Some 20 years after reading an 18th century Chinese novel, Nicholas Jose still remembers it. The impression was so deep that the former cultural councilor with the Australian Embassy to China wrote a novel to fill in the missing chapters of the original work.
This year, Jose's novel Red Thread (Hong Xian) was translated by his long-time friend Li Yao and published in China.
"I am astonished at the deep understanding of the Chinese culture and history that Jose shows in his works," says Li, a member of the Writer's Association of China, who has introduced four of Jose's books to Chinese readers.
At the Australian Writers' Week, which runs from Sunday to Friday, Jose and six other prominent writers - Lily Brett, Anna Funder, Gail Jones, Christopher Koch, Christopher Kremmer and Ouyang Yu - meet Chinese readers in a series of book talks, workshops, panel discussions and forums at the Australian Embassy, nearby English library Bookworm, schools and community venues in Beijing and Chengdu of Sichuan province.
"We want to introduce to Chinese decision-makers and opinion leaders to a range of Australian writers who write about the world from unique Australian perspective. Australia is not just a mouthpiece for others - Australia has its own unique voice," says Australian Ambassador Dr Geoff Raby.
Most of Jose's works are about the intersection of foreigners with China, Raby says. "It's a reflection of his own life".
"China has become part of my life," Jose told China Daily at the opening of the Writers' Week on Sunday. "Being in China helps me see things in a different way."
When Jose chanced upon Six Chapters of a Floating Life (Fusheng Liuji), he was immediately fascinated by the autobiographic work of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) scholar Shen Fu.
Lin Yutang (1895-1976), who translated the book into English in 1935, said that Yun, the wife of Shen, was his favorite character of all Chinese literature. "Yun was a good wife, original, funny and intelligent," Jose says. "This is a beautiful book about traditions, food, tea, ordinary things in domestic life."
However, only four chapters of Shen's work have been found. In the book, Yun dies tragically after poverty forces the couple to give away their children.
In Red Thread, Jose tries to prevent that tragedy by sending the reincarnated characters - Chinese collector Shen Fuling (ling means soul) and Australian artist Ruth - into present day Shanghai.
Jose explains that the name Ruth comes from a character in the Bible who says: "Wherever you go, I'll go with you". "The name means staying together forever," Jose says.
"Jose has very deep feelings for China," says Li Yao, who first met Jose in 1988, when he had just translated The Tree of Man by Australian Nobel Prize winner Patrick White.
In a 1990 trip to Quanzhou, Fujian province, Li and Jose saw a huge ship that sank in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). "Jose walked around that ship many times. You could see he was inspired," Li recalls.
In The Rose Crossing (Hei Meigui), Jose links the death of two monarchs - Charlie I of England and Emperor Chongzhen of Ming Dynasty. Fleeing the political storms that struck the two empires in the East and West, a Chinese prince and British princess are brought by fate to a tropical island.
"Jose turned the decaying wood into a miracle," Li says.
This year, Li will work on another of Jose's novels: The Original Face. "I begin the story with a murder case in Sydney and end it unsolved. The real detective is a Chinese Taxi driver," Jose says.
Many Chinese went to Australia in the early 1990s. "Life was hard for them. They were invisible in Australian society. Some of them have come to success, others to failure," Jose says.
Raby praises Jose's latest book as "extremely important", as "it takes the interaction between Chinese and foreigners out of the context of China and puts it into another society, namely Australia".
"Although it's fictional, it describes how Chinese, who in Australia are in big numbers, are changing Australia by their presence. Equally, those Chinese who have come to Australia are changed by being in Australia," Raby says.
Though many Chinese look at Australia as having a fixed, unchanging Anglo-Saxon culture, and Australians look at China as having a fixed traditional Chinese culture, Raby says the reality is very different.
Both Chinese and Australians are extremely good at adapting and adopting - adapting to other cultures and adopting from other cultures. While making things from other cultures part of their own, they don't lose sight of what is enduring in their own culture, Raby says.
In April, two exhibitions will be held at the Australian Embassy. One will feature 80 huge aboriginal batik works from Australia. Another exhibition, which will be opened by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, will display visual art works by seven Chinese artists who moved to Australia around 1990 and established themselves there.
(China Daily March 12, 2008)