Book of the Month Club- 我本英雄 by 周梅森

[wushijiao]

Here is a bit that can hopefully serve as a rough guide to getting us started. I'll do more vocab related stuff later.

周梅森 Zhou Meisen has been described as a pop novelist who gains his appeal from his readability, but also from his muckraking critique of the corrupt system. He has been lauded as a novelist devoted to bringing up the injustices that common folk live under in a country in which organized Labor has no power, like Dickensian England. He has also been derogatorily described as just a Steven King-type. Or worse, some critics say he provides token political critiques that the authorities allow just so that they can say they allow some critiques. In any case, let’s see for ourselves what this is all about.

我本英雄

This book narrates the behind the scenes political saga of two failing industrial projects. One is in Wenshan, the other in Yinshan. Some leaders want to tell keep things secret. Some want to expose what is happening because they are worried about their own careers. Some, or arguably all, want to do want is best for the “people”, or at least they may self-justify their actions that way. Some just want to purge their political enemies.

(Note: In the Chinese political system, for every level of government there are two parts. For example, there is the governor of a Sichuan. There is also a Party Secretary of Sichuan. There is a mayor of Beijing. There is also a Party Secretary of Beijing. The person connected to the Party apparatus outranks the seemingly same-level person in government (who is also a Party member). Thus, the Party Secretary of a province(裴一弘) outranks the governor(赵安邦). To the best of my knowledge)

Main Characters

赵安邦 (省长)

-kind of a man who can lose his temper at times. A bit aggressive.

-perhaps was involved in corruption before (although probably not)

-might get promoted to省委书记 if裴一弘 gets transferred to the central government.

-has a rivalry with于华北. The two of them are competing to be the new 省委书记.

-didn’t like方正刚 getting to be mayor. Perhaps that is because方正刚 is close to于华北.

--Is suspicious and nervous about the steel factory in Wenshan and the other project in Yinshan because he feels it is vulnerable to the central government’s policy whims.

钱惠人 (former 文山市市长)

-Went down on corruption charges.

-Follower of Zhao Anbang.

刘培 (former 市副市长)

-Went down on corruption charges.

裴一弘 (省委书记)

-The most senior ranking guy.

-Rumor has it that he’ll soon move up the ladder to the central government (中央).

于华北 (省委副书记)

-Has a rivalry with赵安邦.

-He had previously investigated赵安邦 for corruption. It seems like赵安邦 still holds a grudge.

方正刚 (文山市长)

-Was democratically (公推公选的) elected to be mayor.

-Is one of the primary people involved in the 亚洲钢铁联合公司 project.

--Has close political connections with石亚南.

-Wants OK personal relations with赵安邦, because he realizes Zhao may soon be the Provincial Party Secretary.

石亚南 (文山市委书记)

-She is a woman.

-Is married to古根生, although they barely see each other.

-Their son, 古大为, can’t even get into a common high school (is dumb or unloved?). In any case, he lives in Shanghai with the grandparents.

-Has close political connections with方正刚.

--Has a rivalry with章桂春.

吴亚州 (亚洲钢铁联合公司老板)

-His company is in charge of the 独岛乡的硅刚 project.

-He is a very wealthy investor.

章桂春. (银山市委书记)

-Has a rivalry with石亚南.

-The crazy SOB drives out to the sight of the project on a snowy night. He forces the mini-van to go faster than it should, and as a result they get in a minor car wreck. He breaks his shoulder, but still visits the sight that the peasants are having a protest at. This, to some degree, shows his tenacity

---Is one of the primary people involved in the 独岛乡的硅刚project. He believes this will help the economy of his town 银山, which is a rival of 文山.

古根生 (省发改委副主任)

--Is married to石亚南, although they barely see each other.

-Is suspicious and nervous about the 独岛乡的硅刚 project.

宋朝体 (银山市委副市长)

-Has possible connection to章桂春

丁小明 (平洲书记)

Places

This book takes places in the made up province of 汉江, which is a big province is terms of economics and population. This is obviously symbolic (think Yoknapatawpha County or Macondo). It’s cold enough to snow, and the people eat noodles, so perhaps it is supposed to be in Dongbei, or Huabei. In any case, the province’s southern areas, such as 平洲, are more developed than the northern part of the province. The two main towns in the book are 文山, a city of traditional industries town of 8,000,000 people. 银山 is the neighboring town, and the political leaders have a lot of intermingling. Some political leaders decide to invest huge amounts of money in a Silicon Processing Plant called 独岛乡的硅刚 in 银山. Similarly, the mega-investor吴亚州’s company has a steel factory in 文山. These two cities are rivals, to some degree. As is often the case, they decide to build独岛乡的硅刚in an “economic zone”, which is usually farmland near the suburbs of a big town. They need 2,500 mu for the project, but they don’t compensate the poor farmers very much, so the peasants stage a rebellion, with political signs, possible violence…etc. However, in recent years, peasants have been able to make more money farming due to the CCP’s attention to staying self-reliant as far as food. But the leaders of 银山 have tried to lure 吴亚州 by giving him cheap prices. Thus, the conflict over the land, and compensation values.

The book takes place around New Year (春节). This means if any disastrous political events occur at the time in which people are supposed to be happy, leaders at the provincial level will lose face because the central government is paying closer attention than usual. Thus, political leaders know that this peasant revolt is like a looming ax over their heads

[gato]

Link to the online version of the book. I'm going to downloading the whole thing with FlashGet.

http://book.sina.com.cn/nzt/lit/wobenyingxiong/

周梅森最新官场力作：我本英雄

By the way, I think a TV adapation of 《国家公诉》, one of his earlier novels, is playing on TV in China right now. I saw it while I was channel-surfing. There was a scene of some uniformed judges sitting stodgily in a court room as the soundtrack was just coming to a crescendo. I couldn't really keep on watching. Anyone else seen it?

Here's the TV series on DVD: 国家公诉(DVD)(斯琴高娃 高明联合主演)

http://joyo.com/movie/detail.asp?prodid=bkys401322&uid=uqqw3x755s9m7mwq7wggaswu5&ref=search%2D%D6%DC%C3%B7%C9%AD

[wushijiao]

Thanks for the link gato. You can also access it here , if there are problems with the sina link, although the sina looks better.

You can buy it on dangdang.

http://211.100.16.156/dangdang.dll?catalog=&key=%CE%D2%B1%BE%D3%A2%D0%DB&mode=1050

[Outofin]

Give some thoughts from the book, literature-wise, not language-wise.

I took a quick look at the story. It looks like a typical 官场文学. The genre is quite popular among male adult readers. One of my college classmates once sent me a story he wrote after graduation. I was really surprised that he shifted to this style, and made me think how he could get old so quick. Basically, boys love 武侠文学. When they grow up, they could tend to read 官场文学.

I have no connection to any official, so I don’t know how much these books present the truth of their lives. Even though, it doesn’t matter how truthful they are, the stories have two points attracting readers:

1. People don’t talk straight. They’re extremely sophisticated. When the hidden intention and information behind some either common or mysterious words is revealed to the reader, it would be a shocking and arguably enlightening experience.

2. The protagonist usually makes an impressive career from underdog to high official or wealthy man, often with several love affairs involved. (This doesn’t seem to apply for this book.)

Now I seem to be criticizing the genre. But, what I really think is that, it all depends on how you write it. The one of most famous novels in this genre is 胡雪岩 by 高阳. It’s a very long novel with several volumes and I didn’t finish it. (I think it’s not a good choice for the reading club.) I liked it and thought the author must be a smart guy. Just like when you read 红楼梦, you would feel 曹雪芹 must be a very very smart guy.

[wushijiao]

1. People don’t talk straight. They’re extremely sophisticated. When the hidden intention and information behind some either common or mysterious words is revealed to the reader, it would be a shocking and arguably enlightening experience.

This is a good description of the book thus far. Every few pages is narrated from one of the characters' points of view. One can see that each opinion has some truth to it, but also is self-serving and righteous. So, the reader has the job of trying to figure out what the global, objective truth is.

This reminds me of elmore Leonards books, in which almost all character description is given through dialogue said by other characters. Thus, the reader gets info not only about the person being gossiped about, but also the reader gets insight into some of the other characters' ways of thinking.

Being about Chinese politics, there is also a complex web of relationships that isn't always easy to figure out.

Is anyone else reading this by the way?

[beirne]

Is anyone else reading this by the way?

I'm reading it and it looks interesting, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up. I'm adding a vocabulary word or two per sentence to my vocabulary list so the reading is slow and I'm getting a big log of words and characters to memorize. This puts me in the third paragraph of the first section. I've been working on reading for a month or so using other texts so I've been trying to figure out how to deal with this for a while so I'll need to figure out a manageable approach.

[wushijiao]

Thanks for the reply bernie. I think sorting out the characters gets a lot easier after the first 50 pages or so. At that point, most of the core characters are introduced, with only minor ones later. Anyway, I suppose you could always ask questions about the book on this thread.

[beirne]

Thanks for the reply bernie. I think sorting out the characters gets a lot easier after the first 50 pages or so. At that point, most of the core characters are introduced, with only minor ones later. Anyway, I suppose you could always ask questions about the book on this thread.

I said "words and characters" but while reading more last night I found that it is mainly words. I only know about 1200 characters but that is enough for me to get most of it. What I'm having trouble with are words. I'm hoping that what you say about the characters will also apply to the vocabulary. (Assuming I can make it through 50 pages )

BTW, the other problem I'm running into is that I can translate sentences but either they or their surrounding paragraph will make no sense. I'll maybe pick one out and post it here later.

[beirne]

BTW, one thing that amazes me in Chinese is the large number of things that have words. One from the book was 得年, meaning to die before age of 60. This is an example of how knowing characters isn't enough, and it is a strange concept to have its own word. Is this something people talk about a lot?

[Outofin]

Not too many people know this

得年 die before age of 30

享年 die before age of 60

享寿 die after age of 60

So it’s incorrect to say 某某于某年某月某日病逝，享年77岁。Because 享年 and 77岁 don’t go together, in theory.

Most people are familiar with this

Age of 30: 而立 (live independently)

Age of 40: 不惑 (no confusions)

Age of 50: 知天命 (follow one’s destiny)

Age of 60: 耳顺 (could mean “losing hearing”, I don’t know for sure though)

If one says 我已过而立之年, most people would understand he’s older than 30. 年逾不惑 means one is older than 40.

But after all, they’re just a way to polish your writing. No one would speak this way in casual conversations.

[gato]

It looks like it's part of wenyanwen (classical written Chinese). Somebody once used these phrases long ago, and others started copying his intellectual property.

[trevelyan]

Just finished chapter one.... good recommendation Wushijiao.

In case its of any use to others, I've started a vocabulary list for this chapter which people can find at the URL below. If anyone wishes to add or correct content please free to edit with abandon - the login and password for this list are both "adso".

http://www.adsotrans.com/vocab//?q=node/66

Back to the story, there are two phrases I'm hoping someone here can help explain. The first is 话里有话哩 and the second is 不是冤家不对头. They appear in the following contexts:

裴一弘今天好像也话里有话哩

安邦心想，这真叫不是冤家不对头

The best I can make of it is that the first is something about "to have words within words / to express a hidden meaning" and the second is something about "not competing unless you're sure you're going to be the champion"? --- EDIT -- just realized that should be yuan1jia1 not guanjia, so... "not fight with someone who isn't your enemy"?

Are these common sayings and is this interpretation correct?

[wushijiao]

"words within words / hidden meaning"

I think that's the correct gist.

As for

安邦心想，这真叫不是冤家不对头

不是冤家不对头 means, roughly, people who don't like each other always happen to meet. (This is refering to Zhao Anbang seeing Yu Huabei in the hospital. Zhao thinks, sacrastically, how you always run into the people you don't like. The two are rivals, and don't like each other much (冤家). So, if they are not 冤家 they wouldn't happen to meet all the time).

Good work with the list travelyan! It should be helpful to get other people going.

Anyway, I'm up to page 201 (mini-chapter 30). So far, I really like the book. Every page gets a bit more intense.

[wushijiao]

I have a question that hopefully someone can answer. What does 八通一平 mean? This phrase keeps coming up.

Here is the context:

章桂春掏出手机一看，还真是他的，便接了起来，是伟业国际白原崴打来的。这奸商开口就叫，“章书记，可找着您了！金川硅钢项目突然叫停了，我和伟业国际怎么办？那六百亩地的地款我们可全都付清了，还搞了八通一平。”

Well, I feel that 我本英雄 is going really well. It's kind of like an inside look into the political system outlined in the books by Nathan Andrew and Perry Link.

In any case, what suggestions are there for October? 余华 (author of "To Live" "活着") has a new book called 兄弟. Here is an article about it in 南方周末:

http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/zm/20050908/wh/wx/200509080086.asp

I think this book could be interesting, and it is 256 pages, which is more manageable.

It seems to be online here at:

http://book.kanunu.cn/html/2005/0817/848.html

http://book.sina.com.cn/nzt/lit/brothers/index.shtml

Are there any other suggestions for books to read?

[Outofin]

八通：供水、排水、供电、供热、供气（蒸气）、通讯、网络、道路。三化：绿化、美化、亮化。一平：场地平整

Just a slogan. Nothing particular. We like to use a number followed by a strange word. like 五讲四美三热爱，两岸三通，blah blah...

[wushijiao]

Thanks Outofin. It makes sense.

We like to use a number followed by a strange word.

I also do this. Sometimes my wife will ask me, "你在干啥？＂　然后，我回答，＂我在用＂三个代表＂重要思想看书，喝咖啡＂．　

[Outofin]

Ding! You've really grasped the spirit of Chinese.

[wushijiao]

I just finished 我本英雄, which I thought was an excellent pulp novel. I'll write an up-dated character list and mini book review in a day or two.

[wushijiao]

In the last few years, China has been plagued by many nasty problems: peasant revolts at corrupt officials, governmental corruption, economic overheating, the fractured and unsure relationship between local areas, provinces and the central government, unfair treatment of poor people, the role of rich investors in the business world, a severe shortage of coal and other electricity…etc. Politically speaking, China is a damn confusing country. Analysis of these problems often comes in the form of simplistic black and white critiques. Zhou Meisen in 我本英雄 brilliantly analyses the varying shades of grey in a fairly clever manner: honest and harsh critiques of the system are given through the mouth of China-loving, Party-loyal cadres. It seems that by writing an entertaining, page-turning novel meant for the masses, and using good-hearted Lei Feng-type people as mouthpieces, Zhou can probably get away with critiques that might not be possible in prose, at the same level of readership. At the very least, Zhou sheds light on the astounding complexity of governing a country that is going from North Korean-like dictatorship to an open, normal law-based society.

For example, at one point Zhao and Fang, two governmental officials (Provincial Governor and Mayor, respectively), are talking about the central governments decision to cool off the economy by killing certain large industrial projects. Zhao mentions that every country has to have a way to make macro economic adjustments (hint, hint EU). Zhao mentions that this is Greenspan’s (格里斯潘) role in the US.

To which Fang argues back, “：“不错，格里斯潘打个喷嚏华尔街就感冒，但人家格老先生决不会对华尔街上的任何一个具体公司和任何一个公司项目发表任何意见！”

Zhao then impatiently retorts, “美国是美国，中国是中国！会上老裴不是向大家传达了吗？国务院领导说得很清楚了：一定要有科学的发展观，一定要控制投资规模和速度，不能造成资源浪费。这就有个总量控制问题嘛，你们就不要吵了！” (p. 269).

So, this doesn’t seem to be much more than a fairly rationale conversation about economic policy, until one realizes that the conversation lays out the solid argument that the central governments policy will destroy the local economy. In other words, this conversation, and many throughout the book, supports local interests over national “stability” and the central governments decisions.

Similarly, Provincial Governor Zhao Anbang (perhaps the archetype of the wise, caring, “laobaixing-loving” Party member) gives a stirring anti-corruption speech to a multitude of lower ranked cadres:

，“同志们，做人的标准和做共产党人的标准是不能降低的标准啊！从这个意义上说，我们有些受了处理的干部未必是坏干部，而某些没受处理的干部也未必就是好干部！不客气地说，我们某些干部人格低下，品质恶劣！不要说做共产党人了，连做人的资格都没有！我说的这种干部今天会场上就有，我请你们扪心自问一下：你们和生你养你的老百姓还有没有血肉联系？你们可能没像古龙腐败案中的那些贪官污吏一样涉嫌经济腐败，但这种灵魂腐败更为可怕，对国家和人民，对我们改革事业的危害也许更大！在你们眼里，除了一顶乌纱帽就没有别的！为了乌纱帽，什么牛都敢吹，什么事都敢做！只要能爬上去，哪怕踩断老百姓的脊梁，踩碎老百姓的脑袋也所不惜！一官功成万骨枯嘛，老百姓在你们眼里，就是些无关紧要的数字！哦，同志们，说老百姓是数字不是我的发明啊，是在座一位相当级别的地方负责干部的发明！在他看来，老百姓这数字远不如GDP数字重要，GDP能让他升官，老百姓算什么？既不能升他的官，也不能罢他的官！这种人简直愚蠢到了极点，连水可载舟亦可覆舟的道理都忘了！对这种愚蠢无耻的干部，我今天必须警告一下！省委联合调查组对文山及相关各厅局的调查证明：在这次亚钢联事件中，没有任何以权谋私的腐败问题，这是很让我们中共汉江省委感到欣慰的！” (p. 430).

This speech, and most of the book, criticizes the idea that the number one assessment criterion for cadre promotion should be GDP growth. One of the book’s main ideas is that solely focusing on GDP growth at the expense of other factors leads to all sorts of problems. The second main idea is that government leaders will drive the Party into the ground if they only care about keeping their post (乌纱帽). This is far from a new concept, but it does have a slightly subversive meaning if one thinks that Zhou Meisen is really telling the reader, “There is now systematic corruption on such a level that the system might collapse if people don’t refocus their efforts on becoming clean”.

However, with that said, although somewhat subversive, the book seems to be reformist, not revolutionary. In other words, it seems that Zhou Meisen, or at least the characters within the book, are not calling for a bloody, Tiananmen-style revolution, but rather internal reform. (Of course, Zhou can't possibly write a revolutionary book that would be published in the Mainland). But still there is evidence that reform, as opposed to revolution, is the main idea. The character in the book that mirrors the concerns of revolutionary, Western liberalism the most is the young, intelligent, and sexy 林小雅. The reader knows that Lin has grown up abroad, but her nationality is not 100% clear (until the end of the book). At one point the rich tycoon 白原威 and林小雅 are talking about章桂春, the stereotype of the evil, greedy, power-hungry, corrupt 土皇帝. 林小雅 says, ，“白总，你觉得这位章桂春能做朋友吗？这种无聊政客在西方国家只怕早被老百姓赶下台了！”

Bai then replies, ：“你说的是西方，这里是中国，更具体地说是银山。在银山，章桂春就是土皇帝，是大权在握的一把手。一把手掌握绝对真理啊，二把手只掌握相对真理，其他人没有真理，我们不和绝对真理做朋友，还和谁去做朋友啊？” (p. 229).

So, one can see from Bai’s reply, what the political system should be like theoretically is completely irrelevant to a practical, cunning businessman. A lot of Lin’s other Westernized political comments are viewed as being hopelessly out of touch with China’s current reality.

For the geeky, well-read Chinese person, perhaps this novel may be seen as a bit too simplistic or cheesy. There are a lot of attempts to pull and the heartstrings, to 让人感动. But for the laowai looking to learn about China without having to slog through the ever lively and controversial人民日报, that bastion of truth, .and the other plethora of wasted trees, 我本英雄 provides an excellent glimpse into the system.