When Red Is Black [Paperback]

This third book in the "Inspector Chen" series strays even further from mystery genre conventions with its portrayal of economic and social upheaval in modern China. Set in Shanghai in what appears to be the mid-1990s (it is definitely not set in the present day, as some people seem to think), capitalism is on the rise and everyone is trying to figure out what it all means. For Inspector Chen, it means taking a week of vacation from the Special Homicide Squad to work for a wealthy businessman with triad connections. He is hired to translate a business proposal for an "Old Shanghai" themed shopping and entertainment zone into fluid English that will impress American investment bankers. Meanwhile, his deputy, the capable Detective Yu is assigned to solve the murder of a minor dissident author. Yu is a hard-working policeman, a husband and father struggling to convince himself that being a policeman is a worthwhile job in the new economy. Although Chen is busy working on the translation, he calls in for updates and does some sleuthing on the side as well.

The mystery itself isn't particularly fascinating, but it does provide an interesting perspective on modern Chinese history for those who aren't particularly familiar with it. The murdered woman had written an autobiographical novel ("The Death of a Chinese Professor") about her forbidden love affair with an intellectual poet when they were in a reeducation camp during the Cultural Revolution. She had been a Red Guard who was then denounced, and he was an intellectual, and thus politically"black" (ie. an enemy of the working class). The Cultural Revolution looms over the proceedings, and proves to have a powerful legacy even three decades later. Detective Yu is reduced to probing the political past of the people who lived in her building in order to try and learn of the motive for her killing. These political nuances will likely be rather complex to the general reader (despite the author's best efforts to explain all), which diminishes from the story somewhat. The investigation never really gathers any momentum, and there's never much of a sense of urgency about the matter. It's also weakened by a rather belated effort to follow what most readers will perceive to be a rather promising lead.

As in the previous books in the series, classical Chinese poetry is cited ad nauseam, and any scene involving food is lovingly lingered over and described in great detail. But perhaps the most interesting element of the book is its portrayal of the rise of capitalism in China, complete with rural to urban migration, conspicuous consumption, and overpopulation. While I was reading this, the New York Times ran a lengthy series of articles about rising class inequities in China and social and political unrest this has led to as the establishment benefits from corruption and factory and farm workers are left behind. The book does a nice job of showing the seeds of this, and how Chen and Yu struggle with the implications of this new economy. Chen is very clearly aware that he is being vastly overpaid for his translation and waits quietly to see what the quid pro quo will be. When it comes at the end, it reveals just how murky the ethical waters can be as Chen walks a fine line between grabbing a piece of the pie and falling in bed with the leaders of the new economy. So don't read this if you're looking for a gripping mystery, but do read it if you're interested in a nuanced account of the beginnings of Chinese capitalism and what life is like in a huge Chinese city populated by cast of well-realized characters.

This Chinese mystery (written by a man who left China 15 years ago) was most interesting to me because of the Shanghai setting and the theme of how China has changed in the past fifty or so years, particularly with the radical egalitarianism of the Red Guards being replaced by entrepreneurial values, where everything seems to be turned upside down. In this book, "Red" is a metaphor for the Maoist/communist and "black" is a metaphor for "capitalist/right wing." During the cultural revolution, intellectuals and anyone with "capitalist" (defined broadly) relatives were persecuted as black by the Red Guards. Now the new business owners are flourishing, the young want Western lifestyles, and the promised pensions of the heroes of the revolution are going unpaid because of the economic changes of privatisation. Hence "The Red Is Black" -- everything in society is suddenly changing -- what was out is in and vice versa.

This is a literate mystery, with lots of Chinese poetry and talk of Chinese philosophy, politics, and literature. The plot involves a woman who had been sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution who is found dead. She is regarded as sort of a dissident because of a book she published about a professor who perished as a result of the Cultural Revolution. The powers that be fear that they will be blamed for her death by the foreign press, although they insist they had nothing to do with it. They want Inspector Chen to solve this crime quickly to prove that it was not a political death. Inspector Chen has taken a couple of weeks off work, however, to translate a document (for big bucks) and can only get involved in an advisory capacity -- it's his subordinate Yu (and Yu's wife) who are doing the footwork.

This is a book that talks a lot about life in China (a lot of poetry and descriptions of Chinese delicacies like nothing we eat in Chinese restaurants!) I'm planning to go back and read the two earlier books because I find descriptions of faraway places quite interesting. If your only motive for reading a mystery is the plot, you may find the relatively slow pacing and digressions in the book (like the poetry) annoying. If you want to get an idea of what life is like in Shanghai, I think this book provides a fascinating glimpse -- it made me want to visit (except for the food described!)

Party Secretary Li cannot find Chief Inspector Chen Cao, so he assigns the investigation of the murder of author Yin Lige to detective Yu Guangming. Though Yu needs to find an apartment in overcrowded Shanghai, he cannot "politically" refuse a case given to him by the Party Secretary. He quickly learns that Yin wrote a banned book on falling in love during the Cultural Revolution.

Meanwhile the Shanghai New World Group CEO Yu provides Chen with an offer he cannot refuse. He will pay Chen an exorbitant fee to do him a favor by translating a major business proposal into English.

Yu pursues threads that lead nowhere while Chen earns money translating the business documents. Still Chen advises his junior partner on how to proceed. Soon Yu finds out that Yin shared a romance during the Cultural Revolution with Professor Yang Bing. Could someone have silenced the author because of something that occurred when Yin and Yang were together at a time when the Red Guard reeducated or killed the Black (anti worker)?

The third Chen tale is an exciting Chinese police procedural, but somewhat different than that of the two previous novels (see DEATH OF A RED HEROINE and A LOYAL CHARACTER DANCER) as Yu leads much of the investigation. The deep look at modern day Shanghai and brilliantly incorporating Chinese poetry into the love story of Yin and Yang enhance the story line. Though the ending seems soft, perhaps because the rest of WHEN RED IS BLACK is so powerful, Qiu Xialong provides a deep look at how historical events impact the present inside a terrific murder mystery.

Harriet Klausner