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What's left after a lifetime of service in the Chinese government?
At the age of 66, Ouyang Wantong, the former governor of Qinghe province, was too young to die. He touched the lives of so many people during his time on Earth. Some of them loved him intimately, while many more held him in the highest esteem. But there were also those who hated him and wished him dead. And now the battle to find his rightful place in the history books has begun…
Zhou Daxin's fictional biography follows the life of an extraordinary man who grew up in poverty in China's Mao era and then rose through the ranks of government during the country's period of reform and opening up. It's a tale of love, leadership, betrayal, corruption, lust, greed and the nature of power amid the rise of the 21st century's new superpower.
- GenresChinaChinese Literature
562 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
4 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Zhou Daxin
45 books8 followersZhou Daxin was born in 1952 in Dengzhou, Henan. Since first publishing in 1979 he has won the National Excellent Short Story Prize, the Feng Mu Prize and the Mao Dun Literature Prize. Many of his works have been adapted into plays, television series, movies and radio plays. Some works have been translated into English, French, German, Japanese, Czech and Korean. He currently lives and writes in Beijing. His works include the novels Out of the Basin, Twentieth Act, The Scenery of the Lake and Mountain, Legends of War, and Warning. The novella Sesame Oil Mill On The Banks was filmed as Les Femmes du lac aux âmes parfumées and won the 43rd Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear Award.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 17, 2019
Nowadays, how could anyone become an official through their personal struggle and abilities! Everyone looks for connections. Everyone relies on connections.
Ouyang Wantong died young, at the age of 66. This is his story.
It is not a conventionally told story. What we read are transcripts of multiple interviews with people connected to Ouyang (family members, colleagues, friends, acquaintances, even enemies). We don’t ever hear the interviewer’s voice, but it is clear from the words recorded that the interviewer is prompting in the background. This framing for the novel means that the story emerges gradually and it is mainly up to the reader to piece the information together. One connection may mention something in passing which will then be explained in more detail 10 chapters later. One person may give details of an event which, a few chapters later, is related completely differently by another person. Several times, interviewees make it clear that they know more than they are willing to say on the record and the reader is left to guess at what might have been revealed when the microphone was switched off. The reader’s main task whilst working through this fictional biography is to piece together a story. For me, as a European reader, this task was made slightly more difficult by the plethora of names: I find names in European books tricky to track sometimes, so when they are all Chinese names and unfamiliar, this becomes even more tricky. Fortunately, I read on the Kindle so it was always easy to highlight a name and review where I had seen it before.
But this is far more than the story of Ouyang Wantong. As we hear from people who knew him, a story about China gradually emerges. This is what attracted me to the book in the first place because, for some reason I can’t really explain, recent Chinese history fascinates me. Ouyang grew up in poverty under Mao and then rose through the ranks as China itself went through a period of reform and gradual opening up. So we learn about the Chinese attitude to GDP, about their fears regarding the USA (especially the debt they have built up), about concerns over the environmental damage being done by the huge industrial expansion. Japan looms large in the national consciousness.
In the light of recent news in both UK and USA regarding Huawei, this paragraph was interesting:
The second one (see comment below on lists!) was cybersecurity. The root servers of the internet were basically located in the US, making them the controllers of the internet. Think about it - the internet had entered hundreds of millions of households in China, and some well know websites in China were not owned and controlled by Chinese. Hidden security risks should never be underestimated.
One of the most notable things through the whole book is, as the quote at the start suggests, the ongoing need for connections in order to progress. The book also gives the impression that there is really only one direction in which any right-minded person would want to progress: to become “an official”. At a ceremony just after his birth, Wantong is presented with various objects and his choice will indicate his future. He picks a paintbrush and a musical instrument (a suona).
But his grandfather…was angry. He snatched the suona and the drawing brush out of his hands, threw them on the ground, stuffed the...official seal into his hand and said to the confused little thing: “You’re a man. What’s the value of being a suona player or a painter? If you have guts, be an official when you grow up. Bring something new to the Ouyang family and win glory for us!”
Many of the problems faced by characters in the story are caused by their determination to become ever more important officials, rising through the ranks by bribery and nepotism.
For readers coming from a different culture, the writing takes time to get used to. For my tastes, there is an over-reliance on the use of lists. Again and again, a character will say something like “There are four things wrong with the Chinese economy. First…” and then go on to list each thing in turn taking a paragraph to explain. Time and time again their are lists of three, four or five things that need to be explained point by point. I don’t know if this is a characteristic of Chinese writing or of this particular author. Or even just of this particular book. I don’t remember noticing it in other Chinese books I’ve read, though.
This is a tale of love, betrayal, political corruption and greed. As the individuals in the story fight their own personal battles, in the background, a new world superpower gradually rises. If you are interested in China, it is a fascinating book to read.
3.5 stars rounded up because of my general interest in the subject matter.
My thanks to ACA Publishing for an ARC via NetGalley.
Ouyang Wantong died young, at the age of 66. This is his story.
It is not a conventionally told story. What we read are transcripts of multiple interviews with people connected to Ouyang (family members, colleagues, friends, acquaintances, even enemies). We don’t ever hear the interviewer’s voice, but it is clear from the words recorded that the interviewer is prompting in the background. This framing for the novel means that the story emerges gradually and it is mainly up to the reader to piece the information together. One connection may mention something in passing which will then be explained in more detail 10 chapters later. One person may give details of an event which, a few chapters later, is related completely differently by another person. Several times, interviewees make it clear that they know more than they are willing to say on the record and the reader is left to guess at what might have been revealed when the microphone was switched off. The reader’s main task whilst working through this fictional biography is to piece together a story. For me, as a European reader, this task was made slightly more difficult by the plethora of names: I find names in European books tricky to track sometimes, so when they are all Chinese names and unfamiliar, this becomes even more tricky. Fortunately, I read on the Kindle so it was always easy to highlight a name and review where I had seen it before.
But this is far more than the story of Ouyang Wantong. As we hear from people who knew him, a story about China gradually emerges. This is what attracted me to the book in the first place because, for some reason I can’t really explain, recent Chinese history fascinates me. Ouyang grew up in poverty under Mao and then rose through the ranks as China itself went through a period of reform and gradual opening up. So we learn about the Chinese attitude to GDP, about their fears regarding the USA (especially the debt they have built up), about concerns over the environmental damage being done by the huge industrial expansion. Japan looms large in the national consciousness.
In the light of recent news in both UK and USA regarding Huawei, this paragraph was interesting:
The second one (see comment below on lists!) was cybersecurity. The root servers of the internet were basically located in the US, making them the controllers of the internet. Think about it - the internet had entered hundreds of millions of households in China, and some well know websites in China were not owned and controlled by Chinese. Hidden security risks should never be underestimated.
One of the most notable things through the whole book is, as the quote at the start suggests, the ongoing need for connections in order to progress. The book also gives the impression that there is really only one direction in which any right-minded person would want to progress: to become “an official”. At a ceremony just after his birth, Wantong is presented with various objects and his choice will indicate his future. He picks a paintbrush and a musical instrument (a suona).
But his grandfather…was angry. He snatched the suona and the drawing brush out of his hands, threw them on the ground, stuffed the...official seal into his hand and said to the confused little thing: “You’re a man. What’s the value of being a suona player or a painter? If you have guts, be an official when you grow up. Bring something new to the Ouyang family and win glory for us!”
Many of the problems faced by characters in the story are caused by their determination to become ever more important officials, rising through the ranks by bribery and nepotism.
For readers coming from a different culture, the writing takes time to get used to. For my tastes, there is an over-reliance on the use of lists. Again and again, a character will say something like “There are four things wrong with the Chinese economy. First…” and then go on to list each thing in turn taking a paragraph to explain. Time and time again their are lists of three, four or five things that need to be explained point by point. I don’t know if this is a characteristic of Chinese writing or of this particular author. Or even just of this particular book. I don’t remember noticing it in other Chinese books I’ve read, though.
This is a tale of love, betrayal, political corruption and greed. As the individuals in the story fight their own personal battles, in the background, a new world superpower gradually rises. If you are interested in China, it is a fascinating book to read.
3.5 stars rounded up because of my general interest in the subject matter.
My thanks to ACA Publishing for an ARC via NetGalley.
February 2, 2020
Ouyong Wantong, the former governor of Qinghe province, China, has just died aged 66 and this enjoyable novel takes the form of a series of interviews – of his wives, other family members, colleagues, employees – held by his biographer who is gathering material about the life and work of this influential man. A gradual picture emerges, told from different perspectives, of a moral and upright man living and working in an amoral and corrupt country, where connections are more important than ability, and who you know is more important than what you know. Always true to his own convictions Ouyong never waivers in his attempt to live a good life and to fight corruption wherever and whenever he sees it. It’s a fascinating character study and at the same time an exploration of the culture of a country where nepotism and bribery are rife, where becoming an “official” is all important, because only by being an official can you obtain status and the associated benefits, a country in which the scale of corruption is astounding to a western eye but which is here accepted as routine. The author uses the book to express his views and opinions on a number of subjects, from China’s GDP, the environment, world politics, house prices to the national debt, and these interludes are little more than a series of mini-lectures, which slowed the narrative but offered a valuable insight into the Chinese mind-set. I found it a very entertaining and illuminating novel and enjoyed seeing Ouyong being slowly revealed by the key people in his life, who all had a distinct and well-portrayed personality themselves, one which came across effectively in their interviews. The book is much more than a simple fictional biography. It’s also a compelling portrait of contemporary China.
July 22, 2019
Ultimately so it is said that if you follow the writings of Marx you will create a world where each individual will be able to maximise their full potential irrespective of the circumstances of their birth. After reading Zhou Daxin's wonderfully compelling and subversive novel After the Finale it is clear that even in a country like China that is one of the few remaining countries that still at least pays lip service to Marx there is a long way to go to achieve this Utopian ideal. Connections and having the right people put in a word for you are prerequisites for advancement and this system is strangely similar to our own where the top jobs in the judiciary, civil service, academia and government are filled with those who have attended the right public school and university. Here as in China, judges sons may well end up as judges. Another theme perhaps indeed the central theme that dominates the book is the scale and reach of corruption that is so all pervasive whether subtle or blatant that is has become an accepted part of everyday life.
The novel is a fictionalised account of interviews being undertaken by a biographer who is gathering material on the life of Ouyang Wantong, the former governor of Qinghe province who has recently died at the age of 66. Those being interviewed include former wives, other family members, employees and those in the government both sympathetic or not. Layer by layer a picture of Ouyang Wantong emerges and by using the interview device the reader is forced to sift through the evidence and evaluate the often contradictory sentiments and narratives given. But throughout there is a feeling of mystery and malevolence emanating from dark forces at the heart of government and society that will do anything to protect their vested position. Many of the interviewees have more to tell and are clearly holding back something that they are afraid to go on the record with.
Apart from a dissection of the body politic we get glimpses of current Chinese attitudes to such subjects as the continual need to forever increase GDP. fears for the environment and the unease about the amount of US debt that they have acquired. Surprisingly (although given their history perhaps not) it is not the USA but rather Japan that is still seen as the existential threat. Unlike some other authors Zhou Daxin continues to live and work in China which gives his writing a an extra resonance.
I know that there is book censorship in China but getting such a subversive book published might indicate that it is perhaps not on the level seen in the former Soviet Union days. This ultimately is a wonderful study of power and how one man despite his short comings must battle against powerful forces to remain true to his own convictions. A must read for those who would like to obtain a little bit more understanding of an increasingly powerful force in the world.
The novel is a fictionalised account of interviews being undertaken by a biographer who is gathering material on the life of Ouyang Wantong, the former governor of Qinghe province who has recently died at the age of 66. Those being interviewed include former wives, other family members, employees and those in the government both sympathetic or not. Layer by layer a picture of Ouyang Wantong emerges and by using the interview device the reader is forced to sift through the evidence and evaluate the often contradictory sentiments and narratives given. But throughout there is a feeling of mystery and malevolence emanating from dark forces at the heart of government and society that will do anything to protect their vested position. Many of the interviewees have more to tell and are clearly holding back something that they are afraid to go on the record with.
Apart from a dissection of the body politic we get glimpses of current Chinese attitudes to such subjects as the continual need to forever increase GDP. fears for the environment and the unease about the amount of US debt that they have acquired. Surprisingly (although given their history perhaps not) it is not the USA but rather Japan that is still seen as the existential threat. Unlike some other authors Zhou Daxin continues to live and work in China which gives his writing a an extra resonance.
I know that there is book censorship in China but getting such a subversive book published might indicate that it is perhaps not on the level seen in the former Soviet Union days. This ultimately is a wonderful study of power and how one man despite his short comings must battle against powerful forces to remain true to his own convictions. A must read for those who would like to obtain a little bit more understanding of an increasingly powerful force in the world.
November 23, 2020
عالم آخر مليئ بالمفاجآت والشغف لقصة حياة شخص تراه دائما في التلفاز
قصة تتغير روايتها لتحكي عن البطل بعد موته بكل تفاصيل حياته
فصول متعددة تكتشف في كل جانب منها العديد والعديد من المفاجآت
شكرا للكاتب المبدع: تشو ا شين والذي قرأت له عدة أعمال سابقة منها رواية "مشانق من فضة" ترجمة د. أحمد ظريف وشرعت بعد انتهائي من رواية النهاية في قراءة رواية "ترانيم الموت" من تأليفه وترجمة د.رشا كمال و د.شيماء كمال
شكرا د.يحيي مختار علي الترجمة العظيمة التي أبدعت فيها مثل عادتك
قصة تتغير روايتها لتحكي عن البطل بعد موته بكل تفاصيل حياته
فصول متعددة تكتشف في كل جانب منها العديد والعديد من المفاجآت
شكرا للكاتب المبدع: تشو ا شين والذي قرأت له عدة أعمال سابقة منها رواية "مشانق من فضة" ترجمة د. أحمد ظريف وشرعت بعد انتهائي من رواية النهاية في قراءة رواية "ترانيم الموت" من تأليفه وترجمة د.رشا كمال و د.شيماء كمال
شكرا د.يحيي مختار علي الترجمة العظيمة التي أبدعت فيها مثل عادتك
July 24, 2025
إيه الجمال ده. الترجمة رائعة وصوت القارئة مثقف عذب. لمن يريد التعرف على الصين فعليه بقراءة هذه الرواية. من خلال سيرة مسؤول كبير توفى يأخذنا الكاتب في رحلة للتعرف على الصين. استمتعت جدا بالرواية رغم طولها و أسماء الشخصيات الصينية المتداخلة و لكن شكرا لتقسيم الحكايات على لسان الشخصيات ذات الخلفيات المختلفة مما ألقى الضوء على الكثير من فئات المجتمع. تقع معظم احداث الرواية في مقاطعة صينية متخيلة و من خلالها نتعرف على الحياة السياسية و الاجتماعية و الدينية و العائلية والموروثات و مشاكل المجتمع و الفساد بالإضافة إلى الصراعات الآسيوية وعلاقة الصين بدول أخرى و تطورها لتصبح قوى عظمى.
May 12, 2022
طبعًا الراوية نقطة تحول في الأدب الصيني المعاصر- السياسي بالتحديد-وأسلوب السيرة الذاتية للي اتبعته شائق وبتناقش قضايا مهمة زي الفساد في المنظومة الحكومية الصينية، وصعود الصين كقوة عظمى في فترة السبعينات والثمانينات وغير ذلك من موضوعات مهمة لا يتسع المجال لذكرها لكن برشحها بالتأكيد.
وأحب طبعًا أشيد بترجمة دكتوري العزيز د. يحيى الدقيقة السلسة الممتعة.
أما النجمة الناقصة فلأنها كانت رواية مشروع تخرجي وطلعت روحي وأنا بذاكرها مش أكتر.
وأحب طبعًا أشيد بترجمة دكتوري العزيز د. يحيى الدقيقة السلسة الممتعة.
أما النجمة الناقصة فلأنها كانت رواية مشروع تخرجي وطلعت روحي وأنا بذاكرها مش أكتر.
December 25, 2024
رواية من الأدب الصيني تبدأ بموت حاكم رفيع المستوي و عندما يحاول الصحفي عمل مقابلات عنه نكتشف حياته و شخصيته من عيون مختلفة و وجهات نظر مختلفة لنفس الشخص ومن خلال تلك المقابلات ما بين محب وكاره نتعرف على الوسط السياسي و لمحات من المجتمع الصيني ..
November 23, 2025
لم أتوقع هذا الجمال. رائعة ومتكاملة. عمل من الطراز الرفيع.
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