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Qiu Xiaolong Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Qiu Xiaolong

Qiu Xiaolong

How to pronounce Qiu Xiaolong: chew shao-long (shao rhymes with how)

Qiu Xiaolong Biography

Qiu Xiaolong was born in Shanghai, China. He published prize-winning poetry, translation and criticism in Chinese in the eighties, and became a member of the Chinese Writers' Association. In 1988, he came to the United States as a Ford Foundation Fellow, started writing in English, and obtained a Ph.D. in comparative literature at Washington University. He is the author of Death of a Red Heroine (2000), A Loyal Character Dancer (2002), When Red Is Black (2004), A Case of Two Cities (2006), Red Mandarin Dress (2007), The Mao Case (2009), Don't Cry, Tai Lake (2012), Enigma of China (2013), Shanghai Redemption (2015), and Becoming Inspector Chen (in French and Italian, 2016 and 2017) in the critically acclaimed, award-winning Inspector Chen series; a collection of linked stories Years of Red Dust (serialized in Le Monde first, 2010); three poetry translations, Treasury of Chinese Love Poems (2003), Evoking T'ang (2007) and 100 Classic Chinese Poems (2010); and his own poetry collections, Lines Around China (2003) and Poems of Inspector Chen (2016). Qiu's books have sold over two million copies worldwide and have been published in twenty languages. He currently lives in St. Louis with his wife and daughter.

Qiu Xiaolong's website

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Interview

Qiu Xiaolong talks about his mystery series featuring Shanghai detective Chief Inspector Chen, poetry, food, and modern China.

Your books are so evocative and speak to the recent Chinese past, specifically the Chinese Cultural Revolution and post-Tiananmen Square, does the Government give you a hard time when you go back? Do people speak freely with you, or do you sense hesitance or avoidance on the officials part or friends to discuss life in China today?
I was worried about the official reaction when Death of a Red Heroine first came out, but the Chinese government must have been too busy with other concerns to notice a book written in English. Nobody talked to me about it during my subsequent visits back to China. Then about one year ago, a friend of mine got in touch with Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, which started translating the book into Chinese. And I have just got a copy of it this month. The fact that the novel can be published there really surprises me. At the same time, the Chinese version also surprises me with its dramatic changes and cuts. In the English version, the story happens in Shanghai, but in the Chinese version, Shanghai has become "H city." All the street names have consequently changed too. Not to mention the removal of politically sensitive words or sentences. So Shanghai has been shanghaied, or I have been ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Qiu Xiaolong at BookBrowse
The Shadow of the Empire jacket Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder jacket Becoming Inspector Chen jacket Shanghai Redemption jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Qiu Xiaolong but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
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