Crime novels are as good as their Detectives. We delight in the Detectives’ failings which serve, not to hide, but to shine light on the brilliance of their often idiosyncratic investigations. We admire their often solitary social existence, as they work under-appreciated and most often, against the established order of things. We enjoy the relationship that develops between the Detectives and their sidekicks, though it is always an unlikely relationship, for the sidekicks have to be less skilled and less insightful and also more integrated into the normal value systems in the Police and society. Qiu Ziaolong’s Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau is a worthy addition to the long line of these exceptional but wounded detectives. He is brilliant and yet methodical, he has been passed over for promotion and housing because of his unwillingness to play political games at the expense of police work. His character too is perhaps behind his inability to marry though the marriage promises much in terms of political connection. And, as with many detectives in crime novels, he loves things which take him out of crime to reveal a larger person. For Chen it is his love of the old values in China and especially of Chinese poetry, and of T. S. Elliott (Qiu has painted Chen just like himself in this respect!). Qiu Xialong’s novels give us entry to China in the 1990s. The Loyal Character Dancer is no exception. It is a tale centring on a once beautiful schoolgirl, Wen Liping, who, during the Cultural Revolution, started on a life of dedication to China only to end in a brutal marriage to a small town people and drug smuggler. Her disappearance is the mystery at the heart of the novel. It is a mystery with international ramifications as Wen is needed for an important case in America against people smugglers. It is this connection which brings together Chen and a U.S. Marshall, Catherine Rohn, who are tasked with finding Wen Liping.For me, it is not so much the mystery which is intriguing, as the Chinese journey we embark on as Chen follows leads and negotiates deals. We are lead on a journey through old alleyways. We see the new developments. We see the crowding and the longing for housing. [Image by Kert Gartner, 2012 (Flickr)][Old and new Shanghai from www.city-photo.org]We see the difficult paths to tread when politics is so much part of policing. We see Shanghai and also the smaller towns around it. We visit crowded homes or a famous Russian restaurant for a beautiful dinner (always with a rather gruesome item on the menu such as steamed live fish). And what is most beautiful for me, we hear Chinese poetry. Here is just one small poem (Chapter 1) The mist disappearingagainst the spring mountains,the stars few, smallin the pale skiesthe sinking moon illuminates her face, the dawn in her glistening tearsat parting …With the green skirt of yours in mind, everywhere,everywhere I step over the grass so lightly.Why when there is so much to delight in Qiu Xialong’s A Loyal Character Dancer do I only give it a 3? Mostly it is because the scale for rating is so short. There are only 3 numbers to indicate a range from okay/readable to brilliant. In order to allow us to differentiate a bit more there should be a longer scale. So, confined within this short unsatisfactory scale, I give it a 3, partly because the tale is a little too scattered and because the US Marshall, Catherine Rohn, does not quite ring true to me, nor does her sexual frisson with Chen seem real. Still, I think Qiu’s Chief Inspector Chen Cao’s crime novels are a very good read. I'd happily give it 3.5Warning: I read this as an eBook. It is published (paper copy and digital version by SOHO Press). There are many grammatical and scanning errors. These certainly made it much less of a delight to read. I wrote to SOHO Press about the errors and they have promised to put the book on their list to be proofread. Still, I think a publishing company owes its readers a better edited book.
Второй роман из серии приключений старшего полицейского инспектора Чэня Цао. В русском издании идиотское название - "Закон триад".Герою поручено найти исчезнувшую жену важного свидетеля, который должен давать показания на суде в США. За пропавшей супругой свидетеля прилетела из Штатов федеральный маршал Кэтрин Рон, вместе с которой Чэню и придется разбираться в этом деле, преодолевая политические и культурные различия двух стран. Ну а дело с каждым днем становится все запутаннее и опаснее. Международные контрабандисты, триады, коррумпированные полицейские - прилагаются в комплекте.Второй роман получился куда более удобоваримым, более легкий язык (или переводчик постарался). Присутствие американской гостьи позволяет куда органичнее вписать в текст множественные исторические и культурные мини-справки, хотя инспектор Чэнь все равно выглядит ходячей википедией. Но в целом образ героя стал живее, он уже не кажется тем образцовым отличником-пионером с плакатов, каким был в первой части. Политических интриг тоже куда меньше, их сменили коррумпированные китайские полицейские и мафия, которая бессмертна.В результате получился вполне бодрый полицейский детектив, который вполне легко представить экранизированным - как самими китайцами, так и американцами.
What do You think about A Loyal Character Dancer (2003)?
Another cracking good police procedural from Qiu Xialong. A man's body in silk Valentino pajamas turns up in Bund Park, horribly cut about with an axe. A human trafficker's wife goes missing just when she is wanted to testify in the US. Are they connected, and if so, how? Inspector Chen and his faithful sidekick Yu are told off to deal with the cases, and Chen finds himself acting as adviser/guide/interpreter for an attractive female US Marshall. I enjoyed reading this installment, though the "loyal character dance" as done by Wen Liping is rather different to that described in the first volume, which seemed to be a kind of walking in place. Nice to read an Asian mystery written by your actual Asian person, instead of a Westerner who has lived there for a relatively short time and thinks they know. The interpolated poetry couplets are enjoyable, whether drawn from the classics, or taken from Chen's (the author's) own work.The end was a bit confusing, with the "library scene" taking place in an airport, though perhaps that is because I was very tired and stressed when I finished it. I wonder if the man with the light green cellphone will turn into a Nemesis/mole character in later books? And is Comrade Party Chairman Li as squeaky-clean and dedicated as he appears to be? Watch this space! I wondered if all of this hand-touching and arm-taking on the part of the American character toward Chen would be acceptable in China? That's just my ignorance, I don't know how touchy-feely people are there, whether it would be an invasion of personal space or not--particularly in a professional situation. I will admit that the only Asians I had close contact with was 35 years ago, and things were different then--it would certainly have made them uncomfortable.Given that in Asia it is the norm to say the surname first (therefore Yu and Chen are surnames, not first names) I find it odd that everyone speaks of the woman as "Wen", even when comforting her, instead of "Liping." It would be like calling someone "Jones" instead of "Helen." But as I say, I'm not Asian--and thank goodness, the author is, and knows more about it than I do.
—Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)
The second installment in the Chief Inspector Chen of Shanghai series.Set in 1990's Shanghai, when the Communist Chinese government had just opened the country to Western-style capitalism, this series features Chief Inspector Chen Cao and his partner Detective Yu who form the Special Cases squad of the Shanghai Police Bureau, a group that investigates cases that are politically sensitive.Trying to eliminate the human smuggling that illegally transports hundreds of Chinese to the US every year, China and the US have arranged the legal immigration of a woman whose husband, already in the US, is willing to testify against the criminals behind one of the major smuggling rings. A US Marshall, Catherine Rohm, flies to china to escort the woman to the US--but before she arrives, the woman vanishes. Because of his fluency in English, Chief Inspector Chen is assigned the double duty of escorting the attractive US Marshall around Shanghai and searching for the vanished woman who comes from the Shanghai area.Excellent plot, nicely drawn characters and a fascinating look into a China in transition from a rigid Communist model to experimentation with capitalism. In addition, Chen is a poet, and the book is full of excerpts from both classical and modern Chinese poetry, adding immensely to the interest.The only reasons fro not giving this book a 5 star rating are that the writing is somewhat stilted and it does get a little didactical at times. However, it is a stronger book than his first in the series, Death of a Red Heroine.Highly recommended.
—Joyce Lagow
This is the second in this series of mystery novels set in Shanghai involving the poet/mystery novel translator/ rising party star/ Shanghai detective Chen Cao. This novel circles around the problem of human trafficking and the flood of Chinese who illegally flock to the west under the control of smugglers and find themselves in a form of human bondage. In this particular twist of a tale, an American Marshall comes to China to escort the wife of a potential key witness in a human smuggling trial in the U.S. to the United States. This is a big deal and cooperative effort between the two governments and so the party apparatus assigns Chen Cao to the task of being the liaison. Things go wrong quickly and as the story unfolds much about party politics, Triad machinations and pure corruption come to the fore. These novels ( based on my reading of two) have a leisurely pace and a poetic sensibility and seem filled with intriguing observations about a transforming China.
—Peter
