Book review: Shanghai Redemption.

The latest book in the series of Chen Cao novels written by Qiu Xiaolong based around the character Chief Inspector Chen, 
and heavily influenced by the Bo Xilai case in 2013, the events therefore have some basis in reality even with a fictitious 
character mentioning the Huangpu river incident involving over 16,000 dead pigs. The Chief inspector is also a slight 
 reflection of Qiu as both the writer and the character sharing the accomplishment of translating T.S Elliot's poetry into
Chinese. Both the writer and the character both grew up during the cultural revolution, with differing experiences of it,
Qiu being too ill at 16 and being relatively left alone whereas Chen having his father killed by Maoists. This is important
to note as it grounds the story into reality by creating a more realistic and down to earth character for the novel to 
follow, however Chen's love of the "classics", traditional Chinese poetry quoted at every opportunity, is a way of distinguishing 
the character from Qiu's characteristics. It may also just be homesickness of Qiu being out of Shanghai for 30 years- This
absence means that potentially Qiu is out of touch of contemporary China mainly due to its exploration of the themes of corruption,
and therefore the political commentary that the novel is trying to achieve by exploring china through the eyes of Chen 
may be not relevant or authentic. However it is important in understanding the culture of china through a easy and entertaining way.

Since 1988, and especially after the Bo Xilai case China has seen a rather dominant anti-corruption campaign going after 
officials at every level both "tigers" and "flies". The commitment to this campaign was first demonstrated by the 
investigation into Zhou Yonkang in 2014 (former standing member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau). Since then
anti-corruption has only become more determined, with an eight-point regulation on frugality to stop the hemorrhaging of 
public funds to pay for the dinners and drinking in 2013 which wasted an estimated 200 billion yuan every year (1), these regulations
helping to reduce empty talk which is displayed frequently by Party secretary Li and other characters within the book and to
reduce bureaucratic meetings and extravagance with further meritocracy introduced- "5000 "naked officials" have been removed from
their posts...more than 22,000 officials at or above county level had their posts rearranged on the basis of performance" (2).
thus meaning that with this constant fluidity and punishment of corrupt officials that none should become as untouchable as
Kai and Lai are in the novel. Despite this major change in contemporary Chinese politics through the focus on being more apt at
serving the people and how the book fails to still remain relevant in this regard i dont doubt that the shady underbelly of chinese
society that the novel shows doesnt still exist, such as "kariokee girls" or "parlour girls" as it all links in with the ideas
of the nanzihan and the gunaxi of officialdom though yingchou with it being "oiled with the bodies of women who serve as mediators providing
the glue that finally binds relations"(3) this culture of dining and entertainment for hosts is displayed by the fictitious Heavenly world 
which turns out to be a brothel in the novel whereby guanxi is demonstrated at Chen's speech about T.S Elliot and the subsequent book signing.
Furthermore in regards to anti-corruption "a total of 43 members and alternate members of the 18th CPC central committee as well as nine CCID
members"(4) had been investigated showing a determination to carry out this campaign therefore the novel fails to provide that much insight into
the dealings of contemporary officials even if they can still pay to disappear into a baojian to protect your identity. Since Shanghai Redemption
is based on events that occurred 5 years ago this shows how fast changes in China's political landscape can occur and how drastic they are in terms
of effect and scale. This is not to say that corruption tackling did not occur in china before the drive to boost its efforts, even in the Shanghai 
police department "local authorities have already detained four police officers on suspicion of helping Gong fake her IDs" (2013) (5) over the Gong Ai'ai 
house sister case, what sets this campaign apart from these general measures is people's willingness to go after the "big tigers" or the Lai's of modern day 
China.

However despite the potential in-applicability of this novels message to contemporary Chinese politics this novel is useful for outlining the culture of China to
a western audienece by introducing the audience to festivals such as Qingming and Confucian ideas along with Tang, Song and Qing poetry which is often neglected here. 
It is an easy introduction into Chinese culture with a intriguing story fit for a crime novel to boot taking us through the importance of filiality or lack thereof in
terms of the consumerist society that Qiu disagrees with by speaking through Chen. This love of money over all things is demonstrated by Manager Hong when discussing 
costs of the renovation and maintenance of Chen's father's grave whereby he proclaims Chen a filial son after asking for the eternal maintenance fee, this scene also 
shows the importance and dominance of the party within day to day life as the business card for the position of Director of Shanghai Legal Reform Committee is enough to 
be praised as "blessed by Buddha", this sentiment is also expressed by the character Qian and her love of Suzhou Opera however her relationship with the government oficial 
Sima descends more into a financial affair as Qian is an ernai. This all links in to the "economy of desire" discussed by Zhang (2001) whereby ernai are just another example
of officials "exchanging thier power over useful resources and allowances for something that cannot be legally acquired through their rank" (6) it being hiring prostitutes to 
establish and maintain business relationships or for opportunities at work or supplying a home and livelihood for ernai, who tend to be younger and more attractive than 
the officials own spouse. similar to the phenomenon known as a sugar daddy here in the west.