Serve the People!

THE EROTIC MASTERPIECE BANNED IN CHINA

‘This novella slanders Mao Zedong, the army, and is overflowing with sex,’ said the edict by the propaganda ministry. ‘Do not distribute, pass around, comment on, excerpt from or report on it.’

The People’s Liberation Army has three rules of thumb:

Don’t Say What You Shouldn’t Say, Don’t Ask What You Shouldn’t Ask, Don’t Do What You Shouldn’t Do

And 28-year-old Wu Dawang, model soldier, is careful to abide by them. After his perfect recitations of Mao’s writings and his record-breaking preparation of ten courses of food, Wu has caught the eye of the Division Commander.

Wu Dawang strives for promotion. But Liu Lian, the Commander’s beautiful, bored, 32-year-old wife, has her own ideas of how the young orderly can obey the fourth rule: To serve the Division Commander and (especially) his wife is to Serve the People! Their erotic exploits flaunt the taboos of Mao’s cultural revolution.

Set in 1967 at the height of the Mao cult, Yan Lianke’s sexy, subversive masterpiece is not only a delicious satire on ideology, ambition and conformity. Serve the People! is also a moving love story suffused with desire and loss.

Praise for Serve the People!:

‘Yan Lianke turns Communism on its head and then spanks it.’

Linda Jaivin

‘Deconstructs Maoism with the Orwellian gusto of Animal Farm…Highly readable and historically astute.’

Sunday Canberra Times

‘It’s sharp, fresh, sexy, funny and highly recommended.’

Sydney Morning Herald