A Boston University professor who left China before the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests has not returned to his home country since the violence, but that has not stopped him from writing award-winning books on the country and its people.
But English professor Ha Jin’s most recent book takes place on the other side of the world.
Jin, a 1999 National Book Award winner and a 2004 Pulitzer Prize finalist, wrote all of his books in Chinese settings, up until his most recent novel, A Free Life, published this past October.
A Free Life is an immigrant’s story and Jin’s first book that takes place in the United States. While not autobiographical, Jin said it reflects some of his own experiences.
“At the micro level it is mine, but the big story is not mine,” Jin said. “The protagonist goes to New York to be a chef, and he returns to China. I didn’t do that, but it has to come from some personal experience. I needed certainty to write about his experiences. I could only say things I really knew.”
In contrast with his past novels, Jin said he had to be more careful with the details in his most recent book, because his audience knows more details of the United States, whereas American readers are not always familiar with Chinese lifestyles.
“The details had to have actual references and be accurate,” he said. “My books in China didn’t because people had no reference.”
Jin said he will continue to write novels about the United States. His next work – a collection of short stories – will be set in America.
“Writing the first draft is fun,” Jin said of his upcoming novel. “After that, it’s what you can endure.”
Jin said he was inspired to write novels when a friend showed him a book of poems with photos that showed the struggle of immigrants coming to the United States.
Jin changed his name from Xuefei Jin after he came to the United States and started writing. He said he hopes to visit China eventually, but for now, he is too busy.
“In China, you feel like you’re living in a web,” he said. “You have to always be aware because you don’t know what will happen to you. Here, as long as you don’t break the law, you’re safe.”
While the countries are very different, Jin said Chinese and American people are a little similar to each other.
“People are all basically the same,” he said. “The young people, people’s dreams – it’s the same.”
Jin said he came to the United States originally to study American literature at Brandeis University and later studied at BU, before becoming a full-time professor teaching migrant literature and fiction writing.
“He is adored by his students,” said College of Arts and Sciences English Director Leslie Epstein in an email. “One never feels far-removed in [<<>>], or any of [Jin’s books], from the spiritual life taking form deep within.”
