Qian Xiaohong is the protagonist of Northern Girls, a novel by Sheng Keyi (盛可以) published last week in English translation (the original Chinese book was titled Bei Mei 北妹). The novel draws on Sheng Keyi’s personal experience: she too left rural Hunan to seek her fortune in Shenzhen...

Northern Girls was Sheng’s first novel, written in 2002 and originally published in 2004. She has since published five novels, with a sixth on the way, as well as several short stories. She tackles difficult aspects of Chinese society, and she says that she writes what she wants to: She has several times chosen to let her work go unpublished rather than neuter it to meet the censorship requirements of a domestic publishing house. She is widely respected by the Chinese literary community, and is considered one of the better female writers of her time. The following is an interview with her about the new English-language release (the original Chinese is at the bottom of the English)...