in Wenyi shenghuo Overseas Edition (7* 19^8) recalls a time when the two of them worked as clerks in an office of the Military Government in Nanjing. Though the precise date of this occurrence is not alluded to, it is likely to have been in the late 1920s or early 1930s and probably helped to provide background and material for stories and longer works dealing with the urban petit-bourgeoisie.
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On one occasion, one of the soldiers recounts a story about another soldier on orderly duty who was dismissed for refusing to make tea for an officer, Deng Bingsheng, taking the part of the soldier, is incensed by this ‘injustice* and wishes he could shoot the officer concerned* Fed up with his failure to make any progress, Deng seeks out Liang chuzhang's wife and prevails upon her to put in a good word for him* He says he is willing to accept any post*
In the third section, just as Deng Bingsheng is beginning to despair, he is given a post. Cock-a-hoop at finding himself on the ladder of advancement, Deng feels that now all things are possible. He moves in with an officer Xie zhongwei ft, + M and abruptly severs his former friendly connections with the N,C.O.s. He is preoccupied with fantasies about promotion*
In the fourth section, the reader finds Deng Bingsheng decked out in new clothes and lording it over the soldiers who used to be his friends. He mimics the distinctive manner of one of his fellow officers in dealing with soldiers, a manner which he
thought strange when first he arrived at the camp. Deng Bingsheng works hard at his new job and does his best to ingratiate himself with his superiors. He regrets his former friendliness with the lower ranks.
In the final section of the story, Deng's world suddenly
collapses. His patron, Liang chuzhang, is moved to another post. His successor has his ov/n staff. Liang chuzhang's hangers-on all get their marching orders* Ironically, the same messenger who brought Deng Bingshenghis original commission now brings notice of his dismissal.
It is interesting to note that though this story appeared in July, 1951 and the novel One Year did not come out until the first day of 1933* almost all of the incidents described in the earlier short story can be found in the later novel. Bearing in mind that 2ihang wrote in the post face to One Year that much of the novel was first written in 1929 and revised and partially rewritten in 1932, it seems quite likely that the experiences
and incidents that provided Zhang with the material to write One Year probably occurred in 1928 or early 1929- The striking parallels between ‘The Leather Be l t 1 and One Year make it likely that Zhang, using the novel like an author's notebook, extracted material from the novel to use as grist for the short story. One Year is a long, rambling, ill-constructed novel and does not show the author/narrator mastering his material in the way that Zhang does in ‘The Leather Belt1. Whilst the material used in the two works is very similar, the purposes behind them are very different. The scale and scope of One Year are both grand, whereas ‘The Leather Belt1 has been trimmed and polished for one sharp, concentrated effect.
The points of similarity between 'The Leather Be l t 1 and One Year are as follows. First, Deng Bingsheng resembles
ment and both meet with failure after initial success. Bai Muyi seeks an appointment at a military establishment by making use of
he mixes with soldiers from the less refined elements of society and has his corners knocked off as a result. Later in the novel, he experiences a raise in status and one day is embarrassed in the street when hailed by one of his former N-C.O- friends, feeling shame at the reminder of his humbler beginnings. This parallels Deng's disdain for and rejection of his former friends in the ranks. Bai, like Deng, suddenly loses his position as a result of a change in command. Both Bai and Deng are vain and set great store by the material trimmings of success.
Apart from similarities in plot incident, there are also structural similarities in the narrative. Bai Muyi eventually makes friends with his N.C.O. colleagues and becomes one of them. This prompts the narrator to address the reader thus:
If you were to meet Bai Muyi again, you would not
that they both seek advance-
his familial connections. Working first as an N.C.O. - L ^ i
r e c o g n i s e him. After only a few months, he is drinking and playing mahjong with them, and he has learned the everyday vocabulary used in conversation by his fellows.
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This passage in One Year bears a close resemblance to the opening part of section four of 'The Leather Belt':
Now it is just three months since Mr. Bingsheng took up his appointment. I really must, however, reintroduce Mr. Bingsheng once more to my readers, because if you were to see Mr. Bingsheng now, you would certainly not be able to recognise him.
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'The Leather Belt* is just one of several stories by Zthang that describe insignificant, ordinary men trying desperately to better themselves in a society where only the most able and ruthless prosper. What is said of Deng Bingsheng — that he
'is only interested in clawing his way up to being a slightly "loftier'1 person' — can equally well be applied to most of the characters in the novel One Y ea r , such as Bai Muyi, his cousin Bai Jun fa , their pathetic uncle Liang Meixuan
and the incorrigible rogue Li Yitai ^ . Their
various efforts to better themselves produce different degrees of success and failure, but they do generally cut sad, vain figures. Zhang's portrait of Deng Bingsheng is particularly incisive and rounded, carefully accumulated incidents draw the reader's attention to the weaknesses in Deng's character and the reader's interest in Deng is allowed to be diverted for no more than a moment. The inner workings of Deng's mind are also presented to the reader by the narrator; this was a method Zhang made only occasional use of in the novel One Year. Zhang's portrait of Bai Muyi, whilst similar to that of Deng Bingsheng, is less effective because it is diffused within the larger canvas of the novel.
'Little Peter1: a study in industrial relations.
Zhang's subsequent publication, entitled 'Little Peter' /JV I/ll ^\% ^ provoked an adverse response from Lu