The Economist - USA (2020-02-08)

74 Books & arts The EconomistFebruary 8th 2020

1

J

ailovesa mystery.Hewatchestrue-

crimeshowsontelevision,even

thoughhismothersaysthat,attheageof

nine,heisnotoldenough.

Maswitchesoffthetvrightinthemiddle

ofa murderbecauseshesaysit’stoo

sick-making.Butsometimessheleavesit

onbecauseshelikesguessingwhotheevil

peopleareandtellingmehowthepo-

licemenaresons-of-owlsforneverspot-

tingcriminalsasfastasshecan.

Hecannotbebanishedfromthetelevi-

sion,forJailiveswithhisparentsand

12-year-oldsisterRunu-Didiinoneroom

inanunnamedIndiancity.Thereisjoy

inthissmallhome:“Papalikestosaythat

thisroomhaseverythingweneedforour

happinesstogrow.”Butthenchildren

beginvanishingfromtheneighbour-

hood,andJaidecidesit isuptohimto

solvetheirdisappearance.

DeepaAnappara’sdebutnovelhas

echoesofothersinwhichchildren’s

curiositycastslightontheprejudices

andperilsoftheirsociety.HarperLee’s

“ToKilla Mockingbird”isthemostfam-

ousexample—StephenKelman’s“Pigeon

English”alsocomestomind—butJai’s

sprightlynarrativevoiceisallhisown.

Asheapplieshisabundantenergytohis

self-imposedandsecrettask,readersget

a tourofhiscityanditsresidents.The

placebearssomeresemblancetoDelhi

(where,asinthenovel,themetrolines

areknownbytheircolours).

AswellasJai’s,MsAnapparatellsthe

storiesofthedisappeared:brief,third-

personportraitswhichefficientlysketch

livesofa kindthatareseldomchronicled

inliterature.Herproseisfulloffine,

vividimages.A flushofshamespreads

acrossa character’schest“asif someone

hasspilleda hotcupofteaonher”.When

Jaisenseshismotherisupsetwithhim,

her“eyesloopmelikea red-inkpen

arounda wronganswer”.

Thismovingandstylishbookpulls

offa difficulttrick.It isanengaging,

amusingtale,poweredbyJai’sebullient

personality;atthesametimeit isan

insightfulportraitoftheundersideof

21st-centuryIndia.Theauthorworked

thereasa journalistbeforesettlingin

Britainandstudyingcreativewritingat

theUniversityofEastAnglia.Hernovel

wasinspiredbythestrugglessheen-

counteredduringherreporting(an

afterwordgivesdetailsofchildren’s-

rightscharitiesinIndia).AsDickensdid,

MsAnapparaunderstandsthepowerof

fictiontobringalivetheplightsofpeople

readersmightotherwiseoverlook.

Talesofa city

Indianfiction

DjinnPatrolonthePurpleLine.By

DeepaAnappara.RandomHouse; 368

pages;$27.Chatto&Windus;£14.99

Where the heart is

I

ntheautumnof2011 twoethnicChi-

nese men were seen digging up seeds in a

cornfield in Iowa. When approached, they

sped away in a hired car. A routine report of

trespassing quickly spiralled into a long

fbi investigation that uncovered a plot by

dbn, a Chinese agricultural company, to re-

verse-engineer seed lines belonging to two

American firms, Monsanto and DuPont

Pioneer. When the probe became public,

America’s media had a field day. “Hey Chi-

na!” screamed Bloomberg Businessweek.

“Stop Stealing Our Stuff.”

Mara Hvistendahl’s compelling account

of the drama reads in parts like a spy thrill-

er, replete with car chases, phone-tapping

and aerial surveillance as agents track the

shovel-carrying suspects across America.

The anti-hero is Robert Mo, an American-

based Chinese research scientist who took

a job with dbnto help pay his mortgage.

Pressed into seed-rustling, he darts from

field to field, yanking genetically modified

strains from the ground, while posing as a

grower to buy others from wholesalers for

thousands of dollars in cash.

He ends up with almost comically large

quantities—wrapped in napkins swiped

from Subway or stashed in microwave-

popcorn boxes. Some of the seeds are taken

to be grown and monitored on a plot in Illi-

nois, conveniently close to Chicago’s inter-

national airport. Later arrested and ac-

cused of conspiring to steal trade secrets,

Mr Mo would plead guilty and serve a

three-year sentence. None of his suspected

co-conspirators was prosecuted.

As Ms Hvistendahl explains, industrial

espionage goes back centuries. Early exam-

ples often involved the West stealing from

the East, such as undercover efforts to learn

about Chinese tea and porcelain produc-

tion. For much of the 20th century America

and Europe worried most about each oth-

er’s spies. The idea of China as thief-in-

chief is new. So is America’s tough legisla-

tion against stealing trade secrets, which

was not a federal crime until 1996. Before

then it was regulated by state laws and civil

suits brought by aggrieved companies.

Fears over Chinese pilfering of intellec-

tual property (ip) and technology have

soared under President Donald Trump, fu-

elling trade tensions and a tech stand-off.

In 2018 there was talk in the White House of

banning all students from China out of

concerns over spying. The recent charging

of a Harvard academic for failing to dis-

close Chinese state funding highlights

anxieties about Beijing-backed “talent pro-

grammes” at American universities.

But the picture is not as clear as Mr

Trump paints it. Both China and America

are locked in internal struggles as well as

with each other, says Ms Hvistendahl—in

China’s case between “the duelling forces

of copying and innovation” (it has oodles

of its own patents) and in America’s be-

tween openness and security. Nor are mo-

tives simple to unpick. The seed plot was

driven in part by Chinese ambition (to be a

world leader in gm crops) but also by fear.

Shortfalls of grain to feed their people, as

well as poor yields, are a huge food-securi-

ty headache for Communist Party leaders.

Nor, indeed, is the source and size of the

threat always clear. dbnis a private outfit,

albeit one with the mission of “rewarding

the state with agricultural development”.

Some firms have their own incentives to

steal; others may be responding to what

they see as official incitement, as when

President Xi Jinping urged Chinese busi-

nesses to master “core technologies”. Not

all of these are acquired through subter-

Trade secrets

As you sow

The Scientist and the Spy. By Mara

Hvistendahl. Riverhead Books; 336 pages; $28