If I didn't self-censor, I would be in jail, and then I wouldn't be effective at all.

I think the isolation in China also has to do with people's memories being wiped out, collective memories as well as individual memories, by the fact that the recent history has been constantly rewritten and revised.

One easy mistake to make with the first novel is to expand the short story. Some things are better as a story; you cannot dilute things into a novel. I think the first hundred pages of a novel are very important. That's where you set things up: the world, the characters. Once you've set that up, it'll be much easier.

Everybody contributes something to the system, and everybody suffers from the system.

Why do I write about China? That is a very good question. I think there are questions about China that I haven't been able to answer. The reason I write is that there are questions to which I want to find answers - or I want to find questions beyond those questions.

There is a certain amount of politeness here in America, which is probably more than just politeness.

Horrible that you could write in a language so well, but have nothing meaningful to say.