Lijia Zhang

Lijia Zhang (Zhang Lijia) (born in May 1, 1964 in Nanjing) is a writer, journalist and public speaker. She describes herself as a communicator between China and the world^[1] and has given talks at conferences about contemporary China and lectured at many top universities including Stanford^[2] and Harvard and the University of Sydney.

Early in life she wanted to become a writer. At the age of 16 she had to start working in a factory instead of finishing her promising school career. During the decade at the factory she taught herself English.^[3]

In 2003 she was able to attend Goldsmiths, University of London, England to study creative writing. Her articles have been published in many newspapers and magazines. She co-authored China Remembers (OUP, 1999) and her memoir 'Socialism is Great!' A Worker's Memoir of The New China,^[4] is published by Atlas & Co. and Random House and has been translated into seven languages. During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she served as a producer for the BBC crew reporting the games. She was the subject of a BBC TV documentary Peschardt's People. Sponsored by the US State Department, she was a fellow on the University of Iowa's International Writing Program in 2009.^[5] Her first novel, Lotus, about prostitution set in modern day Shenzhen, was published in 2017.^[6]

She is a regular guest on ABC, BBC and CNN. Zhang was married to Calum MacLeod, a reporter for USA Today. She currently lives in Beijing with her two daughters.^[7]

References

External links

• Interview with Lijia Zhang, The Beijinger, March 10, 2008
• Writer and journalist Lijia Zhang, ABC, 5 September 2008
• Come the Workers!’, New York Times, May 30, 2009
• Speech at TEDx Beijing 2010
• Profile at China Speakers Agency