As the global publishing industry converges once again at the annual London Book Fair from Tuesday to Thursday, Chinese writer and publisher Xu Zhiyuan highlighted how China's emerging generation of writers is increasingly telling stories with a global perspective.
In a conversation with British translator Nicky Harman, who focuses on Chinese contemporary fiction, at a session themed History and Travel: New Writing from China on Tuesday, Xu shared his thoughts on new generation of Chinese writers and why he hopes to encourage them to travel the world and write about it with their own perspectives.
"The new generation of Chinese writers is emerging. They are more globalized and more confident when interacting with the wider world, compared to the previous generations," Xu said.
Since 2018, the Sailors Program, sponsored by the One-Way Street Foundation with Xu as the co-founder, has supported more than 50 young writers, documentary filmmakers, photographers, and contemporary artists to travel and capture the world through their creative works.
Xu said the initiative was inspired by his observations during his travels around the world.
"I found some fantastic books about places like Egypt, India or Bhutan were written by English-language authors. There were seldom narratives or stories from a Chinese perspective." Xu said.
He emphasized that in an era of AI revolution, creators are flooded with repetitive, easily replicated information. Projects like the Sailors Program that encourage young creators to go out into the world and experience it firsthand become invaluable.
As the biographer of Liang Qichao, Xu also noted that, while studying this modern Chinese thinker, he found that many of Liang's significant ideas and writings were born from cross-cultural travel.
Deeper meanings were indicated in Xu's words during the conversation.
"China is a growing giant in the world. Its moves, even small ones, can have a big impact. So we have to be more understanding in order to deal with the world smoothly," he said.
"As the whole world is watching China, it's our responsibility as writers and cultural participants to show the world our empathy, curiosity, and intellectual power."
The aspiration also echoes with Xu's motivation when he launched his well-known program Thirteen Talks, a long-form interview show featuring in-depth conversations with public figures.
"We found that there is a lot of miscommunication between China and the world. And we lacked more multi languages to engage with different cultures. So we try to do something, for example, building a bridge," Xu said.
"We interviewed Japanese musician, American director, and overseas Chinese writers, hoping to build some kind of dialogue."
Explaining the key phase "new writing" in the session's theme, Xu said it goes beyond traditional literary forms such as novels and poetry, featuring travel writing, historical and biographical works—forms of creative non-fiction that directly engage with both China and the wider world.
He also said observations on China's new frontiers, including technology change, economic transformation, and shifts in social mentality, will capture the interest of international readers in the future, rather than stereotypes in the past narratives.
In addition to Xu's conversation, another panel discussion on Wednesday brought together writers from China, Malaysia, and Ireland to share their thoughts under the theme Stitching the World: Memory and the Body.
Works from writers supported by the Sailors Program were also exhibited at the book fair, allowing international audiences to engage with literature from a new generation of Chinese writers.
