Su Tong, born as Tong Zhonggui in 1963, is regarded as one of the pioneering novelists in China. In the eighties he became well known as one af the writers of the so called Chinese avantgarde.
Internationally, Tong achieved fame with his short novel Wives and Concubines, which was adapted into the film, Raise the Red Lantern in 1991 by director Zhang Yimou. The book has since been published under the filmtitle. Su Tong has written six full-length novels and over 200 short stories, some of which have been translated into English, German, Italian and French. Several titles have been published in Dutch translation (by Mark Leenhouts): De rode lantaarn (Contact, 1994/Pandora, 1999), Drie lantaarns (Amerika, 1999), Rijst (De Geus, 1997), Mijn leven als keizer (De Geus, 2006) and Binu en de Chinese muur (De Bezige Bij, 2009). Furthermore a number of short stories appeared in Dutch translation in literary magazines such as Raster, De Brakke Hond and Het trage vuur.
Both Su Tong and Mian Mian will be interviewed by Margot Dijkgraaf in the Café Beijing-programme on September 5 at Manuscripta, the opening of the new book season in Amsterdam. This coincides with the Beijing International Book Fair 2011, which hosts The Netherlands as Country of Honour. Later in September both Su Tong and Mian Mian will give lectures at Spui25 in Amsterdam and at the International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden, followed by performances in Belgium and France.
The residency of Su Tong and Mian Mian is kindly supported by the International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden.
