The Princeling of Nanjing by Ian Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page B

were doing business with and how they were connected further up the line. And, as they told me time and time again, there’s always someone further up the line.”
    Ava poured more tea and then heard the gentle slap of slippers on tile. Auntie Grace appeared in the kitchen doorway.
    “I think I’ll start your noodles,” she said. “They’ll help reduce the effect of the alcohol.”
    Xu stared at her. “Do what you want. You will anyway,” he said, and looked back at Ava. “Let’s sit in the living room until the noodles are ready.”
    He picked up the bottle and glass. Ava took her cup but left the pot on the table. As Xu walked past Auntie Grace, he stopped and bent down to kiss her on the forehead.
    “Get going,” she said, smiling.
    The living room was furnished with carved wooden benches and chairs with thin, flat seat cushions. An old tea chest doubled as a coffee table, and two corners of the room were guarded by stone lions. The walls were decorated with traditional paintings of rushing waterfalls, rice paddies, and dragons. Xu sat on one of the benches. Ava took the chair across from him and put her cup on the glass top of the tea chest.
    “You said to me yesterday that Tsai Men’s father was the governor of Jiangsu,” Ava said. “Can I assume that Tsai Da-Xia had something to do with making that happen?”
    “Something?” Xu said. “He had everything to do with it.”
    “What’s the governor’s name?”
    “Tsai Lian, and he’s what’s called a ‘princeling,’ or, as my father used to call them, ‘the entitled ones.’”
    “Neither term sounds particularly positive.”
    Xu shrugged. “They are the sons of the legends, and in this society, where for decades we tried to restrict the size of families, those sons were the most precious things imaginable. So they were pampered as children, given the best education possible as teenagers and young adults, and then immediately put into government positions. All the while, they were being guided by fathers who had the power to make sure they succeeded. Tsai Lian wasn’t unique. I know of at least seven other sons of men who were on the PSC who today are running various parts of China. They’re the closest thing we have to royalty. They certainly feel and act like they’re part of a dynasty.”
    “How did he become governor?”
    “He was appointed, like every governor in China, except he was given one of the largest and wealthiest provinces. There are eighty million people living in Jiangsu, and it has one of the highest per capita incomes among all of the provinces in the country.”
    “His father appointed him?”
    “No, he was appointed by a committee in Beijing, but every member of the committee knew who his father was. And every member knew that sooner or later he might need Tsai Da-Xia’s influence.”
    “ Guanxi .”
    “Now and forever. The Communists have turned it into an art form.”
    “How old was he when he was appointed?”
    “Forty.”
    “And he’s been in that position ever since?”
    “He has, and so has the Communist Party secretary for the province. That’s where Da-Xia was smarter than some of his colleagues.”
    “Why?”
    “The secretary has, in theory, as much if not more power than the governor. Da-Xia arranged to have a nephew appointed. The nephew isn’t an idiot, but he isn’t nearly as smart or as tough as Tsai Lian, and Da-Xia let Tsai Lian call the shots. It’s been that way for what seems like an eternity. Other governors and party secretaries come and go, but in Jiangsu the Tsai family rules the province.”
    “So why has it become so difficult all of a sudden?” Ava said. “From what I’m hearing, your father must have made some kind of arrangement with them.”
    “He did, and it lasted for years, but Tsai Men has decided he’s going to change the way things are done, and his father is either letting it happen or is directing it. I’m not sure which. And it doesn’t matter — the end