The Fat Years Chan Koonchung

The Fat Years  Chan Koonchung

Overview:

Banned in China, this controversial and politically charged novel tells the story of the search for an entire month erased from official Chinese history.

An Orwellian criticism against the current Chinese system tends to impress people more with its political posture than its analytical depth--an outspokenness well worth of such adjectives as "brave", "earnest", or "bold", but seldom "intelligent". This is however not true with Chan Koon-Chung's fascinating new novel, "The Fat Years". Though it strikes an unmistakable Orwellian note with a hue of fantasy, Chan's book remains deeply realistic and intellectually gratifying. Interwoven into the main plot (see Product Intro above) are personal stories (often traced back to more than 30 years ago when the reform led by Deng first started) of the ten or so main characters, including a politburo-level official, two princeling business tycoons, an on-line dissident with her neo-con college son and his mentors, a female social climber, a hippie globetrotter, a high-price prostitute, a former slave worker, and "I", a Taiwanese Hong Kong writer living in Beijing who has connections with intellectuals and business tycoons. 

Many of the political and academic characters are portrayed so close to their prototypes in real life that a well-informed Chinese reader would be able to come up with specific names in mind. Like many sympathetic analyses of Chinese society, and indeed any good analysis of whatever, the book builds a strong case for its opponent, if there is an opponent at all, by setting into dilemma the choice between a "fake paradise" (that is, a strong authoritarian state) and a "good hell" (that is, a would-be democracy) in the mouth of "I", and with the candid revelation by He Dong-Sheng, the hijacked politburo-level official, who earnestly believes that the authoritarian methods are justified through the end they've brought--a miraculous enlargement of Chinese domestic market in the event of a 2011 US financial meltdown to make China the No.1 economy, and China's final reconciliation with Japan to create a lucrative West-Pacific trade-zone. 

An outcome this "fat" may seem a bit exaggerated, but it helps to bring the underlying arguments and counter-arguments clearer and sharper, arguments which do circulate among business, political, and intellectual circles in China.


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Sincerelyours

And Blessed Are The Ones Who Care For Their Fellow Men!