Xie Hong was born in 1966. In 1989 he graduated from the East China Normal University with a economics degree, before spending time in New Zealand and studying in the English department of the Waikato Institute of Technology. He began writing poetry in 1985, but turned his attention to fiction in 1993. His publications include the “Shenzhou Trilogy” of novels, the short story collections Am I Important? and Gentleness and Violence and the essay collection How Far is New Zealand? His short story “The End of the Game” was featured in the May 2015 issue of World Literature Today.