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.

I was not allowed to take notes but my friend and I memorised those two and a half pages. Most people talked to me because of the warning. They knew this book was not going to be the official line.

I always wanted to be a writer.

At the age of fifteen my grandmother became the concubine of a warlord general.

I would love mainland Chinese to read my book. There is a Chinese translation which I worked on myself, published in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Many copies have gone into China but it is still banned.

When a man gets power, even his chickens and dogs rise to heaven.

China is more prosperous than before. The people have better lives but they are not happy and confident because the scars are still there.