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China still have controls over writings: Lijia Zhang

The Chinese government still exercised control over writings in the country, Chinese author Lijia Zhang said today.

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The Chinese government still exercised control over writings in the country, Chinese author Lijia Zhang said today.

"The flow of information is still controlled. It is not easy to publish a book there. My new work in English is yet to be published there," Zhang said during a conversation with Indian author Daman Singh at the Kovalam literary festival.

Zhang, who is here with her new work `Socialism is Great,' an account of her life in younger days, said Chinese authorities, however, had made a conscious strategic retreat in many areas post-Tiannenmen Square uprising in 1989.

Zhang said she did not think China was `perfect' as human rights abuses and injustices were still there. "However, The government has now consciously given more freedom to people. The ordinary people feel free as their private lives are not affected as it was before," she said.

Zhang, who had to quit school at the age of 16 to join a factory to earn a living, said the eighties were an exciting period for China which witnessed a great transformation. The people's movements in the period changed the country to become what it was today, she said.

Freedom was percolating in today's China and ambitious young professionals had the chance to jump out of the system if they wanted.

Zhang said learning English while she was working in the factory opened up possibilities before her and writing in English `freed' her. "I love writing in English. It is an adventure and challenge," the author, whose `Socialism is Great' was first published in New York, said.

Stating that she was neither a `dissident' nor did she belong to any organisation, Zhang said some of the West's fears about China were out of ignorance.

South African journalist and writer Zubeida Jaffer, who read out portions from new book `Love in the Time of Treason,' said the essence of the struggle of people in the apartheid era was the right to live as human beings.

Jaffer, who had to undergo imprisonment twice during the apartheid days for her reports on police killings in the media, said she was strongly influenced by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

Jaffer, whose grandfather was an Indian, said she was put in the `coloured' category during apartheid and was not allowed to join schools for Whites. Being a bright student, she was later allowed to join university with `special permission.'

The festival also had a conversation session between journalist-author Manu Joseph, whose book `Serious Men' has recently been published and Suresh Menon.

On his work, Manu Joseph said he was greatly influenced by life in Madras (Chennai). He said he had a liking for Tamil films and was not ashamed of drama in his story. "Melodrama is a tool and is a form of realism. I like to employ the logic of screenplay in my writing," he said.

Graphic novelist Sarnath Banerjee also made a presentation on his works.

Earlier in the morning, the two-day festival was inaugurated by state Culture Minister MA Baby. Jnanpith laureate ONV Kurup presided. Young poet and novelist Zaheera Thangal was awarded the Kovalam Literary Festival (KLF) award for emerging writers at the function.

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