34. "A Loyal Character Dancer" by Qiu Xiaolong

**Some spoilers follow.**

In A Loyal Character Dancer, Chief Inspector Chen Cao tackles a case with international implications. The title character, Wen Liping, has gone missing just as an attractive U.S. Marshal arrives in China to escort her to the United States. Wen's husband, Feng, was caught as an illegal immigrant in the U.S. and has agreed to testify against the human trafficker who organized his travel, but only if his wife is there by the time of the trial.

Chen is assigned to the marshal, Catherine Rohn, with instructions to entertain her, keep her safe, and investigate the case only as a secondary concern. He sends his colleague, Detective Yu, to the town where Wen and Feng lived but pursues his own inquiries in Shanghai. The investigation exposes him to political corruption, triad members, and suspicions about whether some of his own superiors have gang ties.

Wen emerges as a tragic character, the victim of international politics and a sense of justice that sacrifices one person's happiness to potentially save other lives. A photo of Wen as a teenager captures her in the loyal character dance, the only dance permitted by Chairman Mao--a beautiful, devoted Communist. She voluntarily traveled to the countryside for reeducation with the peasants, and within a year she was married to the much older Feng, with whom she soon had a child. Twenty years later, her son has died, she has no contact with her friends and family in Shanghai, and she continues to labor at a factory. As the investigation proceeds, Chen learns that Feng, who was head of the local Communist party, assigned the teenaged Wen an isolated room, which he was easily able to break into and rape her. After learning she was pregnant, he divorced his wife and married her. He continued to abuse her and blamed her when his political fortunes changed. After their son died, she again became pregnant. On learning she was expecting a boy, Feng decided to leave for the United States. His demand to the American authorities that his wife join him reflects no concern for her, but rather interest in the son she is carrying.

Complicating the investigation and the choice Wen must make is the interest various triad gangs have taken in the case. If she decides to remain in China--with the result that Feng refuses to testify--the police can't offer her protection against gangsters who are searching for her and want her dead. Chen himself struggles with the conflicts between his conscience, his sense of duty, and his political future.

Overall, this is a good but troubling read.