The Ninth-Rank Village Official

What is a village official? Among the countless ranks of officials, a village official is the tiniest speck of sesame on a sesame seed. Capable people don't want the job, and useless people can't manage it. What does a village official do? They're the one who leads the whole village in scratching out a living from the soil. They're also in charge of the village's big family. They have to care about every little thing in the countryside, from the Zhangs next door and the Lius down the lane, to children's birthdays, mothers' postpartum celebrations, and all the daily necessities. They have to step in when couples fight or friends divide up a household, and worry over every tree, every inch of land, every bundle of firewood. Do a good job, and you're a god in the villagers' eyes. They'll respect you, praise you, and look to you for support. Do a bad job, and you're a worthless bastard, the lowest of the low. They'll trample you underfoot and spit in your face, leaving you unable to hold your head up for generations.

She is a village official, and a woman village official so rare you'd be hard-pressed to find another in a hundred miles.

She often says she's a low-ranking government cadre, a ninth-grade official as insignificant as a sesame seed. In the old days, county magistrates were seventh grade, and below them came the townships. So wouldn't a village official be ninth grade? If not a sesame seed, then what?

When she first took office, people in the village predicted: “Hens will crow and roosters will lay eggs. If it doesn't end in disaster, it'll end in chaos.” But she refused to be intimidated. She took on the thankless job of village official and stuck with it for more than a decade, bringing order to a chaotic mess no one else wanted to touch. She turned a ramshackle, impoverished village full of bachelors into a prosperous, famous village known far and wide.

Now she's making plans to build apartment blocks and villas in the village, turn the residents' old one-story homes with earthen beds into distinctive farm stays, and attract more city folk to visit, relax, and spend money. She has plenty of ideas, and the future looks bright. But putting them into practice is another matter: there's an obstacle at every turn. Just as one stumbling block is cleared, another roadblock appears. One hassle follows another, and pushing down one end of the gourd only makes the other end pop up. Rivalries between villages and clashes between village officials leave her frazzled and exasperated, and give rise to one hilarious story after another.

Still, the work must be done and the road must be traveled. It takes tact and ingenuity, and a steady, practical approach. She must forge ahead boldly, cutting paths through mountains and building bridges over rivers. She is Liu Shengnan, the ninth-grade village official.