Organization Minister: Part 2

Organization Minister is a three-volume novel series by Damu (real name Fan Suke) that takes the organization department as its entry point; this is Volume 2. The author spent more than thirty years in clerical, organizational, and personnel work at the township, county, city, and provincial levels, and the book depicts in a realistic style the concrete procedures of cadre assessment, selection, and appointment, along with the human maneuvering involved. This volume continues from Volume 1: Jia Shizhen takes office as a member of the Xiyu Municipal Standing Committee and head of the Organization Department, and immediately pushes personnel-system reform. After one round of adjustments, some are caught off guard, while others rise to county- and division-level leadership posts. Around the arrival of this young minister, Executive Deputy Minister Gao Xingming grows uneasy, cartoons targeting him quietly circulate in the city, and soon after he takes office people come knocking to "ask for positions." Episodes including a trip to the provincial capital, examination-based selection, and the municipal Party committee plenary session unfold layer by layer, with whistleblowing, pressure, and various relationships intertwined; every step of reform meets resistance. Through the daily operations of the organization department, the book presents the complexity and limits of the personnel-selection system during a period of social transition, and also portrays the desires, misgivings, and choices of people within the system. This is Volume 2 of the series, comprising 17 chapters.