Red Dust

[ironbadger]

Hello all,

I recently finished the book Red Dust by Ma Jian which I really enjoyed. I noticed from the note on the author that he moved to Hong Kong after he returned from his travels and then to London after the hand-over. I wondered if anyone knows if he has written or is planning on writing anything else - or what he does in London - can't seem to find anything on google.

Cheers

[chingaling]

I also just read the book and it was as I was coming to china from London. Don't know about what his other books are but he is more of a poet? I guess? Any ideas what he is doing in london? Red Dust reads really well and credit to the translator I think too.

[yorkie_bear]

He is still writing. His latest book is this one I think

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0701176059/qid=1127923773/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl/202-1352159-1243012

I think I was at the same uni as his wife (who translates all his books into English)!

[Lu]

As I understood from the book Ma Jian is more of an artist than a writer. But it's good to see he's still writing, I liked Red Dust.

Someone once told me Ma Jian is from Tibet (or was it Xinjiang). Is that true? Or is that a different Ma Jian? The name sounds pretty common.

[ironbadger]

He was born in Qingdao and grew up there before he moved to Beijing after his photography for the party was well recieved.

Thanks for the info guys.

[wrwills]

It appears that he writes for the bbc from time to time. This article written by him is quite amusing though I'm not sure I fully understand it.

http://news8.thdo.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_4490000/newsid_4495000/4495039.stm

I've also come across these two articles which mention his (along with Yang Lian's) involvement in some political meetings.

http://news8.thdo.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_3780000/newsid_3789100/3789183.stm

http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/5/4/17/n891068.htm

He's written some other books too which haven't been translated into English. I forget their titles offhand.

-Rob