Newman Journal

AbstractXi Xi (1937–2022) was one of the most successful and best-known Hong Kong writers, her works read and appreciated by a wide readership, both in Hong Kong and internationally. Xi Xi created a body of work that spoke to life in the city in the days before and after the Handover in 1997. Although originally from the mainland, Xi Xi considered herself a Hong Konger, an identity reflected in much of her work. Her decades-long career yielded numerous wide-ranging works that testified to her preferred themes, her style of writing, her personal and sentimental attachments, and her persistence in being always creative. She was a versatile writer who constantly sought new ways to build worlds and tell stories. She once said: “To write a novel is to write new content or to write using a new method. If neither is there, I’d rather not write.” In 2019, Xi Xi was awarded the 6th Newman Prize for Chinese Literature by the Institute for US-China Issues at the University of Oklahoma. Xi Xi passed away on December 18, 2022, of heart failure. A statement from Plain Leaves Workshop, which she co-founded, read: “Xi Xi’s life was wonderful, happy, beneficial, meaningful.” Xi Xi’s trip to Oklahoma in 2019 to receive the Newman Prize is fondly recounted, in great detail, in her essay “Newman Journal,” included here in celebration of her memory. AcknowledgmentXi Xi’s full acceptance speech is included in the feature on her as laureate of the 2019 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature in Chinese Literature Today vol. 8, no. 1.Notes1 Imperial Astronomerer (Qin Tianjian 欽天監) is Xi Xi’s novel published in 2021. It took her five years to complete. The novel tells the story of Zhou Ruohong, a son of an aristocratic family who studied astronomy during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty.Additional informationNotes on contributorsXi XiXi Xi was born in Shanghai in 1937 and came to Hong Kong with her family in 1950 at the age of thirteen. She worked as a schoolteacher for twenty years in colonial Hong Kong. In 2016, a collection of poems by Xi Xi was translated into English by Jennifer Feeley under the title Not Written Words, which received the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize in 2017. In 2019, Xi Xi was awarded the 6th Newman Prize for Chinese Literature and the Cikada Prize, as well as the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. Xi Xi passed away on December 18, 2022, of heart failure.Tammy Lai-Ming HoTranslator Tammy Lai-Ming Ho is the founding co-editor of Asian Cha and an editor of the academic journal Hong Kong Studies. She is an associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University and a recipient of the Young Artist Award in Literary Arts presented by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.