Wang Zhezhu is the recipient of the inaugural China Bookworm Literary Award - annonced at the end of August - which recognises unpublished novels by Mainland authors. The Guangdong ingenue talks to Time Out about her winning book
What is your earliest memory
of writing?
Diaries from my school days. They
were filled with cynical critiques and
thoughts on social phenomena – not
your typical girl’s secrets.
How did your upbringing
influence your writing?
I grew up in a remote village in
Jieyang, Guangdong province.
When I was ten, my family left my
hometown and moved to a small
county. Since we couldn’t afford a
large house, I spent several years
living with relatives. My grandma
was blind. She often sat on a stone
bench outside the old house’s
door. I would sit with her staring into
space, imagining what kind of days
and nights she had in darkness.
When I began writing novels, these
years were my inspiration. Bamboo
groves, rivers and hills frequently
appear in my books.
Would you say you’re a typical
post-’80s generation writer? [A
term for 25- to 35-year-olds who
grew up in China’s reformist era.]
I’m not typically post-’80s. The ’80s
generation described
by the public [as
privileged, and overly
confident] is strange
and even distant to me.
My novels rarely involve
’80s generation
youth, fashion and
trends. Maybe it has
something to do with
my upbringing, or
maybe I’m old before my time.
Who are your literary
inspirations?
When I was in middle school, I was
mesmerised for days after finishing
And Quiet Flows the Don. Even now,
I think of Grigori riding on horseback,
fading into the distance. I was
But I don’t think it strange. Female
rationality can be extremely sharp,
firm and tenacious.
If you weren’t a writer what
would you be?
I’Il always have a thing for dancing…
What’s your next project?
A novel, My Moon. The backdrop
is a newly developed Chinese
city. A small town transforms
into a metropolis over decades
of economic development driven
by an influx of migrant labour. As
new wealth accelerates, all kinds
of mindsets, values and thoughts
emerge, shift and collide. People’s
fates are irrevocably altered. Some
come to get rich quick, some chase
dreams, while others try to lose
themselves. The city ceases to
serve economic development alone
and atop the cement and steel, flesh
and soul grow.
also obsessed with Victor Hugo,
Alexandre Dumas and Tolstoy.
When I began writing novels, I read
Yan Lianke’s Riguang
Liunian. It shocked
me. I tried to imitate
that intensity. My
language is greatly
influenced by Bi Feiyu’s
writing; Mo Yan and
Yu Hua’s novels are
my favourites to read
again and again. The
most important one
is [Cao Xueqin’s] Dream of the Red
Chamber. It’s more than a piece of
work – it has influenced my values
and thoughts on the world.
Your novel The Train That Came
to Its End tells of a doomed
carriage and the passengers on
board – their life stories, their
Wang Zhezhu is the
recipient of the inaugural
China Bookworm Literary
Award – announced at
the end of August – which
recognises unpublished
novels by Mainland
authors. The Guangdong
ingénue talks to
Charlotte Middlehurst
about her winning book
thoughts and feelings, and the
different ways they cope with
the disaster that awaits them.
Why did you choose to explore
these themes?
I believe most people, in most
cases, are wearing a shell – that
their inner worlds are hidden. In
the face of disaster or the end of
their life, these rush out from the
bottom of the heart, revealing many
universal truths.
In China, there are many more
prominent male novelists than
female ones. Do you think that
women who write intellectually
demanding novels here are seen
as somewhat strange?
Some people consider it strange. They think women are more sentimental and emotional, while men are more rational and calm.But I don’t think it strange.Female rationality can be extremely sharp, firm and tenacious.
If you weren’t a writer what
would you be?
I’Il always have a thing for dancing…
What’s your next project?
A novel, My Moon. The backdrop
is a newly developed Chinese
city. A small town transforms
into a metropolis over decades
of economic development driven
by an influx of migrant labour. As
new wealth accelerates, all kinds
of mindsets, values and thoughts
emerge, shift and collide. People’s
fates are irrevocably altered. Some
come to get rich quick, some chase
dreams, while others try to lose
themselves. The city ceases to
serve economic development alone
and atop the cement and steel, flesh
and soul grow.
Second Prize
I Am in the Red Chamber,
You Are on the Journey to
the West
by Liziyue
‘A biting satire’ about a migrant worker
who receives a letter supposedly
written by a relative and former
Nationalist official promising great
fortune. Unfortunately, he loses the
letter, which sets forth a series of
events that will take him from the city
to his hometown and back to the city
again. Li’s story ‘has a lot of heart’ and
is ‘a critical commentary on the great
social divide between rural and urban
China and the many social ills such as
greed, wanton desire and mercantilism
that have plagued much of the society
today,’ say the judges.
Third Prize
When a Cloud Meets a Sheet
of Paper
by Lin Weipan
‘A refreshing and whimsical’ tale
about two boys in the countryside
that ‘contains rich language, intense
monologues and elements of
magical realism and streams of
consciousness’. A copywriter from
Fujian, Lin has published widely in
literary journals in China
Find out more about the writers and their winning novels at beijingbookworm.com
