Red Dust Was About The

In February Of This Year I Returned To China To Research My Next Book. The Authorities Know About The Novels Of Mine That Have Been Published In The West, Including The Latest One, Beijing Coma, About A Student Shot In Tiananmen Square, But So Far Have Allowed Me To Return.

I Believe That The Power Of Literature Is Stronger Than The Power Of Tyranny.

I Will Not Let A Political Party Tell Me How To Live, When To Die Or What To Believe In. Our Souls Are Linked To The Universe, But We Can Never See Heaven, Because Our Flesh Ties Us To The Earth And The People Around Us. But When The People Around You Have Lost Their Will To Be Free, Then Earth Becomes A Hell.

I Left Beijing In 1987, Shortly Before My Books Were Banned There, But Have Returned Continually.

My Hope Is That The Chinese Government Will Come To Realise That It Is Futile To Repress Free Speech, And That Contrary To What They Believe A Regime's Strength Rests Not Its Suppression Of A Plurality Of Opinions And Ideas, But In Its Capacity And Willingness To Encourage Them.