The Civil Servant's Notebook

by Xiaofang Wang

Dongzhou City needs a new Mayor. Government corridors are awash with rumor and subterfuge as the local Communist Party mandarins go through the motions of selecting a candidate. Dangerous factions begin to form around the two contenders, Liu Yihe and Peng Guoliang. Devious plots, seduction, blackmail and bribery are all on the table in a no-holds-barred scramble for political prestige and personal gain. At the center of it all is a notebook whose pages contain information they shouldn't. Penned by a former insider, this book offers a glimpse into the distorted psyches of those who roam the guarded halls of Chinese political power. "Serve the people" is just about the last thing on their minds.

Genres: China, Fiction

324 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2016

Reviews

[Kes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, and its cutting observations on Chinese culture, corruption, and the civil service in general.

For a short book, there are a ton of characters. Briefly, there is a struggle for power ongoing in Dongzhou between Mayor Liu (who affects disinterest) and Peng Guoliang (who aspires to Mayor Liu's position). Most of the point-of-view civil servants are concerned with their own advancement, or how the politicking in the department is going - either by who gets picked to do what task, or who they know.

We spend some time developing the context. Most of the characters spend some time elaborating on their view of the civil service - which appear, on the surface, to be the same. We read gems from such as Xu Zhitai's view on hitching himself to the right person:

So getting on board a ship wasn't that hard after all. It only required you to see yourself as a cog. There was no need for a cog to think, of course, only obey. My mistake in the past had been to think of myself as a person, and to ponder everything that happened too deeply. I had never thought of myself as a cog. A cog didn't need to examine its conscience, of course. So I would abandon my habit of examining my conscience. You say it was a deep lesson I was learning? Luckily I hadn't learned it too late.

And Xu continues to hitch himself to Peng's wagon - until he meets his own downfall at being stymied in progression.

While one part of the book addresses the civil service in specific, another part deals with Chinese culture in general. As Zhao Zhong says:

He answered in tones of self-satisfaction, "Beibei, Chinese culture has little to say about good and evil. It's all about success and failure. If you succeed, that's good. If you fail, that's evil.

This works with Zhu Dawei, who observes that:

In college I'd dreamed of becoming mayor or governor, creating wealth and happiness for the common folk, but my father told me that real success consisted only of winning respect from this world of power brokers. Without a position of respect, no one would take you seriously, and you would have to live by taking hints from the power brokers. My father was in politics for nearly twenty years, and while he never made a name for himself, he learned a few things, and one thing he said stuck with me: a person without social status would never have 'nobility'.

Though his judgement was extreme, it spoke precisely to the world as I saw it. I felt in my bones that your social status was equated with your worth as a human being.

The book then struggles with the clash of these two factors - the idea that in Chinese society, civil servants aim for personal advancement instead of advancing society. Towards the end, Mayor Liu questions if the system itself made it easy for corruption.

The ending was, surprisingly, a "happy" ending - we see the corrupt official get their comeuppance and Mayor Liu recognising the contest he faces. To be honest, I was prepared that Peng would get off free, and was surprised that he didn't. "Good" characters receive promotions; although Huang Xiaoming does quit politics altogether (possibly symbolising him transcending the wheel of politics).

I enjoyed this book immensely - it's a thought-provoking book and worth reading. It is a little slow though - it took a while to introduce the central conceit (the corrupt official), resolves it quickly, and spends the rest of the book dealing with the fallout.

[Alek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly predictable and melodramatic political thriller. Each chapter is written from the perspective of one of over a dozen characters (and occasionally the office furniture) making it difficult to become invested in any one’s storyline. The characters are flat: either scheming to advance their careers or playing the role of even more boring white knights. Towards the end, I was looking forward to finishing this book just so that I could move on.

The book’s one redeeming quality is its look into municipal Chinese government which I find interesting as a student of comparative politics. Frustratingly, the significance of various titles and institutions seems to be lost in translation.

[Daan Bultje · Rating 4 out of 5]

De werking van de ambtelijke en politieke machinerie in de Chinese stad Dongzhou, verteld vanuit talloze perspectieven. Van burgemeester tot jongste bediende, van vulpen tot dienstwagen. Een boeiend en knap geconstrueerd verhaal over ambitie, politieke facties en het eeuwige spel om het juiste te doen terwijl je je opties open houdt.

[Grayson Ruhl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read about Chinese politics in action. Sort of a house of cards type novel. Very few stories of this nature or quality are translated into English making this book a true gem. It starts off a bit slow but by the middle it becomes difficult to put down. It shows the unfolding of a corruption scandal by various members of a local government office and was fascinating.