Rhyme and reason: how a crime writer found poetic justice

Shanghai-born crime writer and poet Qiu Xiaolong created the best-selling Inspector Chen detective series. Qiu, 59, won the Anthony Award for best new novel in 2001 with Death of a Red Heroine, which was declared one of the five best political novels of all time by The Wall Street Journal. Qiu spoke to Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore after his seventh Inspector Chen novel, Don't Cry, Tai Lake, was published this month.

You write in English. Why?

I used to write in Chinese and I still write a little - poetry, some short articles. I started writing in English in 1989 because at that time it was not possible for me to publish in Chinese. I had no choice. And in one sense it's much freer for me to write in English.

While you live in St Louis in America, your novels are set in contemporary China. Do you consider yourself an insider or outsider in China today?

I went to the US at the end of 1988 as a foundation fellow. My plan was to stay there for one year to do some research. But the next year the Tiananmen tragedy happened. The first time I came back was in 1995 or '96. On the one hand I want to provide a realistic picture of China to Western readers. [But] to some extent, I'm an outsider in China now because I no longer live there. I want to portray China from this kind of bubble perspective.

Poet-policeman Inspector Chen fights injustice, corruption and crime within the Chinese system. Is he based on you?