Zhang Xinxin

Zhang Xinxin (simplified Chinese: 张辛欣; traditional Chinese: 張辛欣; pinyin: Zhāng Xīnxīn), (Nanjing, 1953) is a female Chinese writer. She is best known in the west for her book, co-authored with Sang Ye (桑晔), of 100 interviews with ordinary citizens, published as Chinese Profiles (Beijing 1986),^[1] and revised as Chinese Lives (1988).^[2][3] Zhang Xinxin grew up in Beijing. In the early 1980s she trained in theatre directing at the Central Drama Academy, Beijing. The fiction she published in the 1980s earned her both acclaim and criticism. Since then she has written several novels, short stories and poems, and works of non-fiction (essays, commentaries, news reports and scenarios), as well as film, TV and radio work (directing, presenting and scriptwriting). Her key works include:

Fiction

Novels

• 《我 Me》 (Me, 2 vols, 2011)
• 《在同一个地平线上》(On the Same Horizon) - Harvest Magazine, Shanghai, 1981; Sanmin Pablisher Co., Taiwan, 1988

French edition: Actes Sud; Arles, 1987

German edition: Yashima; Bonn, 1986

Japanese edition: Tokumang Company; Tokyo, 1987

Novellas

• 《IQ84》 (IQ84, 2015)
• 《疯狂的君子兰》(Orchid Mania) - Wenhui Monthly Magazine, no. 9, 1983)

French edition: Actes Sud; Arles, 1988, 2004

Japanese edition (in the volume titled On The Same Horizon): Tokumang Company, Tokyo, 1987

English edition: "Mad about Orchids" 疯狂的君子兰（中英双语）bilingual online, 2014^[4][5]

• 《我们这个年纪的梦》 (The Dreams of Our Generation) - Harvest Magazine; Shanghai, 1982 // Sichuan Literature Publishing Co.; Chengdu, 1985 // Xinde Publishing Co.; Taiwan, 1987

English edition: Cornell Eastern Program; Ithaca, 1986

German edition: Yashima; Bonn, 1986

• 《封．片．联》 (Postcard and Bandits) - Writers' Publishing Co.; Beijing, 1986 // Liby Publishing Co.; Hong Kong, 1987

French edition (Le Courrier des Bandits): Actes Sud; Arles, 1989

Short stories

• 《龙的食谱》 (A Recipe for Dragons, 2011) - Shanghai Literature, 10.2011

English edition: "Dragonworld" in The Guardian, 14 April 2012.^[6] and Read Paper Republic, Afterlives 2, 3 Nov 2016.^[7]

• 《这次你演哪一半? 》 (Which half will you play this time – husband or wife?, 1988)
• 《张辛欣小说选》 (The Collected Stories of Zhang Xinxin, 1985
• Where Did I Miss You? - Harvest Magazine; Shanghai, 1979 // Beifang wenyi Publishing Co.; Haerbin, 1985

Graphic novel

• 《拍花子和俏女孩》(Pai Hua Zi and the Clever Girl, 2012) part 1 and part 2^[8]

Non-Fiction

• 《我的好莱坞大学》(Dark Paradise: My Observations of Hollywood) - Hua Cheng Publishing Co., Guangzhou, 2003
• 《闲说外国人》 (Chatting About Foreigners, 2002)
• 《流浪世界的方式》 (Style of Wandering the World: Short Essay Collection) - Shenyang Publishing Co., Shenyang, 2002
• 《独步东西 : 一个旅美作家的网上创作》 (Lonely Drifter: The Wanderer Between the East and the West - My Journey on The Web) - Intelligence Publishing Company, Beijing 2000
• 《我知道的美国之音》(Me and the VOA: A Collection of Commentaries) - Chinese Social Science Publishing, Beijing 2000
• 《天狱：偷渡美国》(Hell in Heaven: Smuggling to America, 1994)
• 《北京人 (一百个中国人的自述)》(Peking Man: One Hundred Chinese Self Portraits) - co-authored with Sang Ye, Shanghai Wenyi Publishing Co.; Shanghai, 1986 // Linbai Publishing Co.; Taiwan, 1987

English editions (Chinese Lives): Pantheon Books; New York, 1987 // MacMillan; London, 1987 // Irwin; Ontario, 1987 // Penguin Books; London, 1989 // (Chinese Profiles) Panda Books; Beijing, 1987

French editions (L'homme de Pekin): Actes Sud; Arles, 1992; Panda Books; Beijing, 1987

German edition (Peking Menschen): Diederichs; Koln, 1986

Japanese edition (The Conditions of Chinese Women and Money Doesn't Fall from Heaven): Heibonsha; Tokyo, 1986

Swedish edition (Leva I Kina): Forum; 1988

Dutch edition (Mensen in China): Wereldvenster, 1987

Norwegian edition (Arvingene hverdag etter Mao): Aschehoug, 1988

Danish edition: (Tiden), 1989

Spanish edition: Editorial Ausa, 1989

Russian edition：

• 《在路上》 (On the Road) - Sanlian Publishing Co.; Hong Kong, 1986

French edition (Au Long Du Grand Canal): Actes Sud; Arles, 1992

Film, TV, radio

• 《棋王》 (The Chessmaster, screenplay of Ah Cheng’s novel)
• 《我们，你们》(We, You, screenplay and directing, Capital Sports Stadium)
• 《运河人》(People of the Grand Canal, presenting on CCTV)
• 《普通人》(Ordinary People, presenting on Central People’s Broadcasting)
• 《封。片。联》 (Postcard and Bandits, novella and radio series)
• 《珍邮谜案》(The Stamp Mystery, TV mini-series, screenplay and directing)
• 《作家手记》(Diary of an Author, commentary on Voice of America)

Further reading

• Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature
• Jeffrey C. Kinkley, ‘The cultural choices of Zhang Xinxin, a young writer of the 1980s’, in Paul A. Cohen and Merle Goldman (eds), Ideas across cultures: essays on Chinese thought in honor of Benjamin I. Schwartz, pp. 137–162. Harvard University Asia Center, 1990.
• Jiang, Hong, ‘The Masculine-Feminine Woman: Transcending Gender Identity in Zhang Xinxin’s Fiction’, China Information 15.1 (2001), pp. 138–65.
• Kinkley, Jeffrey C., ‘Modernism and Journalism in the Works of Chang Hsin-hsin’, Tamkang Review 18.1–4(1987-8), pp. 97–123.
• Wakeman, Carolyn and Yue, Daiyun, ‘Fiction’s End: Zhang Xinxin’s New Approaches to Creativity’. In Michael S.Duke (ed.), Modern Chinese Women Writers: Critical Appraisals. New York: M.E.Sharpe, 1989, pp. 196–216.
• Zhang Xinxin, ‘A “Bengal Tigress” Interviews Herself’ and ‘The “June 4 Syndrome”: Spiritual and Ideological Schizophrenia’, in Helmut Martin (ed.), Modern Chinese Writers: Self-Portrayals. Armonk: M.E.Sharpe, 1992, pp. 137–46 and pp. 165–7.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Zhang Xinxin

• Zhang Xinxin on paper-republic.org
• Zhang Xinxin on Youtube
• Zhang Xinxin on MCLC Bibliography of Chinese Literature in Translation
• Zhang Xinxin on "Chinese Short Stories" website. http://www.chinese-shortstories.com/Auteurs_de_a_z_Zhang_Xinxin.htm
• Zhang Xinxin and Little People's Books on "Chinese Books for Young Readers" website

References