Table Of ContentOfficialdom Unmasked
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To my grandchildren
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Jamie, Charlie and Nickie
Officialdom Unmasked
Translated and Abridged by
T. L. Yang (fetttt )
A Novel by Li Boyuan (^STG, 1867-1906 )
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HONG KON G UNIVERSITY PRESS
Hong Kong University Press
14/F, Hing Wai Centre
7 Tin Wan Praya Road
Aberdeen
Hong Kong
© Hong Kong University Press 2001
ISBN 962 209 543 7 (hardback)
ISBN 962 209 542 9 (paperback)
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Contents
Preface IX
1 Th e Importance of Passing an Examination 1
2 Th e Plight of an Examination Candidate 8
3 Th e Ups and Downs in Officialdom 1 8
4 A Disaster Was Averted; A Birthday Celebration Followed 25
5 Al l for Money and Money for All 34
6 Th e Might of the Army 42
7 Th e First Steps Towards Forging Foreign Relations 5 1
8 Doin g Business in a Brothel 58
9 Th e Officials' Fear of Foreigners 65
10 Dishonest y Is the Best Policy 73
11 A Box of Refreshments for an Official Post 8 0
12 A Military Expedition on Floating Brothels 9 0
13 A Prostitute's Life for Fifty Dollars 9 9
14 A Punitive Attack on the Innocent 10 9
VI Officialdom Unmasked
15 How the Accusers Become the Accused 118
16 An Officer's Theft 129
17 Crooks vs. Crooks 138
18 No Honour Among Officials 147
19 How to be Corrupt and Stay Respectable 159
20 The Idiosyncrasy of an Acting Governor 169
21 How Best to Rid Oneself of Opium Addiction 177
22 Hypocrisy in Different Forms 184
23 The Judge, His Mother and His Son 193
24 The Official, the Whore and the Nun 203
25 Shopping Around for an Official Post 211
26 When Is a Gift Not a Bribe? 222
27 The Disappointed Expectant Intendant 233
28 Justice Must Be Bought 244
29 The Pious Governor-General 257
30 Neither One's Own Name or Daughter Is Sacred 265
31 Only Fools Show Off 281
32 Different Ways of Achieving the Same End 295
33 The Lieutenant-Governor's First Visit to the Bank 307
34 The Thriving Trade Called Charity 321
35 A Birthday Gift to the Emperor 334
36 Beware the Concubines 348
37 The Governor-General Outwitted by His Concubine 361
38 The Ascendancy of a Slave Girl 372
39 The Importance of an Official's Leg 382
40 Conduct Unbecoming 392
41 On Assuming a New Office 407
42 The Eccentric Governor-General 417
43 The Destitute Petty Officials 425
Contents vii
44 Smal l Officials, Small Money 43 6
45 Meddlin g in a Betrothal Dispute 449
46 Greed y Father, Greedier Son 458
47 Ho w the Prefect Profits From His Sons' Illegal Gambling 471
48 Anythin g to Please One's Superior 47 9
49 Th e Plight of a Deceased Commander's Concubines 490
50 Th e Conspiracy Between Officials and Criminals 502
51 Th e Intendant Steals From a Trusting Widow 51 9
52 Ho w to Steal a Mansion and a Mine 533
53 Ho w to Handle Foreigners 545
54 Th e Privileged Christian and the Underprivileged Muslim 557
55 Th e Arrival of the Foreign Gunboats 56 6
56 Th e Kudos of Having Been Overseas 58 1
57 Th e Spearman and the Consul 59 5
58 Th e Governor's Foreign Adviser 60 7
59 Th e Official's Relatives 620
60 Th e Joys and Sadness of Official Life 62 6
Preface
Li Boyuan (^{QTU), author of Officialdom Unmasked (Wfll^g^fE), was also
known as Li Baojia (^jtf||f). H e also gave himself the title of Nanting
Tmgzhang (T^J^Mi:, the Head of the South Pavilion). Born in 1867 in Shandong
Province (lll^^), his ancestral home was in fact in the District of Wujin (jJ^tH
§^) in Jiangsu Province (tll^it). He received the kind of traditional education
designed for the civil examinations which would ultimately lead to officia l
appointments. Having failed once in the Provincial Examination leading to the
higher degree of Provincial Graduate, or Juren (J|IA)> he made his home in
Shanghai and established a newspaper called the Zhinan Bao (tHr^f$H> Guide),
said to be the first of the Shanghai tabloids. This was followed in 1897 by the
newspaper called Youxi Bao (MXI(ML, Amusement),
In 1901, following the Boxer Uprising, he gave up an opportunity to enter
government service and wrote the play Gengzi Guobian Tanci (M~fS HlPPfrl ,
Ballad of the Rebellion of the Year Gengzi). The novel Guanchang Xianxingji (^
WjMJ&ti whic h I translate as Officialdom Unmasked) was written in the early
years of the century.
The novel was first serialized in Amusement. In 1903, Li became the founder-
editor of the reputable magazine XiuxiangXiaoshuo (MW'bMi Illustrated Fiction),
published by the Commercial Press (MWrEfittM)- Th e year also saw the launching
of two novels, namely WenmingXiaoshi (^B^j/Jvil, A Brief History of Enlightenment)
and Huo Diyu (ffei&M, Living Hell).
X Officialdom Unmasked
The first edition of Officialdom Unmasked was undated, and its preface was
written anonymously. The next edition came out in 1903. In 1904, the East Canton
Publishers (Ij-j^liif M) published yet another edition; the Chongwen Hall (jjl Jt
^) publishe d yet another in 1909. In 1979, the Renmin Wenxue Chuban She
(AR ^^Opii} JK^i, The People's Literature Publications Company) issued a revised
edition.
His only work which has been translated into English is A Brief History of
Enlightenment, b y Douglas Lancashire, published by the Research Centre for
Translation of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, in 1996. There Mr Lancashire
discussed at length the writer's work. He also gave an analysis of the structure,
artistic value and the political message of Li's novels. For a more detailed analysis
of Li Boyuan as a writer, see Li Po-yuan, also by Douglas Lancashire (Boston :
Twayne Publishers, 1981).
Holoch Donald in his PhD thesis, presented to the Graduate School of Cornell
University m 1975, made his comments on the writer under the title A Bourgeoi s
View of State: Li Boyuan's Novel, The Bureaucrats'.
There ar e also commentaries on the writer in the German and Japanese
languages, in addition to many m the Chinese language.
Described as a multifaceted litterateur, Li was a fiction-writer, poet, essayist,
ballad writer, seal carver, calligrapher and the editor of several tabloids.
According to the book edited by William N. Nienhauser, Jr., entitled The
Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (Indianapolis: Indiana University
Press, 1986) , Li's writings are characterized a s satirical, vituperative, an d
exaggerated. They proved to be very popular at the time and suited the social and
political climate of the late Qmg era. His novels portrayed China in a serious state
of disrepair and m need of drastic change. However, he was not a revolutionist.
He was not in favour of violence but sought reform by moderate means, hence his
'bourgeois view' of politics.
He died in 1906, in Shanghai, at the age of thirty-nine.
This novel is one of some 1500 works of fiction of the period described by the
reformer Lian g Qichao (#jffc|g, 1873-1929 ) as 'a political novel'. In it, Li
advocates the adoption of Western technology and a government framework similar
to the Western nations. In short, he wants the best of both worlds: maintaining
our cultural continuity on the one hand, and gradual, social, scientific an d
commercial improvements along Western lines on the other.
Officialdom Unmasked concentrates on that particular aspect of bureaucratic
activity which saw rampant and corrupt sale of ranks and public offices — the
degradation of moral standards amongst the official class. The time was ripe for
the dynasty to be overthrown, and this took place in 1911, five years after his
death.
In translating this novel (which Western writers have called The Bureaucracy,
or The Bureaucracy A Revolution, or the Bureaucracy Exposed), I am deeply conscious
of certain passages which may mean very little to the Western reader, e.g. the
