December 2014
Public Enemy
by Wang Fangchen
The novel depicts the fate of a Chinese village and individual villagers in the great historical transformation, and creates the vivid image of a morally self-examining and self-reflective persona in the character of Farmer Han Dianyi. Using “benevolence and justice” as the effective weapon, Han Dianyi successfully establishes HanTong Group and leads a corrupt and degenerate life afterwards. The suicide of his former lover in despair awakens him and he retires to a seclusive life in a graveyard. His successor Tong Heizi continues his way of practice and Hantong Group still dominates the village. His elder brother Tong Chengzhi resigns from his official post and returns to the village. This causes great uneasiness to Tong Heizi, who sets off on the road of no-return on a snowy night. Han Dianyi, full of remorse, tells people the secret why he has painfully guarded the graveyard for more than ten years. Tong Chengzhi takes over Hantong Group while Han Dianyi holds the ashes of his former lover and enters the tomb he has dug for himself. The whole novel, set in a heavy and gloomy atmosphere, features sharp and poignant language.
