Letters

Impressions based on emptiness

While traveling in Turkey presently, I met a Japanese who worked in Xi'an for three years at the beginning of this century. Hearing that I am a freelance writer in China, he said: "Oh, life must be hard for you!"

"Why?" I asked. He felt embarrassed and dared not explain. "You probably mean because of censure?" I helped him. He agreed. I explained that as a writer, I always say what I really think, that I write about what I have seen with my own eyes, and that I often criticize China and the Chinese. If I agree with the government's position, it's not because I have been asked for or because I can gain advantages from it.