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Serve the People!: A Novel

by Yan Lianke, Julia Lovell (Translation)

3.3 of 5 stars 3.30 · rating details · 266 ratings · 38 reviews

Set in 1967, at the peak of the Mao cult, Serve the People! is a beautifully told, wickedly daring story about the forbidden love affair between Liu Lian, the young, pretty wife of a powerful Division Commander in Communist China, and her household’s lowly servant, Wu Dawang. When Liu Lian establishes a rule for her orderly that he is to attend to her needs whenever the ho...more

Paperback, 217 pages

Published February 18th 2008 by Grove Press, Black Cat (first published 2005)

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Jun 25, 2008 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

Yan Lianke is a simile machine, some of which may get lost in translation, but I wish I had kept a list from the very beginning, because there are some killers.

Check out this shamefully condescending, Euro-centric quote from the NYTimes review of this book:

"His story is memorable and strange, but it feels particular, not universal. Yan Lianke was born during China’s catastrophic Great Leap Forward and came of age during the Cultural Revolution. Did he have the opportunity to read Flaubert and Fi...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Larou added it

Satire does not criticise; indeed, the best satire is the very opposite of criticism: It is relentless, unflinching affirmation. Satire embraces the way things are with boundless enthusiasm, joyfully relishes in the state of the world, perceives every bit of propaganda as the truth it claims to be, takes every pretense at face value and thus makes them shine in all their utter absurdity.

This makes the Good Soldier Svejk the ultimate satirist, and “the People’s Liberation Army’s three rules of th...more Satire does not criticise; indeed, the best satire is the very opposite of criticism: It is relentless, unflinching affirmation. Satire embraces the way things are with boundless enthusiasm, joyfully relishes in the state of the world, perceives every bit of propaganda as the truth it claims to be, takes every pretense at face value and thus makes them shine in all their utter absurdity.

This makes the Good Soldier Svejk the ultimate satirist, and “the People’s Liberation Army’s three rules of thumb” as recorded in Yan Lianke’s novel Serve the People! certainly sound like Svejk could have formulated them: “Don’t Say What You Shouldn’t Say, Don’t Ask What You Shouldn’t Ask, Don’t Do What You Shouldn’t Do”. Wu Duwang, the protagonist of Serve the People!, however, is no Svejk – he might be a Model Soldier, but he is not content with what he has and wants more, is, as we are told right at the beginning of the novel, ”greedy for laurels.”

Serve the People! is set during the time of the Cultural Revolution, and Yan Lianke shows ingeniously just how deeply everyone has internalized the regime’s propaganda by way of the similes which the novel is brimming over with - when a particular shade of red is described that can happen by comparison with the colour of a sunset or the colour of a specific propaganda poster, and both will be on exactly the same level. While this results in a very funny effect, there is also something quite serious at work there, for it indicates that propaganda has the same ontological status as nature, has indeed become second nature and is indiscernible from truth. The same holds true for one of the uses the title-giving slogan is put to – Wu Duwan gets assigned to assist the Division Commander, and as the Division Commander represents the People, serving the Division Commander becomes Serving the People. Wu Duwan effectively becomes the Division Commander’s servant, cook and gardener, and the novel never openly questions that he is serving the people this way even as the reader laughs at the absurdity of it.

Things begin to get complicated for Wu Duwan when the Division Commander is absent for an extended period of time and he finds himself tasked to Serve the People by serving the Division Commander’s wife Liu Lian – in quite intimate ways. As the two start an affair (initially on Liu Lian’s initiative towards a very reluctant Wu Duwan), some very interesting changes happen to the novel and to the reader’s attitude towards its protagonists. While neither Wu Duwan nor Liu Lian appeared very likable at the start of the novel, with the development of their affair we suddenly find ourselves (somewhat to the surprise of at least this reader) actually caring about them, and the satirical element, while never completely absent, recedes increasingly into the background, making room for an intense, and ultimately very sad love story.

As their affair progresses and becomes ever more absorbing and passionate, the lovers become like animals, and finally sink even lower down the creational ladder to become one with the earth, to be remade from clay; and synchronous with that the imagery shifts away from political propaganda, or more precisely – propaganda becomes appropriated by the lovers, turned away from its political significance and infused with a new personal, meaning. All of which is exemplified by the vagaries the title-giving Serve the People! poster undergoes; and the way Yan Lianke uses that image and that slogan in the course of the novel to symbolically indicate the current state of the relationship of the lovers while at the same time utilizing it as a plausible realistic prop is nothing short of brilliant.

It is pretty much clear from the start that things are not going to end well for the lovers; what does come as a surprise is that the melancholy that the ending is steeped is a result not of thwarted hopes but to the contrary, of everyone getting exactly what they wanted - or thought they did. While Serve the People! is set at a quite specific time and a very specific place and certainly could not have happened in the same way outside of that time and place, it transcends this setting, and is a novel first and foremost about human beings rather than about China during the Cultural Revolution.

Serve the People! is (I think) the first Chinese novel I have ever read, but likely will not remain the last one, and Yan Lianke’s Dream of Ding Village is high on my to-read list for 2013.(less)

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Mar 02, 2009 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: found-in-translation, china-and-chinese

When a book is marketed as "Banned in China", you know you can expect a huge dose of satire and rebellion. Chinese novelist Yan Lianke, who got his start writing propaganda fiction to keep up troop morale in the 1970s -- he has since been kicked out of the army -- has created a fun and sexy read for the hipster crowd that enjoys wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the mug of Chairman Mao.

Translated by Julia Lovell, this is the first of his four novels to be translated into English. The political sl...more When a book is marketed as "Banned in China", you know you can expect a huge dose of satire and rebellion. Chinese novelist Yan Lianke, who got his start writing propaganda fiction to keep up troop morale in the 1970s -- he has since been kicked out of the army -- has created a fun and sexy read for the hipster crowd that enjoys wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the mug of Chairman Mao.

Translated by Julia Lovell, this is the first of his four novels to be translated into English. The political slogan which the title parrots was coined by Mao, and conveys the communist ideal of working for the common good.

The story is set in 1967 at the height of the Cultural Revolution, and our everyman hero is Wu Dawang, a hardworking country boy who is attempting to nab a coveted job as an official in the city by clawing his way up the ranks in the army. The 28-year-old Model Soldier has managed to attain the relatively prestigious job of Gerneral Orderly for the Division Commander, doing household chores for the commander and his wife, though officialdom continues to elude him.

Six months into the job, his commander's beautiful 32-year-old wife Liu Lian requests he service her in a rather different way -- one required by her since her husband is impotent. They embark on a tempetuous affair, which allows Yan to write erotica that is at once titillating and -- in this case intentionally -- hilarious:
"And there... were her breasts, as flawlessly, geometrically round as if they had ben traced with a compass, rising up large and white as the mantou... that he steamed for his superior and his wife."

The illicitness of their coupling, and their dread at its inevitable end, is heightened by the sense of duty that they still feel towards their respective spouses, never mind that the loveless marraiges are ones of convenience. On his part, he signed a contract promising his father-in-law -- the commune accountant who managed to get him a coveted place in the army -- that he will work hard and bring his wife to the city "where she can eat steamed rolls every day".

As for her, she married the commander partly for the prestige and partly due to her faith in the party -- then discovered he was impotent, shot in the crotch during the civil war: "How could I divorce him? A man who'd given everything for the Revolution, kneeling in front of me, crying like a baby?"

Beyond that, however, his characterisation of the lovers is deliberately thin -- in a mirror of the communist viewpoint, his characters exist to further the narrative, rather than the narrative being informed by his characters. This is but a minor quibble however, as the pleasure in reading this satire lies in how Yan ridcules the system inside and out.

As the couple goes on to break marriage vows, social mores and even several political icons lying around the house, Yan manages to keep up the fast pace, while allowing for some wonderfully lyrical passages in which the despair underlying the sleek satire surges to the surface. (less)

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Mar 10, 2012 Maja rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, historical-china

I was really surprised to see how low a rating this book has on here. Especially since I muself really enjoyed it. So I started wondering, "Why don't more people like this book same as I did?" And I think I might have the answer; I don't think all that many people are used to the flowery and slightly melancholic writing style that most Chinese authors use. The writing is filled with metaphors, most of them industrial or homely, and the tone is sorrowful. The telling of the story is indirect and...more

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May 13, 2012 Mircalla64 (free Liu Xiaobo) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cina

la pornografia ai tempi del Grande Timoniere

"Togliti la camicia, per servire il popolo...
togli anche la maglietta, non hai detto che vuoi servire il popolo?...
servi il popolo, ora lo puoi fare"

le icone del potere, elette a simbolo sacro, vengono calpestate dai due amanti in un impeto di passione, a dimostrazione del reciproco amore revisionista e borghese
pornografia in senso ideologico, si immagina che la cosa più trasgressiva che si potesse fare allore fosse calpestare un busto in gesso di...more

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Oct 07, 2008 Daniel rated it 3 of 5 stars

A funny thing about this book, I can see it receive disapproval from Communists in China for it's defamatory imagery and satire of The Cultural Revolution while also receiving disapproval from people in America for it's sexual imagery. There's just so much for the ignorant to hate in this book and that is why I loved it so.

Also, it tells a very human story of two people trapped in marriages that are loveless and based on power/performance who find themselves drawn together if only for a short ti...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Alex Sarll added it

"This novella slanders Mao Tse Tung, the army, and is overflowing with sex. Do not distribute, pass around, comment on, excerpt from or report on it." So said China's censors in 2005, and who could ask for a finer recommendation? But beyond the obvious charm of a book which updates the venerable sex/blasphemy crossover for the newer religion of Cultural Revolution-era Maoism, it's also works on the simple level of that even older theme, the love affair ground down by society.

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Dec 27, 2011 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Depressing love story about an orderly and a military leader's wife--both married to other people--during the height of Mao mania that was the Cultural Revolution. I really enjoyed this book and can see some parallels between the conditions that led to this story and contemporary China with its huge disparity in wealth and its housing shortage. Yan Lianke is a beautiful writer and it's a shame this book is banned in China.

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Jun 15, 2008 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm over halfway through and so far the pace is interesting and the sentences energetic. The only thing that's bothersome is the author's tendency to pull out of the narrative into a self-conscious critique of the action-- this is either post-modern or very traditional (19th century), depending how you look at it. Whatever you call it, it comes off as slightly smug and therefore annoying.

But all the Communist stuff and the descriptions are worth it! There's some kind of really strong Japanese ey...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Jonfaith rated it 3 of 5 stars

A few years back I elected to weigh my vast ignorance of Chinese literature. (funny how that hasn't changed or improved since) and went to University to remedy this. Serve The People! was the first book I read on that expedition and far from the best. I thought Ju Dou was an adaptation of The Postman Always Rings Twice: this was yet another channeled through the little red book.

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Aug 15, 2012 George Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars

Interesting novel. I haven't read much romance and even less Chinese romance but despite some very strong passages this book missed it for me. Maybe it's a cultural literacy thing, more likely the Chinese view of passion and romance is more subdued than American. Took me about 3 months to read off & on and it's a small book, interesting but not really a grabber.

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Jun 21, 2011 Gangstabytch2 1 rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love this book. Love it, love it, love it. The writing is beautiful and simple, the story is intense and troubling yet sexy all at the same time. It's a small book but again the writing is gorgeous. I got so into the book that I would forget where I was. Communist China and a fucked up love story, what else could you ask for?

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Nov 13, 2009 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Quirky story about a love affair between a soldier who is a personal cook for a high ranking official and the latter's wife. Lots of commentary on the strange bureaucracy of the People's Army and life in general in China during the Cultural Revolution. Some steamy scenes. In the end a lowly ranked person manages to destroy an entire unit through a personal involvement.

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Jul 29, 2011 Erin Panjer added it · review of another edition

I'm not usually one for 'romance novels' but every now and then the author would actually break from the story and defend the style of his writing. A Romance set in Communist China, and it certainly wasn't lacking in unique metaphors, observations and situations. Good read, hard time putting it down once I got into it.

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Jul 27, 2011 Christopher Mcgurr rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A scandalous story of a love affair that was too hot for the Chinese Government. The write (possibly translator?) weaves some interesting metaphors. Not bad overall, though there is foreshadowing in the book that doesn't really come to fruition at the end. I'll keep myself spoiler free, but I was a bit disappointed.

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Nov 11, 2008 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2008, asian

This was a fun book. Though the writing was a little flat (possibly due to poor translation), I never imagined a book about the Cultural Revolution could give me such a boner. Mao, his little red book of quotations, the Cultural Revolution, and lots of steamy sex created an interesting voyeuristic peek into this oft told historical moment in China. This is not your standard Cultural Revolution book. The best scene is where the two main characters try to outdo themselves to prove how counter-revo...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Megan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: biblioteca, evil-govt

I understood it from a satirical point, but this isn't the first time where I just couldn't fully connect with Chinese writing. The thing is, I try. I make it a point to look for Chinese authors because I know that Americans don't read enough of them. Maybe something was lost in the translation, I don't know...

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Jul 23, 2011 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: china

What an interesting novel. I can see why the author is concerned about his safety. This is so subversive and tongue in cheeck about the very essence of Mao's China and the Chinese Revolution, but written in such a gentle way. It was so easy to read that I finished it in a day. It tells of the forbidden affair between the Commander's wife and his Orderly, who both spout Maoisms as they make love. Quite delicious.

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Jan 24, 2013 !Tæmbuŝu marked it as to-read

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, china, ebook-available

KOBOBOOKS

Reviewed by The Complete Review

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Jul 26, 2010 Audrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

I inhaled this book from start to finish on flights and in connecting airport while traveling from Boston to New Orleans. I cannot imagine reading it in any other way than in one sitting. Fiesty and educational.

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May 06, 2010 Anna added it

Wu Dawang is a very decent soldier who gets took take care of the admiral's wife, Liu Lian. Quickly they develop a very romantic, erotic and deep affair.

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May 01, 2009 Ruth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-reads, chinese-literature

Serve the People! is a sexy bit of satire and rebellion. As another wrote, the sentences are energetic, and there is a sense of tongue-in-cheek with revolutionary phrases and ideals are tossed into internal narratives.

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Apr 03, 2008 Joshua rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2008

Very enjoyable satire that can boast a blurb from the Chinese Ministry of Propaganda (or other some such group) about how the book insults Mao, insults the army, has too much sex and shouldn't be mentioned, copied or given to anyone. What better recommendation can a satire of the Chinese cultural revolution have?

I really liked this book set in 1967 as a pair begin a heated and dangerous affair. Simply told with satire that doesn't really hit you over the head--good satire always avoids that over...more

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Feb 08, 2009 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked it but it was a bit over the top...basically its a somewhat hilarious but salacious story set in the military of Mao...

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Sep 13, 2012 Nati Vozian rated it 5 of 5 stars

O lectura ca un fruct interzis. O placere ca un extaz. O experiența de neuitat.

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May 04, 2011 Robert Knowles rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the irreverent and satirical aspects of the novel, but the story seemed to move very slowly. It just seemed too methodical at times. However, it is still a worthy read--especially for those who enjoy political discourse.

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Dec 31, 2012 Vicki rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Well translated, quick read, full of satire of the Chinese Republic.

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Aug 07, 2012 Jan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Spirited satire

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Jul 22, 2007 Chenyee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Banned in China! That's what the back of the cover says.

Well, i suppose it must be a good book. Can't wait to read more from this author.
But the translation wasn't very good. Idioms were translated word for word. It sounded clumsy and awkward. Guess that's the problem. Maybe i should get a copy of it in chinese. Hahaha!

But definitely not bad. Filled with strong symbolism and imagery.

Would give it 4 stars if not marred by the translation.

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Apr 02, 2012 Mirvan Ereon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: beloved, excellent-ideas, favorites, unique

I so love this! Forbidden love in one of its greatest novella form. Reread it already twice.

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