Pen is mightier than the sword: Novelists help China’s soft power push in Latin America
Three writers - Mo Yan, Mai Jia and Tie Ning - are in South America with Li Keqiang.
Michel Hockx, director of the University of London's SOAS China Institute, said the writers had more of a role to play in cultural exchanges than boosting China's soft power. "These three writers are involved not so much because of what they write, but because of their positions in the official Chinese Writers Association," Hockx said. "Tie Ning is chairwoman, Mo Yan is one of the vice-chairs, and Mai Jia is chair of the Zhejiang provincial branch of the association."
Comments
Hockx' comment seems rather cynical to me.
A few facts to bear in mind:
Mo Yan is, after all, the 2012 Nobel Laureate for Literature (no matter what you think about his stand on censorship, the Party, etc). Many of his novels have been translated into Spanish.
Mai Jia's Decoded was one of the best received and best-selling novels in translation in the US in 2014. According to agent Gray Tan, rights have been sold for publication in 8 languages. It's already out in Spanish as El Don.
Arguably, the only obvious apparatchik is Tie Ning. But even she has been translated into English, Turkish and most recently, her Red Blouse without Buttons came out in Spanish.
Bruce, May 26, 2015, 6:01a.m.