Much Fan fare

After writing in solitude for several years, 2006 is proving to be an eventful and exciting year for Chinese author, Fan Wu. In addition to seeing the release of her debut novel, February Flowers, and the international publicity tour that goes with it two of her short stories are soon to be published in prestigious US literary journals.

Like Ming, her protagonist in February Flowers, Wu grew up on a farm in Southern China where her parents were exiled during the Cultural Revolution. Her family was allowed to return to the city in 1985 and Wu went on to attend university where she studied Chinese language and literature. She later moved to the US to complete a master's degree at Stanford University.

During this time Wu wrote poetry and it wasn't until 2002 that she tried her hand at fiction. The result was February Flowers, recently launched in Australia by Picador Asia, Macmillan Publishers' new Asian division.

Now living in California, Wu works at Yahoo! during the day and fills her evenings and weekends with writing. Her regular income gives Wu the freedom to write without financial pressure: ‘My daytime job is just for security; I want to be able to pay my bills.’ says Wu.

Despite the similarities between Ming and her creator, Wu insists that February Flowers is not autobiographical, rather, that her characters have borrowed from her experience and people she knows. ‘It’s very natural for writers to put their background into their writing. For me it’s not autobiographical but I do understand my characters very well.’

One of the reasons Wu chose to set her story in the early 90s was to move away from the trend of Chinese memoirs and to show Westerners that China is about more than the tragedies of the Cultural Revolution. ‘Probably Westerners are still more interested in hearing about all the tragedies in China but I feel there are enough memoirs. Young people want to have more hope, they want to look to the future so they shouldn't really live in the past.’

For Wu, whilst China has undergone a lot of changes since the economic reform of the 90s and the increasing influence of Western culture most Chinese still live by traditional values. And even the few that feel they are liberated must still live in a traditional society. ‘As an individual maybe you can think differently, “Oh, I am very Westernised”," says Wu, "but you are living in the culture. You can't say, “I'm not Chinese”; you carry the cultural identity.’

One facet of Chinese society Wu has seen influenced by the West is the publishing industry. Whilst she's excited by the emergence of more voices in Chinese literature she feels that the market is too commercialised. ‘These voices seem to focus more on the market rather than on literature as art so they're more like pop music, or trendy style fashion.’

Wu's approach to her writing is anything but commercially oriented. ‘I'm writing from my heart not for a particular market. I think if you're serious about writing you should only write for yourself.’

Karin van Heerwaarden

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Fan Wu

Latest book: February Flowers
Publisher: Picador Asia
Price: $32.95