August 2015

Readers of my novel Shanghai Blue often ask, “Is it autobiographical?”   

Close friends and family know it is not. I have loving parents and had a happy enough childhood whereas the novel is about a woman in search of her biological parents who discovers the horrible truth of their identity. 

The theme is no coincidence, however.

Writing about sex under the motto ‘I write with my body’, some young women writers outrage China. The Chinese call them xinxin renlei – brand new humans. 

Looking backward is a major trend in Chinese fiction today - writers often set their novels in the past to reflect on Chinese history and culture. In this genre, Mo Yan’s Sandalwood Impalement (Tanxiang Xing) is not only a commercial but an ideological hit, praised by critics as a ‘masterpiece’ of ‘historical importance’ that shows China can overcome Western influence thanks to ‘Chinese tradition, Chinese reality, and Chinese mentality’ as apposed to vapid ‘universalism’ and ‘humanism’.