Q&A: China’s fading hinterland

Liang Hong tells Roxanne Escobales about the changes in Chinese rural life at the heart of her book ‘China in One Village’

The World Today
3 minute READ

China in One Village charts the changes in rural life through oral histories of its residents recorded by literary scholar, Liang Hong, on a return visit home. It found instant popularity after publication in 2010, helping to kickstart a literary trend for non-fiction storytelling. The first English translation will be available in June. 

We have a saying in English that ‘you can’t go home again’. In your own homecoming, you describe a changed landscape: the river has dried up; the roads are new, paved, wide and plentiful; the waterfowl have disappeared. Even your childhood home is abandoned and in disrepair, an apt metaphor for village life. What was the most challenging aspect of returning home – and memorializing your village with this book? 

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