Doll Parts

Chun Sue is a high school dropout whose former classmates’ conformity made her “so goddamn disgusted [she] felt like puking.” Her autobiographical novel, Beijing Doll (just out in English from Riverhead), sold 100,000 copies in China before it was banned. The Voice interviewed Chun Sue by e-mail.

You write that anyone “who fucking scorns life, who sees life as a pile of shit . . . is, in a word, cultivated.” Why this romance in death? I am filled with a favorable impression of death because I feel that we are living in a dream anyway. Everything, ultimately, is unnecessary and so is life.

How did you react when Beijing Doll was first banned? Ha ha ha! What response could I have?! I suffered. My parents were afraid to leave the house. I was very angry but got over it quickly because that’s the price you pay for publishing such a book. We must assume all obligations, as said by the state. Of course, I keep writing no matter what the state says.

What are your plans for the next few years? I live better since my book was published. It was sold all over the world so I am in a good financial situation now. I plan on traveling and coming to the United States. But, you never know, I might do something very crazy!