When Red is Black

When Red is Black by Qiu Xiaolong

When Red is Black uses the story of a murdered author of a book banned by the Communist government over 10 years earlier to describe the delicate balance and shifting forces in a Shanghai torn between its Maoist past and its commercialized future. In a city where state-run businesses find themselves having to compete with new Capitalist enterprises, and loyal Communist workers see their security and privilege stripped away by the new changes, the citizens must learn to balance their proletariat past with their open market future in the midst of rapid change.
The Red of the title refers to the state-approved behavior which in the past was tied to Communist social and economic goals. In the days of Mao, property owners and businessmen were considered Black and sent to re-education camps to learn communist values from the peasants in the fields and Red Guard educators. But in the new Shanghai, it is the businessmen who are reaping benefits of increased income and buying power, while the working class is stuck in low paying jobs in state-run industries and they cannot get the benefits of housing, retirement, and health care. Those who were once Red find they have become Black.
Inspector Chen is very adept at navigating between these different worlds and is a rising star of the Shanghai Police Bureau. However, he is taking a vacation to work for a new commercial development when Yin Lige, the author of a banned book, is found murdered in her Shanghai apartment. So his assistant detective Yu Guangming is given the case to solve but, because of the political nature of the case, he feels great pressure from Chief Inspector Chen Cao to find the killer quickly.
The story is rich in details and shows the many facets of modern Shanghai life. The police procedure almost takes a back seat to the city life of its people as we learn about housing problems, cuisine, Shanghai history, and many other aspects of modern Chinese life.