greatly encouraged me,and the book sold so well that
I had soon recovered my capital outlay,with a nice profit.
I printed The Haunted Monastery and The Lacquer Screen in
the same manner.These three books were favourably reviewed
also in the western press (Anth.Boucher,and Newsweek in the
U.S.).So I knew that in the New Series I had hit upon the
right formula,and I set to work on a fourth volume,The Em-
peror's Pearl.