Roza was the most honest, down-to-earth villager in Abudan, and he served as the village representative for most of his life. Whenever someone from the county or township came down to the village to conduct a survey, the village head would arrange for them to visit Roza’s home.
Poorly spoken, he had just one response to any query: “Good as gold.” Thus Roza gained the nickname “Good-As.”
All the county-level cadres knew him. When they came to Abudan, no matter how many households they surveyed, they’d always drop in at Roza’s courtyard — for you see, whatever the topic of the census or which statistics they compiled, in the end someone needed to conclude, “Good as gold.”
The above text is excerpted from a Chinese novel, 凿空, by Xinjiang-based Liu Liangcheng (刘亮程). The working title is The Audible Annals of Abudan. It is newly translated by Jun Liu (刘浚) and Bruce Humes. To request an excerpt, or for information about foreign language rights, contact Yilin Press’s Ms. Yvonne Wang (王玉强) at wangyuqiang@yilin.com
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