Chinese author Ma Jian’s new book, Beijing Coma, will be published in May by Chatto & Windus.


Ma Jian says, “I wanted to write a book that would bear witness to recent history and help reclaim a people’s right to remember. Through my protagonist Dai Wei — a student lying in a coma after being shot in the Tiananmen Massacre — I was able to write about brutality and injustice, but also about the things that make life worth living: love, hope, freedom, truth, and the quest for the sublime. Imprisoned in his body for ten years, Dai Wei is forced to turn inwards and confront his past, and in doing so becomes freer and more alive than the comatose crowds that surround him. The act of remembering gives life its meaning. It is an act of defiance against tyranny and death. ”


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