Mark Leenhouts is the author of Leaving the World to Enter the World: Han Shaogong and Chinese Root-Seeking Literature (2005) and the translator of several works of Han Shaogong into Dutch, notably A Dictionary of Maqiao. Leenhouts is a literary critic for a leading Dutch newspaper and was editor and cofounder of Het trage vuur (Slow Fire), a Dutch magazine for Chinese literature. His other translations include work by Su Tong, Bi Feiyu, Yan Lianke, and Bai Xianyong. Currently he is working on Qian Zhongshu's Fortress Besieged and Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber.
The following essay is adapted from a talk given at the symposium honoring Han Shaogong, winner of the 2011 Newman Prize for Children’s Literature, at the University of Oklahoma in February 2011.…
