Interview | Han Dong | Granta Magazine

Han Dong | Interview

Han Dong & Philip Hand

‘Inflaming readers isn’t a good thing; I want to entice them.’

Han Dong

Han Dong was born in 1961 in Nanjing, and shortly afterwards he and his parents were banished to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. He later studied Shandong University, graduating in 1982, and went on to teach philosophy in colleges in Xi’an and Nanjing. Han Dong began writing in 1980 and by the 1990s had became renowned as one of the finest poets of his generation. He has since become increasingly influential as an essayist, short story writer, blogger and novelist. His story ‘The Wig’ was the focus of the 2012 Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize.

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Philip Hand

Philip Hand is a translator who lives and works in Xiamen, in the south east of China. He studied Chinese and linguistics at university in the UK, then went to China to teach English. He did a spell on a local English language newspaper, where he was forbidden from reporting on one of China’s few successful environmental protests.

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