Yu: When we were young we were especially afraid of hooligans; gang fights on the street was a common occurance. In the ten years from age seven to seventeen I experienced the Cultural Revolution, and it's impossible for it to not have affected me. Rationally speaking, I don't identify with violence, but when I write I become extremely stimulated. The later part of "Brothers" is like this. Perhaps this is a kind of conflict, knowing that a man is bad but in one's heart still liking him.

Zhang: It's said that from "A Shout Through the Rain" you changed direction towards more "real" descriptions, or realism. Do you agree with this interpretation?

Yu: I believe that formally there is a change, but if you want to say it's realism, than "1976" is actually already like that. An author's writing will not, without reason, take a sudden turn. When they experience a change, go consider their works again and you will find that it still possesses the same elements as before. It's like a kite; no matter how far it flies, the string is still attached to a hand. By writing "To Live" I understood something-- that when a certain subject attracts an author, the author shouldn't use their previous writing style, but instead search for the most suitable form of expression. Perhaps it's precisely because of this that I don't stop changing.

Zhang: "To Live" received numerous literary prizes and the lasting favor of readers. Where do you think the success mainly stemmed from? What do you imply when you say that you wrote a "high" work? How is it related to what you have previously called "hypocritical works"?

Yu: "Hypocritical works" take a different form of expression from a different time, that's all. In truth,"hypocritical works" are based on the premise of China just emerging from the Cultural Revolution and there were only eight model theater plays and Hao Ran's fiction. In the 1980's, the post-Cultural Revolution "sear" and "reflective" literature used a fixed pattern. So I urgently wanted to use a new style. It seems unrealistic but it expresses reality. During the 80's I wanted to use a kind of un-real form of expression, but according to convention, today's real way of life is actually not real, we live in a place that isn't reality, and to express that directly is sufficient enough.

Zhang: "Xu Sanguan Selling his Blood" is a work that people from all walks of life can read. The story's simplicity and humour is contrasted by its richness and pity. What urged you to write this kind of work? What inspiration? Was it personal experience, were you personally drawn to it, or was it something else?

Yu: I was first inspired with "feelings of pity" by the line from a John Donne, "Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." Hemmingway quotes that in "For Whom the Bell Tolls", which I read while I was still a dentist. That really has influenced me my whole life... I know that in life it's possibly going to be very difficult to become this kind of person, but I try hard to invent world's in order to become this kind of person, to convey this "highness".