Hitting an international market – Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia
by Fons1 via FlickrAfter Jung Chang hit the world with he epic story “Wild Swans“, many female authors have been trying to copy her success without making much of an impact. Zhang Lijia, author of “Socialism is Great” is on the way to become the Jung Chang of the 21th century as translation after translation open up her story for new audiences around the world.
Last week it was the Dutch translation and just now the Norwegians have discovered her. This is what the Dagbladet writes about her (in a Google translation, slightly changed):

A large number of the self-biographical accounts from China that are popular in the West, is about hunger and distress during the great leap or ideological terror during the Cultural Revolution. Bestsellers as Jung Chang “Would swans” and Nien Cheng “Life and Death in Shanghai” have contributed to our understanding of China. Zhang Lijia’s book is in the same genre, but it begins where the other accounts end.

“Little has been written about life in China in the 1980s. This era is both fascinating and important, but little documented. It was then China laid the foundation to become what we are today.”said Zhang Lijia.

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Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in having her, do get in touch.