Hosted by Shanghai Writers’Association, 2011 Shanghai Writing Program has invited seven excellent international writers spending two months in Shanghai, China. The seven writers were invited to Hangzhou and they shared their ideas on "Travelling and Writing" and "Travel and Hometown" with several Chinese writers at Hangzhou International Information Exchange Center (HiCenter) on 13th Aug. We have prepared several questions for them and today we select some answers of theirs to share with you.

　　Linda Neil from Australia

　　Philippe Rahmy from Switzerland

　　Cristina Rascon from Mexico

　　Amal Chatterjee from England

    Colm Breathnach from Ireland

    1.What do you think of this trip to China? Is what you have seen and experienced in China different from what you had thought before? And what has (have) impressed you most?

    (Linda Neil from Australia)I had met and known a lot of Chinese people in Australia where I live so I was already impressed by their grace and diligence, professionally and socially speaking, and I was not surprised that the same qualities existed here in China. But while we hear stories about the amazing progress of modern China, it's only when you actually travel, or live for a while in a city like Shanghai, for instance, where I have been based or travel by the amazing fast train to a place like Hangzhou, that you realize the incredible progress that China has achieved in a relatively short amount of time. Despite the rapid growth, there is also a surprising sense of space in some of the bigger cities I have visited. What also strikes me in a place like Hangzhou is the almost eerie beauty of the lake and the surrounding areas. Knowing that the lakes and trees and mountains described by the classical Chinese poets in their poems still exist today in a place like the West Lake in Hangzhou also gives a great sense of time and timelessness and an awareness of how the distant past is still present in China as it moves towards its future. If there is anything I could pass onto modern China it's to say "Treasure and honour this past, because it is so rich and still full of relevant messages for the present and the future".

    2.Having watched the opera show The Impressions of the West Lake, do you think your impression of the West Lake or the city Hangzhou is similar to the show? Why? What's your impression then? Could you please use five adjectives to describe your impressions? Where would you recommend in Hangzhou to your relatives and friends?

    (Colm Breathnach from Ireland)What I saw of Hangzhou was mainly the area around the lake and my impression of Hangzhou was similar to the impression given in the show because all along the bank of the lake there are statues and places of historical and cultural interest that correspond to the show or illustrate how important the local traditions are to the people of Hangzhou. We had the pleasure of being taken out around the lake on a boat trip and I would describe the lake as tranquil and scenic and the gardens along the lake as stimulating and extensive and of course the city seemed to be bustling all the time.

    (Linda Neil)The performance on the West Lake encapsulated the mythical aspect of Hangzhou, its stories, its traditions, its aesthetic, and its history. Hangzhou, I also discovered, is a modern and vibrant city and in the short time I was there I met Chinese people who were well-traveled, articulate and exceptionally helpful. This impressed me most: the helpful and considerate the people I met. For instance, I met a young student in Hangzhou who helped me find my way on the bus into town from the West Lake. She then showed me around the Lake, and accompanied me back almost to my hotel. I was very impressed by her grace, generosity and modesty as well as her intelligence and curiosity about the world. The qualities of grace, beauty and refinement that I experienced in my Hangzhou friend were also presented in the performance on the West Lake. Five adjectives; Serene, mystical, vibrant, modern, ancient, timeless—oops, that’s six.

    3.Do you think this trip to China perfect? In your opinion what elements should a perfect travelling contain and what's the significance of the travelling?

    (Philippe Rahmy from Switzerland)Perfection is to me the contrary of beauty. Beauty can only exist when you feel the imperfection and the vulnerability of life, of every one's life. No human is perfect. Perfection is a dream, or, more likely, a nightmare... A perfect trip is a boring trip. I like trips with unexpected difficulties and unexpected joy.I like it when nothing happens how it was planned, when I meet people who open their hearts, who give me their friendship which also means who share with me their pain. Then I could say that a "perfect" trip is a trip allowing me to dive deeply inside of our common humanity made of sufferings, deceptions, hope and joy.

    4.How will this trip to China affect your future writing? In your opinion how does the travelling relate to the writing? And how

    much percentage does the travelling or the writing occupy in your life?

    (Cristina Rascon from Mexico)There are different kinds of travelling. You have the tourist and the traveler. The tourist looks for safe transportation and safe food. He goes back to his country being the same person, with lots of pictures. But the traveler is looking forward to get lost, to eat new things, to change dates and to change himself. He goes back to his country being affected by his travelling, he becomes another person while travelling. There is also another kind of travelling: migration, or exile. As I am from Mexico, it is an important topic in my writing. I, myself, have lived in several countries, so I know what the nostalgia behind this kind of travelling is. As a writer, I rather write as a traveler or as a migrant, but not as a tourist. That is, I would like to be transformed by my characters, I would like to be transformed by the country I visit, by the writing itself. And I hope my readers feel such transformation when they visit my writing-land.

    (Amal Chatterjee from England)I travel roughly 3 months a year. Often to familiar places but always to new ones too. Writing is always in my life, even when I'm not writing, it is there, developing, waiting to happen.

By Liu Yimei