Shopping and Chinese Tea is a fill in story. It did not seem reasonable that Chrístõ would take Bo, having rescued her from slavery and with her mind in a fragile state, straight into an adventure in the distant past. Instead, he brought her to a strange, but safe place from her point of view, Liverpool in the summer of 2005. And yes, Liverpool were Champions of Europe and Chelsea, champions of England. And that is the only reason I made Terry a Chelsea fan. It fitted the dates. The sequence in the pub was added in after the original story was finished just to make it a bit longer and introduce a small element of adventure, because otherwise it really is just an interlude. It demonstrates Chrístõ’s abilities to his friends, however, and also points to good reasons not to abuse those abilities.

The important part of the story, though, is the introduction of Mai Li Tuo, Chrístõ’s mentor and father figure on Earth. At this stage I only had the idea of him being a Renegade Time Lord. Much more about Li Tuo has built up as his story progressed and he has proved to be a Time Lord with a deep and mysterious past, only some of which becomes known. What is important is that he is in some ways what Chrístõ will become in time. An exile from Gallifrey, a Renegade, but not a criminal one. A Time Lord with a love for Earth and humanity. He is something of a future echo of what Chrístõ heatedly denies he will be in his conversation with Li Tuo in this story.

Liverpool’s Chinatown is a small community. It consists of a few streets in the area between the two cathedrals. Until the ornamental arch was put up a few years ago it was probably unknown to most visitors to the city. It is a perfect place for a man like Li Tuo to live a quiet and unobtrusive life. I have been fairly vague about where exactly the herbalist shop is, but possibly it is meant to be at the top end of Nelson Street, directly along from the archway.

The name, Mai Li Tuo, as well as Hiu Ying Bo Jean, and Li Shang Hui, Chrístõ’s Mandarin name, were all created by a Chinese random name generator on the internet. They are, I hope, more or less accurate. They seem to be. I would welcome comments from Mandarin speakers on that point.

http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/pages/guide/liverpool/
http://www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html