...go In The Direction Your Head Is

While I Was Writing Wild Swans I Thought The Famine Was The Result Of Economic Mismanagement But During The Research I Realised That It Was Something More Sinister.

When He Asked My Grandmother If She Would Mind Being Poor, She Said She Would Be Happy Just To Have Her Daughter And Himself: 'if You Have Love, Even Plain Water Is Sweet.

As A Child, My Idea Of The West Was That It Was A Miasma Of Poverty And Misery, Like That Of The Homeless 'little Match Girl'in The Hans Christian Andersen Story. When I Was In The Boarding Nursery And Did Not Want To Finish My Food, The Teacher Would Say:'think Of All The Starving Children In The Capitalist World!

My Father Said He Was Going To Write To The Jinzhou City Party Committee Asking For Permission To 'talk About Love'...my Mother Supposed It Was A Bit Like Asking Permission From The Head Of The Family...the Communist Party Was The New Patriarch.

I Like To Have Chinese Furniture In My Home As A Constant And Painful Reminder Of How Much Has Been Destroyed In China. The Contrast Between The Beauty Of The Past And The Ugliness Of The Modern Is Nowhere Sharper Than In China.