In the latest saga of Police Chief Inspector Chen Cao, Shanghai is abuzz over the shocking murder of a young woman, whose suffocated corpse is found in a public place clad in a red qipao (pronounced CHEE-pow), as "mandarin dress" (aka cheongsam) is called in standard Chinese.
The victim had worked at a mundane job in a cheap hotel and spent the rest of her time caring for her enfeebled father, a former cadre during the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" launched in 1966, when hordes of youthful radicals were mobilized to purge Chinese socialism of reformist elements.
When an identically clad victim appears at another location, it's clear a serial killer is at work.