That's Yang Guang, one of the better journalists at the China Daily (and I'm not just saying that because she quotes us!).

Eric Abrahamsen, April 24, 2010, 2:06a.m.

It was an excellent article, and honestly I am quite surprised that it originated at China Daily.

I myself agree with both camps: electronic media ie blogs are slowly strangling literature as we know it, but at the same time, Chinese literature continues to progress in spite of the ever-shortening attention span of the present generation. But its zenith is still a long way off.

As for Kubin's comments, did he really say this? Since when is knowing English and reading western novels a prerequisite for Chinese authors? That is like saying John Steinbeck was an ignoramus because he didn't speak putonghua.

Tom Carter, April 25, 2010, 3:36a.m.

@Tom

He did indeed say such things, though I translated what he said from the French. See Kubin Trashes Chinese Lit and Names Names too.

Bruce, April 25, 2010, 4:09a.m.

I think we can all recognize that the comments by Wolfgang Kubin are ignorant. Were any of the authors in premodern China aware of the West? Did they speak English? Was the stuff they wrote any good (just to be extra nice, try judging them on their own standards)?

Any way you slice it, stating that a Chinese author for some absurd reason has to be an expert on Western literature is just that - absurd.

But the interesting thing is that the line of thought I'm presenting above can also lead down a disturbing nationalistic path. Saying that the West doesn't understand China is a favorite pastime of many people who are supposedly guardians of Chinese literature and culture, and I don't see how that's any more valid than the nonsense from Kubin. In that sense, the implications of the article are a little troubling. But implications always are.

Just tossing in my 2 cents.

Mike Day, April 28, 2010, 2:07a.m.