zhōng guó中国yǐ wài以外de的huá yǔ华语wén xué文学:zhāng lì jiā张丽佳zuò jiā作家de的gù shì故事
About fifty million Chinese people live outside of China.
They not only do business but also enjoy writing and creating.
Zhang Lijia is a writer who grew up in China and now lives in London and Beijing.
She used to work in a rocket factory and now writes books and articles.
Zhang Lijia writes in English; she feels writing in English is very free because she can express more ideas without worrying about Chinese censorship.
She says English is not her native language, so she can boldly try different writing styles.
Although she now rarely writes in Chinese, she thinks Chinese is beautiful and has many interesting words and idioms.
Zhang Lijia believes that Chinese writers around the world write in different languages, and their works have many different stories and cultures.
She likes to use writing to express her feelings and thoughts.
Zhang Lijia's favorite Chinese writers are Cao Xueqin and Lu Xun; among foreign writers, she likes Tolstoy and Arundhati Roy.