A big literature master like Qiu whose culture memory is like a bottle of wine, ancient and pure, is trying his best to reflect the true social history of his mother country by his original writing style。 His detective fiction concentrates on the destiny of normal citizens, in the wave of the social changes。 His novels are not only to entertain readers but also to remind Chinese and the rest of the world of the harsh history and reality。 文献综述

2。 Literature Review

The image of China is displayed from many different aspects。 First of all, the main character Inspector Chen Chao, to some degree, is like a shadow of Qiu himself。 Guardian once said that Chen is a great creation, an honorable man in a world full of deception and treachery。 Inspector Chen plays the role as a beacon showing the way for the western readers to get a close look at the Chinese culture and society。 As it praised by Guardian, “This third novel (When Red Is Black) offers further fascinating insights into a country and procedures so far neglected by mystery fiction。。。Chen is trying hard to apprehend the new world of China in transition, where communism still reigns but blatant capitalism is also tolerated, with its ensuing waves of criminality。。。。。。Connections and motives unfold like clockwork, and make for a great read。” What’s more, it is clearly can be seen that Inspector Chen is the reflection of Qiu because they have almost the same experience, like suffering from Cultural Revolution, majoring in foreign language and having a particular taste for poems。 In this case, Qiu managed to make his character successfully catch the reader’s eyeballs who has the ability to solve the complicated case as well as to write a small piece of poem by putting himself into the character。 No wonder Chicago Tribune commented like that, “Chen is the fascinating creation of poet and translator Qiu Xiaolong。” (2002) Kirkus Reviews compliments that “Chen is an irresistible protagonist, likable and determined to make the honorable choices, no matter how dangerous。” (2002) Newsweek also said that as modern China’s profile rises, so too does the stock of literature from and about it。 But Shanghai-born Qiu Xiaolong’s Inspector Chen detective series is one of the freshest and most unpredictable of the lot。 “A vivid portrait of modern Chinese society full of the sights, sounds and smells of China。” phrased by Wall Street Journal。 Qiu believes it is his responsibility to subvert the stereotypes of Chinese characters in western fictions and movies。 He says that he intends to depict a brand new image of China and Chinese culture to subvert the stereotypes。 (Wei, 2004) Frank Chin considered the character Chen as a creation of mainstream culture based on their biased oriental imaginations。 (Chin, 2004)