County Records: Even the Dead Can Change Their Names

The dead need their names changed; the living need their names preserved. A county gazetteer that hasn’t even been finished is already being used to seize grain, fight over land, and decide who has a claim to what.

Chen Jiu is only a low-ranking clerk in the county office. He has no authority to judge cases, yet he must write the words people are fighting over.

Three months later, the gazetteer will be finalized. Everyone wants to change it, but who will preserve the people and events that have been erased?