A New Chapter

Since China opened its doors to the West in 1978, thousands of Chinese intellectuals have left their homeland for the West in search of higher education, political asylum, freedom or the pursuit of happiness. Among them, there is no shortage of authors.

This worldwide Chinese diaspora has changed the Chinese literary landscape and transformed what it means to be a Chinese author, to the point where much of the most robust "Chinese" literature is no longer even written in Chinese. In just the past decade, Chinese émigré authors who have adopted other languages have gained prominent seats...