Interview: Mingmei Yip on narrative, Chinese femmes fatales, and chickens feet

The old adage 'write what you know' can be fraught when what is familiar to the writer isn't necessarily familiar to the reader.

Having grown up in Hong Kong, acclaimed author Mingmei Yip is always conscious about how her own experiences may differ from those of her readers, and about how cultural differences may arise not just in the content of a story, but even in the way it's told.

'The style and language of the novels written several hundred years ago were very different from contemporary works,' she says, when asked about the stylistic differences between the Western and Eastern literary traditions.

'Some were even written in a certain dialects that have to be translated into modern Chinese to be understood.'

Though she believes that the most important thing is to tell a compelling storysuch stories resonate universallyshe also strives to ensure that her stories are able to be understood by those from other backgrounds.

'Because I try to offer my readers an exotic culture, I also make sure that what I provide can be enjoyed by my English language readers,' she says.

This can be a challenging task, however.

'Many Chinese phrases are hard to translate into English in a way that makes sense,' she says. 'Here's an example: 'Reveal the mountain and expose the water.' It sounds mysterious but simply means to describe things in detail.'

An even stranger example is the phrase 'looking for cracks to put in worms', which means to spread rumours.

Of course, in addition to linguistic differences, there are cultural ones as well, and these can be used to help enliven a narrative.

'The Chinese love foods that sound strange and sometimes even repulsive to Westerners,' she says, listing exotic morsels such as jellyfish, sea-slugs, bear's paws, fish lips, and of course, chicken's feet.

For the Chinese, however, these dishes are more than simply food. They also have medicinal value, and awareness of this can add an interesting dimension to a story.

'Almost all older generation Chinese believe in yixing buxing, which means one shape boosting a similar one,' she says. 'Chicken feet are eaten to build dexterous fingers, animals' bones your bones, pig's kidneys to help strengthen your kidneys, chicken hearts your own heart.'

And brains?

'I'll leave that to the reader's imagination.'

Although Mingmei enjoys the depth that these traditional elements can bring to her stories, she is quite to note that she is not on any sort of mission for cultural dissemination: her first priority is always the story.

'But I do think that if readers become involved in my stories, they will naturally feel a deeper sympathy with the rich culture, but also terrible struggles that are Chinese history,' she says.

'Because I am steeped in Chinese philosophy, poetry, and 'popular culture, they also end up in my novels.'

Mingmei is widely travelled, however, having lived abroad and having lectured or performed throughout Europe, the UK and the US. She believes that these experiences have provided her with insight that has been to the benefit of her writing.

'The famous poet Du Fu wrote one thousand years ago that, 'If you have read more than ten thousand books and traveled more than ten thousand miles, your writing will be aided by the gods.''

She also hopes that meeting different people from many different cultures has made her less judgmental, and more tolerant and compassionate, and that this resonates in her work.

'My readers are taking time out of their lives to read what I have to say, so in addition to being entertained, I hope they will get something more from my novels. Perhaps a little wisdom, insight, and compassion.'

So what can readers expect from Mingmei's latest novel, Skeleton Women?

'Skeleton Women, which is the Chinese phrase for femmes fatales, is my new novel about three women who survive the dangers of lawless 1930s Shanghai by their powers of enchantment,' she says.

'Camilla is a beautiful singer and spy with a deadly mission. Shadow is a magician whose most famous act is to jump into disappearance in the nude. Rainbow Chang is an androgynous, cross-dressing gossip columnist who kills not with 'bullets, but with words.

'Taken from an orphanage by gangsters to be trained as a spy, Camilla is indoctrinated into the four nothings ' no emotion, no conscience, no morality, no friends ' and must rediscover her own humanity and find the love she never received as a child.'

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