Mai Jia says he writes because of loneliness and feels better when he writes the loneliness out.(Photo: China Daily/Li Xiaoliang)
Mai Jia's first novel, Decoded, which was included by The Economist in its top 10 fiction list in 2014, has been translated into more than 30 languages. Here, the author reveals where he draws his inspiration from.
The Mao Dun Literature Prize winner Mai Jia is one of the most popular contemporary Chinese writers among foreign readers. The first contemporary Chinese writer included in Penguin Classics after Lu Xun, Qian Zhongshu and Eileen Chang, he is regarded as China's Dan Brown or John Le Carre.
His first novel, Decoded, which was included by The Economist in its top 10 fiction list in 2014, has been translated into more than 30 languages.
This month, Mai Jia is going to Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Austria for the publication of the Danish and German versions of Decoded. He will then go to London for the publication by Penguin of the English version of his second novel, In the Dark. That work won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2008.
In May, the Hebrew version of Decoded will come out in Israel.
In Decoded, protagonist Rong Jinzhen is an autistic math prodigy, recruited by the national secret service 701 to crack two highly advanced codes－Purple and Black.
In the Dark, which comprises three parts, has stories about espionage told through seven narrators. The lead characters in the work are also geniuses.
In Mai Jia's novels, the prodigies wrestle alone with riddles, puzzles and secrets, seeking the truth and finally die or go mad.
This is why his work is different from typical spy novels.
A fan of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, a key figure in Spanish-language literature, Mai Jia tries to explore the inner conflicts of a human being and his fate. His postmodern storytelling style typically includes diaries, interviews and excerpts besides the omnipotent narrator.
The 52-year-old writer says life is lonely and mysterious, and full of contingencies.
"There is a saying, which is also true for me－do not try to understand your fate," he says.
This recognition is based on his personal experiences.
Mai Jia, the pen name of Jiang Benhu, was born in a village in Zhejiang province, not far from Hangzhou, in 1964.
When he was little, his father always told him that the family must leave the home they had lived for generations. The reason was that in front of their fine house, the family's old enemy had built a house at a higher level and had painted the outside red.
The enemy wanted to ruin the Jiang family's feng shui, and ruin their luck. Strangely, after the red house was completed, the fortunes of the Jiang family began to decline.
To fight the curse, Mai Jia's grandfather tried a lot of things, including turning to Christianity. Whatever the reason, the family's fortunes then began to improve, and more grandsons were born.
However, in the 1950s and 1960s, the practice of Christianity was frowned upon in China, and Mai Jia's father thus tried other methods to get the curse lifted, including raising dogs, putting stone lions in front of the gate and killing roosters.
