Writers from China's diaspora
'I only began to understand China when I left it and came to New York,' says Zhou Weihui, as she surveys the crowd at a cafe not far from her apartment in Manhattan's Soho. 'I only began to appreciate my cultural roots when I got to travel and know the world.'
For three years now, the author of Shanghai Baby - the semi-autobiographical book that became a best-seller after being banned in China - has been shuttling back and forth between Shanghai and New York. When we meet, she's just arrived back in New York from a trip to England and Ireland to promote the sequel, Marrying Buddha, which was published in Chinese last year and appeared in its first English edition in June.
Zhou, casually dressed in a white top over sleek black pants, looks the picture of cool. Although she admits to being a source of controversy on the mainland, the petite figure delicately sipping from a cup of green tea could hardly appear less like a troublemaker. True, she's unblushingly honest - but she's also poised, unpretentious and enthusiastic.
The two novels mark different stages in her life. Shanghai Baby depicts the hedonistic lifestyles of the mainland city's young urbanites. 'When I was living in Shanghai I was obsessed with everything western and I was always busy rebelling, so everything in my books was about westerners, sex and rebellion,' she says.
But Shanghai Baby's publication overseas not only broadened her horizons but made her suddenly aware of her identity as a Chinese. 'Shanghai Baby opened up a lot of new experiences. I travelled to different countries and had the chance to live in New York. It also enabled me to keep writing without having to get a part-time job.'
But Zhou found that living in New York - an experience for which she once yearned - wasn't all that she'd expected. She often felt angry, depressed and sad during her first months in the city. 'I realised how Chinese I was because I was so far away from China. And I couldn't rebel in New York the way I could in China because there was no reason for me to rebel.'