Can Xue is well-acquainted with one of the most turbulent periods of the 20th century.

She was born just a few years before China’s Cultural Revolution, which plunged the country into chaos and bloodshed.

As a result of the hardline Communist revolution, her father, an editorial director at a newspaper, was sent to the countryside and forced to work in manual labor. She was forced to do the same thing by her mother, who worked for the same publication.

Due to this, she was unable to continue her education, graduating only from elementary school.

After almost 30 years, Can Xue began writing again. Deng Xiaohua, better known as Can Xue, was born in Hunan province in 1953.

She was raised surrounded by philosophy books owned by her father, who studied Marxism.

All of that changed when the Cultural Revolution began – a campaign launched by Mao Zedong to remove capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from society.

A wide range of abuses were carried out across the country against her parents, including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and property seizures. As a result, she was deprived of any opportunity to receive formal education. Despite this, she continued to enjoy reading and writing. After learning English, she began reading Western literature extensively.

She began writing and developing her avant-garde style in the 1980s.

She has published hundreds of novels, novellas, and short stories, several of which have been translated into English.

Her novel The Last Lover won the Best Translated Book Award in 2015. Her novel “Love in the New Millennium” was also longlisted for the International Booker prize.