Will the Boat Sink the Water?: The Life of China's Peasants by Chen Guidi, Wu Chuntao Page A

through the record of the “village cash reserves.” The village deputy Party boss, Zhang Dianhu, who was in charge of finances, tried to fob the group off by turning over some obsolete records. This was really a ploy to cover up for Zhang Guiquan, but the lat-ter, in his mad rage, could not tell friend from foe and started abusing his colleague, blaming him for digging up old scores. On February 15, Deputy Village Chief Zhang Guiquan’s daughter-in-law put out the word that her father-in-law was itching to stick a knife into someone. Neither the township nor the village leadership paid attention to these warnings. The work group, too, thought it was just more of Zhang Guiquan’s bluster. Nobody imagined that on the morning of February 18, nine days after the start of the auditing, Deputy Village Chief Zhang would actually launch a killing spree.
    February 18 fell on the twenty-second day of the first month in the lunar calendar, and this meant that rain was expected the next day, but a light spring shower arrived early. Starting the previous night, the rain pattered on and on with no sign of letting up. When February 18 dawned, most of the villagers were still curled up in their bedrolls.
    Fifty-eight-year-old Wei Surong, however, was already up and busying herself at the stove. Although she did not involve herself in public affairs as her husband did, she knew exactly what was going on in the village. Her husband, Zhang Guiyu, was one of the twelve representatives charged with the auditing and he had been carrying out his task every day, rain or shine.
    the village tyrant

    Obviously their fellow villagers trusted her husband, as the auditing closely concerned the interests of the community. Wei Surong knew it wouldn’t do to let her husband be late for work, so she got out of bed early every morning to get his breakfast ready.
    The spring rain was still pattering away, and a gray mist hung outside the window. Wei Surong set the table, and her husband and their son, Pine, sat down to eat. The clock’s hands pointed to ten minutes past seven. Just then Deputy Village Chief Zhang Guiquan showed up at their doorstep, followed by his sons number five, Zhang Yuliang, and number seven, Zhang Leyi, and the village accountant, Zhang Jiahui and his son, Zhang Jie, right behind them.*
    Deputy Village Chief Zhang’s showing up at that hour with two of his sons and the accountant, who was obviously hostile to the auditing, was a clear sign that he was bent on mischief. The only thing missing was an excuse to act. The village accountant’s son, naturally displeased by the auditing of his father’s books, began by taunting Zhang Guiyu: “Well, what have you dug up? Do we get a share of the spoils?”
    Zhang Guiyu got the drift of the group’s intentions. He got up from the table and said coldly, “The people have chosen me for the audit. How can I refuse?”
    At this, Deputy Village Chief Zhang’s son number seven broke in with an obscenity: “Mother-fucker! Who are you to audit anything?!”
    Zhang Guiyu was shocked at the language of the young man, who was a generation younger than he. He retorted, “How dare you? Would you use the same language to your own father?”
    The father broke in, saying, “Curse you! It’s no more than

    *Since all the sons were knife-wielding adults, they would have been born before the one-child policy came into force. But, cadres were often able to violate the policy with impunity.
    will the boat sink the water ?

    what you deserve!” as he signaled to his two sons to let him have it.
    The attack came so suddenly that Zhang Guiyu was stunned for a moment, unable to take in the situation. His wife, Wei Surong, rushed over and tried to drag him into the inner room, shouting at Deputy Village Chief Zhang, “How dare you crash into our own home to attack us! What do you want, anyway?” Meanwhile, son number seven picked up a club leaning against the door, and son number five picked up a