Most books about China published in the West plant their standards at the best-­selling poles of enchantment or awful mystery, but “The Corpse Walker” is more subtle. Its collective tone is not mournful but, rather, full of forbearance and forgiveness. Deng Xiaoping is often invoked by Liao’s subjects, and always positively. Even the Buddhist abbot has a picture of Deng on a temple wall; the abbot praises him for reversing Mao’s policies and relaxing control over religion. Typically, a subject’s harrowing story ends with a self-deprecating remark and a wish to let bygones be bygones. And the subjects assume responsibility for their fate. A convicted safecracker laments not distributing his riches to the unschooled and unemployed. “What’s the difference,” he asks, “between those corrupt officials and me?”