L


iu Zhenyun is one of China’s most well-regarded and popular novelists. He has won a number of prizes, sold more than 15 million copies in the home market and his books have


been translated into 30 languages. He is also a screenwriter of international repute (most famously in adapting his own novel, I Did Not Kill My Husband, for director Feng Xiaogang’s 2016 film, released for Western audiences as I Am Not Madame Bovary) and a somewhat reluctant social media superstar. But he says one of his high points in his career has been his role as the Beijing International Book Fair’s (BIBF) reading ambassador, beginning in 2017. The ambassadorship is largely akin to other


nations’ literature laureates, with Liu promoting books and reading country-wide. His particular mission since taking up the post has been to “extol the joy of reading” in China’s rural commu- nities. Liu says: “I grew up in a village myself, so I naturally feel a deep connection to rural life. At the same time, China’s rural areas are still relatively underdeveloped and need specific kinds of support.” He gives an example of, in 2017, going to teach


for a week in the Chuxi primary school in remote Xiayang Town, Fujian Province, where he discussed texts from early 20th-century giant Lu Xun, his own writings and also shared stories of village life from his childhood. Liu developed a “deep bond” with those kids and a year later coordinated with BIBF to bring them to the fair, to see the historical sites of Beijing and have a literature class at Liu’s alma mater, Peking University. Liu says: “Going to Beijing made a big differ-


ence for them. Several children stood at Peking University and said firmly: ‘I want to study here in the future.’ That wasn’t just a dream – it was a resolution. Those kids are now in middle school and still write to me regularly, telling me about their studies and lives. What I receive is not just letters – it’s warmth and nourishment for life.


bagged the highest score in the entire province. That led him to Peking University; after his degree, he worked as a journalist while writing fiction in his spare time. Liu’s debut, Tapu, was published in 1987. A semi-autobiographical story that circles back to Laozhang, Tapu revolves around the lives of students from a remote village studying for their college entrance exams. He has continued to keep the home fires


burning in his work, as more than half his 22 books are set in rural Henan, including Someone to Talk To, his biggest-selling novel (more than three million copies shifted domesti- cally) and a 2011 winner of the quadrennial Mao Dun Literary Prize, China’s most prestigious books gong. Liu’s work often encompasses heavyweight


issues, from the epic – Remembering 1942 looks at the Henan famine of that titular year that killed up to 1.5 million people – to the intimate (Someone to Talk To’s overarching theme is loneliness in pre- and post-Mao China), yet most of them are deeply funny, using humour as a way by which to examine these difficult topics. Yet he resists the label of a comic writer: “I don’t think I’m humorous, nor do I see myself as a satirical writer. I’ve said this before: I’m the least humorous person in my village.” That said, he admits that his upcoming release


in China, which roughly translates into English as Salty Jokes, is a “black comedy triggered by a scandal” revolving around a man and a woman’s inappropriate relationship becoming viral internet fodder with “one person’s pain becoming every- one’s entertainment. A joke becomes more and more serious. The man tries to explain himself, but no one listens. Everyone is throwing stones at him, trying to destroy him – not for what happened, but for the sake of the spectacle”. He says “humorous language is of little value


A key task is to build a connection between China’s rural villages and the wider world – this is an important mission of BIBF


“Of course, more work needs to be done for


rural China. One key task is to build a connection between villages and the wider world. This is also an important mission of BIBF. While my strength is limited, I will continue to do what I can.” Liu knows first-hand what a chance to study


at a top-tier university can mean for a kid from the sticks. He was born in 1958, grew up in the small town of Laozhang in the Henan Province’s Yanjin County and, after a five-year stint in the army beginning at the tender age of 15, took China’s national college entrance exam – and


in literature. If you use clever quips, readers might find the author slick or trying to be smart. What’s more useful in literature is humour in the details; more useful than that is humour in the plot; better still is humour in the story itself; and even better is humour in the story structure or character structure. The highest form of humour is the absurdity behind those structures”. Eleven of Liu’s books have been adapted for


the big and small screen, three of which were collaborations with Feng, including Remember 1942 – which was released in 2012 as Back to 1942 with a cast that included Hollywood stars Adrian Brody and Tim Robbins – and Someone to Talk To (2016), directed by his daughter Liu Yulin, one of China’s hottest young filmmakers. Liu has written the screenplay for most of


them, but is wary of adapting others’ work or creating original screenplays. He explains: “Screenwriting is a specialised craft. Good writers aren’t necessarily good screenwriters. I’ve come to understand that deeply. Screenplays and novels have completely different structures – a screenplay has to tell a complete story in a limited word count, with dramatic plot, relationship conflicts and twists. I admire professional screen- writers. In comparison, novelists are freer.


Key backlist


Howard Goldblatt, Sylvia Li-chun Lin (trans) Someone to Talk To Duke University Press, £16.99, PB, 9780822370833


The difficulty of personal connections told through three interconnected people over 70 years, beginning with tofu peddler Yang Baishun.


Howard Goldblatt, Sylvia Li-chun Lin (trans) The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon Arcade, £15.99, PB, 9781648210952 A look at the economic extremes of contemporary China in which a web of corruption begins to be exposed when cook and small-time thief Yuejin finds an incriminating flash drive.


Howard Goldblatt, Sylvia Li-chun Lin (trans) I Did Not Kill My Husband Arcade, £15.99, PB, 9781628726077 Liu’s politically charged Mao Dun Literature Prize- winner has Li Xuelian getting pregnant with her second child: against China’s one- child policy. But there is a loophole: if she divorces her husband Qin before the new baby, and he adopts their first child, they will both have just one child when they remarry. Problem is, Qin marries someone else shortly after the divorce…


When writing a novel, I can keep going without constraint. That said, the precision of film dialogue has made me more concise in my next novel’s dialogue – no wasted words.” Liu has gained a whole new generation of fans


on Chinese social media, where his content on Douyin (China’s TikTok) alone has had more than 100 million views. Though he adds: “Rather than saying I participate [in social media], it’s more accurate to say I’m ‘being participated’. For example, last year I ate stewed noodles at a Henan noodle shop in London. Right after I finished, someone sent me a Xiaohongshu [Chinese Instagram] link. It turned out a reader had seen me there, taken a photo, and posted it online with the caption: ‘The seat Liu Zhenyun sat in.’ That post went viral.” He does enjoy social media, though: “It helps


readers understand what I’m like in everyday life. Of course, I also hope they engage with me through my work. Because life and literature are two different things. Where life stops, literature begins. Where does life stop? Thinking. Where does literature begin? Thinking. The foundation of literature is philosophy. People are too busy in life, pushed forward by it with no time to think. But literature gives us space to think – why does this character act this way? One must think it through clearly. That’s why we read: because in books, we find the truths that life leaves behind.”


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Beijing International Book Fair Preview Author Profile


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