Officialdom Unmasked

Donald Holoch, author of "A Novel of Setting: The Bureaucrats", wrote that the novel is very long with a "bewildering" amount of content, and therefore he argues that discussing the novel is difficult.

[2] Holoch wrote that the work "integrates the decline of the state, the status of women, the bureaucratic personality, the role of imperialism, and the commercialization of human relations.

[5] Donald Holoch, author of "A Novel of Setting: The Bureaucrats", wrote that Officialdom Unmasked was Li Baojia's "magnum opus".

"[3] Holoch argued that the work "is an impressively coherent materialist critique, a serious interpretation of history; for its ideological power and its artistic achievement it deserves to be known in the West.

"[3] Bruce Doar, author of a book review of The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century, wrote that "Holoch's enthusiasm" for the work was "infectious".

[3] Holoch believes that the novel manipulates characterization and the plot to emphasize the Chinese society's mercantile orientation and that the setting unifies the novel.

[9] Robert E. Hegel, author of a book review of The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century, wrote that Holoch "takes pains to show cause for his praise" even though the novel had been written by two men who had a single conception over a period of several years.