Lijia Zhang's Blog, page 25

Attending Lithuania book fair

I’ve been enjoying myself in Vilnius. After my arrival yesterday afternoon, I was met by my publisher, taken into a grand old hotel called Shakespeare, started interviews straight away. And a few receptions. How lovely to be looked after and to receive all these attention. Oh yes, excited to see the Lithuania edition of Lotus.

My oped in today’s SCMP about the return of Yellow Peril, triggered by coronavirus

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3050542/coronavirus-triggers-ugly-rash-racism-old-ideas-yellow-peril-and

my opinion piece in SCMP about women, motherhood and policy

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3048350/why-many-chinese-women-are-giving-motherhood-miss-its-not-just-high?from=singlemessage&isappinstalled=0

My events packed week in Shanghai

So busy in China, I didn’t even have time to post on social media. I was in Shanghai for a week, during which time I had six events. It started well on Sunday the 8th at M with a full-house. There I talked about the stories of my family, which illustrate the changing role of women in China. On Monday evening, I had an event with rising star Karoline Kan, the author of ‘Under the Red Skies’, discussing writing about China. Tuesday the 14 was a big day. On that morning, I gave a keynote speech at a business conference, using my story to illustrate how China has changed. It went down like a storm, if I do say so myself. On that evening, the Luxemburg consulate general and his lovely wife organized a dinner speech for me in their residence, attended by a group of diplomats and executives. The topic was again on gender. On Wednesday, I addressed a Toastmaster club in Jinan (mostly Chinese keen to learn English and public speaking). Many wrote to me, saying how much they felt inspired. And finally speaking at Royal Asiatic Society about my novel Lotus. It has been a morale-boosting trip.

my review of Xinran’s latest book The Promise, published in TLS

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/lovely-birds/

my oped in SCMP about how Chinese women are driving the high divorce rate

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3039370/chinas-divorce-rate-spiking-because-women-no-longer-have-accept?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=article&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1574822005

Wanel

https://nuvoices.com/2019/11/10/packed-room-of-40-joined-nuvoices-london-wanel-feat-lijia-zhang-on-lotus-and-chinas-sex-trade/

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Panel on hk

So the battle has been fought and we didn’t lose. This weekend, I participated in Battle of Ideas Festival held at the Barbican Center in London. I am pleased to report that the panel I took part about Hong Kong protests went very well, with my brilliant old friend Fenella Barber and new friend Cindy Yu, skillfully moderated by Austin Williams.

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my talk about Lotus and gender issues in China at SOAS on 7th of Nov

https://nuvoices.com/2019/10/26/nuvoices-london-presents-chinas-underground-sex-industry-and-lotus-with-lijia-zhang/?fbclid=IwAR1RQTvPoeXrx2svMhT1dWHENetyg7gBH1ZB1NoYbzQqqXHuJEmm_jbm9U0

the 100 China books you have to read

Delighted that my memoir made the cut.

https://supchina.com/2019/08/27/the-supchina-book-list/