‘No fixed cultural identity’: new Chinese-American writers are telling their own stories

They’re not shaped by history like the previous generation, and observer says US-China tensions can give them ‘more space’ to explore issues

Reading Time:7 minutes

Published: 6:00am, 31 Dec 2025Updated: 8:23am, 31 Dec 2025

American novelists Ken Liu and Rebecca F. Kuang were the undisputed stars of the annual Singapore Writers Festival last month.

Their sessions were packed to capacity, with audiences eager to hear their thoughts on artificial intelligence, education, and even Singaporean cuisine.

Days before the 10-day festival, which started on November 7, the leaders of China and the United States held key talks in Busan, South Korea, sending conciliatory signals amid an intense geopolitical rivalry.

Yet in Singapore, scarcely any questions from readers or the press prompted the authors to address the issue of US-China relations.

Both 49-year-old science fiction writer Liu and 29-year-old Kuang, who writes fantasy novels, are second-generation Chinese immigrants.

For many readers, they represent a new breed of Chinese-American writers who are incorporating elements of Chinese culture into their work in new ways.

Their transcendence of politics and ideology is a departure from the previous generation of Chinese-American writers, whose careers developed in more turbulent times.

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‘No fixed cultural identity’: new Chinese-American writers are telling their own stories

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}They’re not shaped by history like the previous generation, and observer says US-China tensions can give them ‘more space’ to explore issues

They’re not shaped by history like the previous generation, and observer says US-China tensions can give them ‘more space’ to explore issues