Self-improvement

Hong and his creator have much in common: They share nominal initials and alma maters, and both work with miscarriages of justice. When asked where he and his literary doppelganger diverge, He says, "He's taller than me." The writer also adds that Hong enjoys the social aspect of being a practicing lawyer whereas his more academic creator enjoys a life of solitude with plenty of time to think and write.

In 2008, a 15-volume set of He's works was released, including his novels and an accompanying seminar was held. The novelist, a China Writers Association member, admits facing a jury of his literary peers was nerve-racking, saying that his fellows thought his work too didactic, the narratives needing to stay more true to the characters and their motivations. In a move uncommon for Western writers but in keeping with He's scholarly fastidiousness, he revised his novels for the Chinese market in 2009, partially in line with their recommendations and partially to update the legal content.

At the Bookworm, He reveals how English was not the first foreign language to host his work. To his surprise, a French Chinese translation student once contacted him stating she wished to write her dissertation on his literary works. She subsequently traveled to Beijing to meet He. Some time later, she got in touch with the author to tell him that a French publisher was interested in his work. Italian and Spanish translations soon followed.

The writer says at the talk that all of this took him aback as he had written his novels solely with a Chinese audience in mind. Eventually, Penguin Australia took notice and in 2012, an English-language version of He's first novel Crime of Blood was released, entitled Hanging Devils: Hong Jun Investigates. Its French translation, Crime De Sang, had previously made it onto The Guardian's list of top 10 Asian crime fiction in 2007.

So do the translations deviate from the original works? At the Bookworm event, He states that his Penguin editor did make profound changes to the ending. In the original, the fate of a character close to Hong is made explicit whereas it is left open ended in the translation. Interestingly, He says that a Chinese readership would find such ambiguity a cheat while he supposes that Western readers prefer to make up their own theories once the story ends.

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