Inspired by calligraphy, antiques and the Buddha

The two-story apartment where Jia Pingwa writes and meets guests is filled from floor to ceiling with hundreds of statues, pottery, wood carvings and strangely-shaped stones, besides the writer-cum-calligrapher/painter's own works.

"I don't collect them to make profits," Jia explains. "They help create an ambiance for my writing."

Like in his previous dwellings - be it a 6-square-meter kitchen in a publishing house's dormitory or a humble abode in a village for migrant farmers in the outskirts of Xi'an - Jia gives his study a grand title, Shang Shu Fang (Imperial Study).