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Death of a Red Heroine is an unusual and rather extraordinary book set in Shanghai, China, in the 1990s. A police officer and his friend are ostensibly patrolling the Suzhou River. In reality, they are meeting each other for the first time in 20 years and fishing off the boat. However, their reunion is marred by the discovery of a dead body. What transpires is an investigation that exposes us to the culture and societal norms of a place that is quite unknown to most people in the Western hemisphere. The case is assigned to Chief Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police Bureau. Chen is unusual in a few respects. First of all, he has been on the fast track in the department. Since he has been sponsored by an influential politician, he has risen in the ranks far more quickly than is normal and there is some resentment in the department because of that. In addition, Chen is an accomplished poet. His poems and those of other Chinese writers are scattered through the book, lending it a literary overlay that elevates a standard mystery. As the investigation proceeds, Chen painstakingly builds the case against the most likely suspect. However, he is unable to arrest the person in question because he is a High Cadre Child, the son of a person high in the political system. These people are basically untouchable due to their position in society. Chen's very livelihood is threatened by his persistence in following through with the case. The victim also presents an interesting mass of contradictions. She was a woman by the name of Guan who was known as a National Model Worker, a poster girl for political correctness, an embodiment of the Party's propaganda, a woman with no personal life and beyond reproach. But there is more to her than meets the eye. Throughout the book, Chen has to balance the need for finding the truth with the political needs of the Party. As the narrative unfolds, the reader is exposed to a way of life that Westerners would find most repressive. In what is a comical comment, many of the characters express that they have great freedom; after all, "it is the 90s". The 90s of Shanghai are quite different from the 90s of the Western world. Individuals have very little freedom in their lives. Housing is assigned by work units based on an annual housing quota. Families of two or three generations are squeezed into one single room of 12 square meters. Many of these lifestyle events grew out of the Chairman Mao regime, when educated youths (Red Guards) were sent to the countryside to be reeducated by the lower and middle-poor peasants. Upon their release from the program, they were assigned to jobs not of their own choosing. In many cases, a husband and wife might work at locations that are hours apart from one another. The book was a masterful first effort with only a few flaws. The book proceeded at a very slow pace and tended toward redundancy. The inclusion of the poetry was overdone, and the language was at times awkward. Characterization is Xiaolong's forte, along with establishing a strong sense of place. The scenes with his underling, Detective Yu, and his family bring the book alive. The most interesting aspect of the book in addition to the cultural details was the internal conflict of the lead character between what was right and what was required. Those who are successful in the regime put the Party and its needs above everything else, including personal morality. Chen struggles with the devastating possibility of losing his career or betraying his own integrity. The ending is a stunner. What feels like justice may very well be something else. An impressive debut, fascinating both in its setting and its characterization.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, November 2001
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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