Official Career

Official Career is the writer Xiao Renfu's first novel, first published in 2002, with a new edition from Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House in 2006. It is regarded as one of the representative works of bureaucratic and officialdom fiction at the start of the 21st century. The novel is set in Linzi, a city in central China. The prefecture level is a political platform that links higher and lower levels and crisscrosses in every direction, where administrative affairs are frequent and human relations complex: many of its chief officials have risen step by step from counties and townships, while key leaders are often sent down from the province, making it a distributing center and transit station for political talent. The protagonist, Gao Zhiqiang, once served as secretary to a retired senior provincial leader; he then served half a term as county party secretary in Nan'an County, was promoted to head of the municipal organization department, and then to deputy party secretary of the municipal committee in charge of party and mass affairs. The novel unfolds around his entire course from deputy party secretary to party secretary of the municipal committee, and finally to his resignation and departure, depicting the opportunities, restlessness and unease of local officialdom during a period of social transformation, and the choices a core local leader makes between temptation and challenge. The work portrays the milieu of prefecture-level politics in a realist manner: Bi Yuntian's trip south to settle a debt dispute, the municipal government's term-change election, wailing at a funeral hall—such episodes link the contest for power with interpersonal maneuvering, and shape characters such as Gao Zhiqiang, Bi Yuntian and Lei Mingyuan. The language is plain and fluent, with touches of humor and sharpness. The author long worked in finance, government and other administrative departments and knows office life well; the book's depictions of meetings, official documents, personnel relations and local economic development show a solid eye for detail. The book runs to 348 pages and about 380,000 characters.