Sinophile's novel perspective

When Williams says that he has drawn on the Chinese people he had dealings with in his business life to create his characters, I believe he has also drawn on the continuation of personality between his forefathers and himself, and the same is true with people around the world.

Despite the great changes that have taken place over the past centuries, human nature remains unchanged. That is where a good historical novel establishes a relevance between what happened some 100 years ago and what is happening today.

As China integrates with the rest of the world in this increasingly globalized planet, the cultural clashes are still there and so is the situation in which moral choices have to be made.

Think of the dilemma behind made-in-China brands. We need jobs to feed the large number of surplus rural workers and we need the income from these exports to speed up the construction of infrastructure and modernize our industries. But, at the same time, the production of such brands has contaminated our land and air, which will make life harder for us in the long term. We have been caught in similar dilemmas before and it is hard to make a choice.

Sometimes, seemingly good choices will result in disasters and vice versa. Williams' historical novels may provide us with a historical perspective to view what happens today. That is where, I believe, his novels appeal to both Western and Eastern readers.

(China Daily 03/11/2008 page20)