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Chinese authors

Being Chinese | Why must Chinese parents make children dread piano?

Music lessons are practically a rite of passage for Asian children but when forced, they can strip our kids of a lifelong enjoyment of music.

Music lessons are practically a rite of passage for Asian children but when forced, they can strip our kids of a lifelong enjoyment of music

12 Aug 2024 - 5:42PMvideocam

Blossoms novelist Jin Yucheng on his writerly art and debut Hong Kong show

22 Jul 2024 - 5:24PM

Opinion | Forget Instagram spots. What’s Hong Kong doing to nurture the next Jin Yong?

25 Mar 2024 - 9:30AMvideocam

‘Eat healthy, sleep well’: Chinese romance novelist dead at 29 bids farewell

A well-known romance novelist in China, Xia Shu, has lost her three-year-long battle with the rare and debilitating neurological disorder, syringomyelia.

13 Mar 2024 - 11:03AM

A famous romance novelist in China has died at the tender age of just 29 following a three-year battle with a rare and debilitating disease. Photo: SCMP composite/The Paper/Weibo/Douban

Chinese science fiction writer Hai Ya wins Hugo Award for best novelette

Author of The Space-Time Painter becomes third Chinese writer to receive the most prestigious international prize in sci-fi and fantasy.

22 Oct 2023 - 7:53PM

Hong Kong author Louis Cha ‘Jin Yong’ gets posthumous win in copyright lawsuit

The Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court ruled that mainland Chinese writer Yang Zhi’s 2002 novel There They Were constituted copyright infringement and unfair competition.

14 May 2023 - 5:57PMvideocam

Put your Kindle down: 5 of the best independent bookstores in Hong Kong

Many independent bookshops have closed in Hong Kong in recent years, but here are five with books on everything from art to feminism, sure to satisfy your inner bibliophile.

11 Jan 2023 - 4:01PM

Parentheses Librairie Francaise


Credit: Facebook / Parentheses Librairie Francaise

Profile | Singaporean bestselling author Kirstin Chen on the regenerative gift of time

The New York Times bestselling author studied at Stanford University and her third book was a Reese’s Book Club pick … so how did she get here?

11 Jan 2023 - 10:33AM

Hong Kong author Xi Xi, who raised city’s literary profile, dies at 85

Born Zhang Yan in Shanghai in 1937, Xi Xi was one the most beloved names in Chinese literature, her writing an invitation to ‘re-examine the world with fresh eyes’, a translator of her work said.

19 Dec 2022 - 10:51AM

Profile | Chinese humorist’s career sparked by surreal theatre of a Canadian office

The strangeness of being part of the multinational staff of a trading company in Montreal gave Qi Yimin the idea for his first book. The polyglot author and humorist explains why a writer needs such life experiences.

11 Dec 2022 - 5:15PM

Chinese writer Qi Yimin has penned more than 40 books since getting the idea for his first from working in the “surreal” multinational office of a trading company in Montreal, Canada. Photo: Simon Song

Kept from her birthplace by Covid-19, Chinese writer recreates it on the page

In the follow-up to her debut novel, Little Gods, Meng Jin cements her reputation as an exciting literary talent with a collection of short stories that explores love, grief and the supernatural.

31 Jul 2022 - 7:15PM

Meng Jin. author of Self-Portrait with Ghost: Short Stories. The Chinese-American’s follow-up to her acclaimed debut novel Little Gods strengthens her reputation as an exciting literary talent. Photo: Andria Lo

‘A sadness too great for words’: tributes for Hong Kong author Ni Kuang

Taiwanese scientist Ye Li-hua can hardly find the words to pay tribute to Ni Kuang. For Singaporean lyricist Ng King Kang, the author was the last living representative of a golden age of Hong Kong culture.

29 Jul 2022 - 1:20PM

Ni Kuang, writer who defined Asian science fiction, dies in Hong Kong at age 87

Ni rose to fame in the 1960s with his Wisely Series and went on to write hundreds of celebrated novels and screenplays.

29 Jul 2022 - 1:21PM

Indonesian-Chinese historian Onghokham’s ‘fearless’ life celebrated in book

The book delves into Onghokham’s struggle to come to terms with his sexuality, his advocacy of Chinese assimilation in Indonesia, and his love for Javanese culture.

29 Jul 2022 - 1:22PM

Australian academic David Reeve and Onghokham in 1985. Photo: Handout

Sci-fi is best placed to discuss climate crisis, Chinese author says

Science fiction is the best literary genre to lead discussions on climate change because you can regard the whole universe as a collective living community, sci-fi writer Chen Qiufan says.

29 Jul 2022 - 1:25PM

A hybrid power station consisting of wind turbines, solar panels and fish ponds in Dongtai, China. The country’s pledge to reach carbon neutrality is the subject of science fiction writer Chen Qiufan’s latest book. Photo: Getty Images

Review | Boy meets girl, things go wrong. Modern China through an unsparing lens

Chinese-Canadian Dan K. Woo’s short stories in Taobao, set in modern China, show a people facing the same everyday struggles as humans anywhere.

29 Jul 2022 - 1:26PM

Heist novel author on her Chinese-American art thieves, Netflix adaptation

Like The Fast and the Furious movies, Grace D. Li’s debut novel about young Chinese-Americans is part heist, part about finding a family with those around you.

29 Jul 2022 - 1:31PM

Louisa Lim on the King of Kowloon and the 2019 Hong Kong protests

In her homage to those who love Hong Kong, Indelible City, Louisa Lim taps troubled artist Tsang Tsou-choi and the 2019 protests, but its overstated assertions give plenty of cause for pause.

29 Jul 2022 - 1:33PMvideocam

Graffiti painter Tsang Tsou-choi, better known as the King of Kowloon. Author Louisa Lim, in her new book Indelible City, calls him “a prism through which Hong Kong’s story could be viewed”. Photo: SCMP

Explainer | Why it is the end of the road for The Ugly Chinaman

There will be no further editions of Bo Yang’s controversial book after contracts expire in 2024, as widow says it has served its purpose.

19 Nov 2021 - 1:54PM

Magic, mystery, deception: Chor Yuen’s takes on Gu Long’s martial arts novels

Director Chor Yuen’s unique martial arts worlds are filled with magic, mystery, deceit, deception and romance – and lots of violence. He said he filmed so many Gu Long novels – 17 in all – because they did well at the box office.

11 Apr 2021 - 5:15AMvideocam

Chinese writer Can Xue nominated for International Booker Prize

The author’s I Live in the Slums is one of 13 books on the long list for the US$69,000 award.

31 Mar 2021 - 4:01AM

Chinese writer Can Xue has been nominated for the International Booker Prize. Photo: Weibo

Reflections | Meet Nie Yinniang, imperial China’s version of Wonder Woman

Written by Pei Xing in the 9th century, The Story of Nie Yinniang is about a young woman with amazing powers that she acquired in her teens.

8 Jan 2021 - 4:29AMvideocam

Shu Qi plays Nie Yinniang in the 2015 film The Assassin. Photo: Handout

Why cinema owes a debt to Louis Cha and fellow martial arts novelists

Stephen Chow, Wong Kar-wai, Tsui Hark and Chor Yuen made martial arts films by adapting episodes and characters from the writings of authors such as Louis Cha, known as Jin Yong, and Gu Long.

20 Dec 2020 - 8:34AM

Review | Marilyn Chin writes for ‘wild-girl’ Chinese-Americans

Drawn from a prodigious career of poetry and advocacy, A Portrait of the Self as Nation is a masterclass in formal play, allusion and wit.

17 Nov 2020 - 10:52AM

How Much of These Hills is Gold: Chinese take on American western

Longlisted for the Booker Prize, American-Chinese author C Pam Zhang’s novel takes a timely look at racism in the US through the eyes of two Chinese orphans.

16 Nov 2020 - 4:15PM

C Pam Zhang struck a chord with her debut novel, How Much of These Hills is Gold, which explores the devastated landscape of the American gold rush through the eyes of two Chinese orphans. Photo: Shutterstock

Review | In Strange Beasts of China, fantastic creatures live among humans

Yan Ge’s novel, translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang, follows a cryptozoologist who is tasked with learning about the beasts of a fictional city and in uncovering their stories, discovers more about herself, too.

9 Nov 2020 - 4:54PM

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge. Photo: Handout

AI is helping authors imagine new sci-fi worlds

AI algorithms are helping writers fill in additional details after the first sentence, but past efforts were less than perfect.

31 Oct 2020 - 6:06AMvideocam

6 films adapted from Eileen Chang’s timeless novels

From Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution to Ann Hui’s brand new Love After Love – did you know all these brutal love stories were adapted from the influential Chinese author’s novels?

7 Sep 2020 - 12:24PMvideocam

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Chinese authors

Writers such as Nobel winner Mo Yan, Man Asian Literary Prize winner Bi Feiyu, Yan Lianke and Ma Jian are winning widespread acclaim around the world. We review the best Chinese fiction and non-fiction writing from Hong Kong, Taiwan, the mainland and the world.

last updated:

9 September, 2024