China can seem like an intimidating place, especially for those of us who spend our time poring over the latest headlines. Some think of an army of billions of bloody dragons plotting how to destroy our way of life, slow down our data, pollute our rivers, capture our children, steal our lunch money … and maybe buy a luxury bag or two. But amidst all the noise it’s easy to forget that the country is full of amazing (as well as weird) people. The Chinese are some of the kindest, most hospitable people I have ever met. The daily news may be true but it only reveals part of the story – one view – and should not be trusted as our only source of information on China (or any other country for that matter) . At those shouting times, maybe I’m suggesting a little more Chinese fiction?
What are you saying? More stories made from China? While it may sound like a strange antidote, fiction can get to the truth as well. Spending novels and films about other cultures has helped us to understand that, no matter where we live in the world, we are all going through the same ups and downs. in life. Just try to look Better days, a Sino-Hong Kong co-production (pictured) that’s hopeful for this year’s Oscars. It’s a great film about school bullying and the stress of exams set on the mainland. Or choose the new issue of Monocle, which features a piece by US journalist Te-Ping Chen about the benefits of writing fiction. She wrote the forthcoming book of short stories about life in modern China, Land of large numbers, while working as a journalist for The Wall Street Journal in Beijing. “It’s a country with such rich human detail and richness, and many of them are hard to capture in a news story,” she says. Fiction offered relief to Chen as a writer covering China. Maybe he can offer us something like this.