Yu Hua

The naturally sanguine, chain-smoking, chatty enfant terrible of contemporary Chinese literature Yu Hua spoke with Pankaj Mishra of The New York Times in an article called The Bonfire of China's Vanities published on Jan 23.

On Zhang Yimou (in defense of him being a sell-out).

"He would have reached the end of his career very quickly had he persisted in making films like 'To Live'."

On China's rising nationalism.

"I am really worried about the new nationalism. Anything slightly critical of China appears in foreign media, and the nationalists are swarming online, attacking it."

On The New York Times, angry youth, Chinese present form of capitalism.

"The New York Times doesn’t criticize China as much as it criticizes America. Basically they are ignorant. They think the American media is always praising American presidents. The problem is that the younger generation hasn’t lived through poverty, collectivism; it is lacking in restraint, its references are very few, the experience is so limited."
"These young nationalists have no sense of ambivalence, no idea of life’s ambiguities. But when times are hard, their attitude will change, become more mature, and because capitalism in this form cannot go on in China, it has to end, those hard times will come soon.”

Full article.