To know China, read Chinese literature

There are various reasons why people read modern Chinese literature.

The works are crowned and affirmed by big literary awards, or clearly exotic and therefore must be engulfing, or political enough that readers feel they're let in on forbidden secrets.

That was the conclusion of Dutch translator and Sinologist Huberdina Johanna Marijnissen, who spoke at the Symposium on Sinologists and International Cultural Dialogue in early December.