The way anti-corruption fiction is written

Anti-corruption fiction (fantan xiaoshuo in Chinese) is a popular catchphrase now. But there was no such expression in the early 1980s and it was impossible for such fiction to be published at the time. There could be episodes about a fight against corruption in a particular novel, but it would have been politically problematic for an entire piece of fictional work to be focused on the topic.

But it became a genre in Chinese literature about a decade ago when the fight against graft turned out to be an issue that the central authorities could not afford to ignore. This fact itself points to the dramatic change that has taken place in the country's politics.

On the one hand, the big cases involving senior government officials and the rising number of cases have become a reality to which the central authorities could no longer turn a blind eye. Communist Party authorities reiterate time and again that the fight against corruption is of significance to the fate of the Party and the government.