Tagarchief: oost en west

New York Times interviewed, 9-th April 2014, Lulu Wang：Why in Dutch?

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By William Grimes

1. Why did you go to the effort of learning Dutch, and writing in Dutch, when you already knew English, and the number of English-speaking readers is much larger than the Dutch audience? Was this just a series of small accidents? That is, you were invited to teach in Maastricht, then you wrote a small article in Dutch, then the newspaper asked you to write more, then you decided you wanted to write fiction.

Lulu: I wanted to go to an English-speaking country badly, but I did not have a chance. When I got a contract to teach at a college in Maatricht, the Netherlands, I planned to start a study for the PH.D degree in the Great Britain after a year saving money by working in Maatricht.

Shortly after my arrival in Maatricht I fell in love with the Dutch language because of a Dutch author Annie M. G. Schmidt. I thought that the Dutch language was as beautiful as she wrote. That was why I decided to stay in this country to learn to write in this language.

Now, after 26 years, I do not know if that was a good decision. First of all, the Dutch language is not used widely in the world. Because of its limited number of writers and readers, Dutch could and can not evolve so quickly as English, French, German and other world-languages. Secondly, this country is rather small and commercial-minded, culture does not have a broad basis of support as in some bigger countries, which are interested in much more aspects than in commerce. Thirdly, the Netherlands, unlike some bigger countries, does not have the tradition that many foreign writers use this language to enrich it. The attitude of the Dutch literary critique for foreign writers who experiment full of love and passion with this language is not always open-minded, which does not stimulate foreign writers to contribute to enriching the language.

This is what I discovered years after I started learning this language and writing in it. Nevertherless, I do not regret writing in Dutch. If there is only one writer left in the world to write in Dutch, I will be that one. I love the Netherlands and her language because they have become part of me.

Second: Are there things you can say in Dutch that you cannot say in Mandarin? That is, are there any advantages to writing in Dutch, does it free you in any way?

Lulu: Compared with the China that I knew, the Netherlands is a free and open-minded country. This gives me much space to write and to grow as a open-minded person. I am grateful for it. Lots of things that would make me shy to express in Chinese, I can write in Dutch. Yes, Dutch made me free in many aspects.

Finally, do you in any sense regard yourself as a Dutch writer? If circumstances were different, would you prefer to be writing in mandarin?

Lulu:Yes, I regard myself as a Dutch writer. I wrote from my 22 years of age in Chinese and won a Chinese prise for prose when I was 24 years old. Now I write again in Chinese. I love writing in Chinese too. I write in both languages.

Nederland, wo ai ni

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Klik hier om het boek te bestellen.
Je kunt kiezen tussen:
NL versie Nederland, wo ai ni
– BE versie Regenland, wo ai ni

  • Een uitgebreide multimedia en interactieve book app, €7,99

– Apple versie Nederland/Regenland,
wo ai ni
– Android versie Nederland/Regenland, wo ai ni

  • Papieren boek, €12,50 euro

(Lulu zal het boek voor je signeren en voorzien van een persoonlijke boodschap)
– NL versie Nederland, wo ai ni
– BE versie Regenland, wo ai ni

  • E-book, vanaf 2,99 euro.

Klik hier om het E-bookte downloaden. Op de webpagina scrol naar beneden en zoek naar de titel Nederland, wo ai ni of Regenland, wo ai ni. Kies in welke vorm je dit boek wilt lezen.

Cultural ambassador Lulu Wang

By Elsbeth van Paridon

China.org.cn, April 1, 2014

Dutch-Chinese author Lulu Wang is a true Beijinger by birth. She was born in the Chinese capital on Dec. 22, 1960, and moved to The Netherlands in 1986. Her big literary break came when she published “The Lily Theater,” giving an accurate and detailed account of the author’s childhood and teenage years, in 1997, selling almost 1 million copies in The Netherlands alone. The debut also gained her several awards, including the 1999 International Nonino Prize. Ever since she tasted that first bite of success, Wang has continued publishing novels, short stories and poetry on a regular basis.

Schrijfster Lulu Wang.(Den Haag 10-08-10)Foto:Frank Jansen

Lulu Wang, Beijing-born, Holland-resident (and successful) author.

Aside from her many literary efforts, Wang has ventured into the fields of publishing in recent years, Lulu Wang Publishing (2012), short films and book apps. One example of the latter, at the same time adding a new twist to her writing, was her 2013 publication “Summer full of Love” (originally called “Zomervolliefde” in Dutch or “爱满夏天” in Chinese).

The work was a bilingual (Dutch-Chinese) multimedia book application featuring short poems about love, a song and a short film. Nevertheless, this was not by any means Wang’s first multi format release; in 2012, she became one of the first literary authors to release a full-on interactive multimedia publication in the form of “Holland, wo ai ni” (originally “Nederland, wo ai ni”) on both the national and international level.

At this very moment, Wang is putting the final touches on her soon to be released (March 2014) “Adam and Eve in China” (originally “Adam en Eva in China”), a non-fictional work in which she promises “to add two new dimensions fans may not be expecting from her.” The work will become available as a free e-book, and will also be offered in other formats.

Since 2013, Wang returned to her birth roots and took up a column for the leading Chinese magazine Shijie Bolan, a publication discussing all that lies abroad. From August last year onwards, she could add Shijie Zhishi magazine to that list as well. For both magazines, Wang mainly discusses life, and all it entails, in Holland and Belgium.

Aside from the books, short films, poems, columns and all the other items mentioned above, Wang is also active in the field of lecturing, giving various lectures about Chinese culture, the (possible) cultural differences between The Netherlands and China and related topics. In doing so, Wang hopes to forge a bridge between Western and Chinese cultures. I for one look forward to reading what Adam and Eve will get up to in China. Beijing, in Wang you have found a true multinational and multi-faceted ambassador.