Life

He and Jimu: Current engagements

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-14 07:59

He Xiaozhu:

Daydream in Tibet (Zangdi Bairimeng), 2009, is about a playwright suffering from writer's block. One day he is kidnapped and taken to Tibet. The novel is an action-packed thriller set on the Sichuan-Tibet highway.

The Himalaya Dictionary (Ximalaya Cidian), 2010, combines traditional Tibetan culture and current realities, as well as He's personal take on these subjects. He says he's planning an extensive tour of Tibet and a possible next book. "One is not enough," he says.

Time Table (Shijianbiao), due out in 2011, is a compilation of poems written in the past decade. "It's like a diary of my life and thoughts in the last 10 years," He says.

He has ambitious plans for a novel that will see innovation in narration and structure. "It will have a light touch and appeal to a wider audience than those who read my poetry," He says.

He almost obsessively updates his blog (Library of He Xiaozhu's Works, http://blog.sina.com.cn/hexiaozhu), to keep in touch with fellow writers and fans, and equally importantly, to make sure he does not lose any of his writing, which happened once, when his computer broke down.

Jimu Langge:

Jimu has not published anything substantial since his last collection of poems, The Silent Revolver (Jingqiaoqiao de Zuolun), 2002. The reason is he's working on a novel, Pre-eminent Horse (Ming Ma), which explores the life of the Yi ethnic people. For the past 10 years, Jimu has been reading up all he can on the subject, including county annals of Yi-populated areas, and researching Yi cultural practices.

An old saying among Yi people goes: "A man is worth a horse, and a horse is worth a liter of wine," which reflects their obsessive love of horses and riding. "Horses, wine, women and a gun are what make a Yi male's life exciting," Jimu says.

Jimu, typically, has not updated his blog (Jimu Langge's Things, http://wenqu.mblogger.cn/jimulangge/) in a while.

China Daily