Chen Baichen (1908-1994), originally named Chen Zenghong, a native of Huaiyin, Jiangsu Province, embarked on his writing career during his school days under the influence of new literature. In the 1920s, he became a main member of the Southern China Society established by Tian Han. After the outbreak of the resistance war, he engaged in dramatic activities in Chongqing, Guilin and other places. In 1940, he published a collection of comedies entitled Small Comedies in the Rear Area. In 1942, he wrote Wedding March that depicted two young men finding themselves in a predicament in the process of seeking human rights and opposing the vulgar social customs.
As the pinnacle of modern Chinese comedies, Promotion in Officialdom is a three-act political satire finished by Chen Baichen in 1945. In the play, two bandits hid themselves in an ancient residence and went to sleep in the darkness. In their dream a peasants riot took place and the angry people demolished the county magistrate's office and the magistrate was injured. The two bandits took the chance to arrogate the posts of the magistrate and his secretary. A group of officials tried hard to cover up the truth in order to retain their current posts and even the magistrate's wife had to acquiesce in the reality so as to keep her original glory Inside the magistrate's office there was an active pack of fatuous and impudent persons. They include the chunky police chief who was fully armed and asserted that he would decimate all the people in the town, the fat financial chief who was most adept in embezzlement and flattery and committed many misdeeds in collusion with the magistrate's wife and the director of the industrial and commercial affairs who was a profligate man negligent of his duties. Surprisingly, the two bandits could get along very well with all these contemptible officials. The police chief even affianced his sister to the magistrate.
News came that the provincial governor was coming to the county on an inspection tour To greet the governor, officials of the magisterial office started a farce. The imposing governor was also a corrupt official. He demanded pure gold bars by telling a lie that he was having a headache. Finally, the magistrate's wife also threw herself into his arms.
just when these brazen officials were walking on air, the angry people broke into the government office. That also ended the two bandits' sweet dream.
Promotion in Officialdom borrowed the comic outline of Gogol's The General Inspector and the clown role of traditional Chinese drama. The play had a complete story plot though unfolded around a dream. It is an incisive and vivid exposure and satire of the corrupt officialdom and the dark side of social reality.
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