Upclose with Xu Xi
Love it or hate it, Hong Kong is an inspiring place to live. The city’s leading English-language writer Xu Xi talks about how her conflicted relationship with Hong Kong inspires her to write.
HK: As a Hong Kong writer, have you had any moments of disappointment?
Xu Xi: Oh, sure. Right from the start! Nobody read here. I discovered that when I was a child. I published my works regularly in the South China Morning Post, but none of my school friends, except one, read it. When I returned from the States with a degree in creative writing, I realized there was only one journal at the University of Hong Kong where I could publish my work. And even that folded after four issues. Sometimes, there’s a poem published in the Letter to the Editor in the newspaper. I thought, “Is that it? That’s pathetic!” So I left Hong Kong.
HK: But you returned!
XX: Hong Kong is my most difficult lover. I was never sure I ever wanted to come back, but once I left Hong Kong I couldn’t stop writing about the place. That’s why I came back. Hong Kong is very troublesome—the moment you go, you want to return.
HK: You write both fiction and non-fiction. What’s the difference?
XX: It’s very different. I think fiction comes more naturally to me. I’ve always been a fiction writer, ever since I was a child. I think fiction is actually more honest than non-fiction. You can tell stories in non-fiction, and I do. But you can’t change what happened.
HK: When does inspiration come to you?
XX: Inspiration? I don’t wait for inspiration. I just write because I write, you know, that’s my job. If you wait for inspiration, you’ll never be a writer. A writer just sits down and writes. Sit down and do it. It will come.
HK: Tell us your daily routine.
XX: There is no routine. But if possible, I must go to the gym. It makes me think about myself and my body differently. It also affects the way I write. I must turn on my computer and try to write. Some day I write more than others, but I have to turn on my computer. Traveling on public transports is my favorite form of recreation. I learn so much on the MTR and buses. I watch lovers have fights and cry. I listen to people have passionate, and I mean truly passionate, conversations about business on their phone. It’s quite amazing to see people constantly getting lost in themselves on the MTR.
HK: What are you reading now?
XX: Funnily enough, for the first time in my life I’m actually not in the middle of a book. I’m re-reading three short stories for my lectures I am going to teach.