Zhang Ling

Zhang Ling is the award-winning author of nine novels and numerous collections of novellas and short stories, including A Single Swallow, translated by Shelly Bryant; Gold Mountain Blues; and Aftershock, which was adapted into China’s first IMAX movie with unprecedented box-office success. Born in China, she moved to Canada in 1986 and, in the mid-1990s, began to write and publish fiction in Chinese while working as a clinical audiologist. Since then, she has won the Chinese Media Literature Award for Author of the Year, the Grand Prize of Overseas Chinese Literary Award, and China Times’s Open Book Award. Where Waters Meet is her first novel written in English.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I did sweat a bit over the title of this book. Despite the myriad of ideas flying around in my mind, the central image of water had been crystal clear even before I started writing the first line. Among the alternatives were Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall, Rain’s Ashes, Where Water Meets Sky, etc. The present title Where Waters Meet didn’t materialize until the editing process started. Both the editorial team and I myself feel this title relates to the story well, because one of the main characters’ name is Rain, and the major events that occur in her and her daughter’s lives are centered around rivers. The present title serves a dual purpose: it’s a road sign pointing, subtly, to the direction of the plot development; and it also creates a symbolic association with the course of life and the process of migration. The image of water, I hope, can lead the readers effectively into the depth of the story.

What's in a name?

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, says Shakespeare, but I beg to differ. The name matters, as it can potentially produce a unique quality that separates a person from the multitude. There are two main characters in Where Waters Meet, a mother and a daughter. The mother’s name is Rain, which, in the beginning of the novel, is just a mere reference to the spring rain that falls around the time of her birth. As the story unfolds, the name Rain gradually reveals its layers of meaning, as a symbol for many “rains” that have fallen into her life; and as an indication of the nourishing and sustaining power she harbours within her, despite her sufferings.

The daughter’s name is Phoenix (Ah Feng in Chinese). Phoenix in Chinese culture carries complex and profound symbolic associations: an outstanding leader or a person of great success and fame; a creature with invincible strength and vitality that rises from the ashes; and a bird with powerful wings that can soar above the sordid realities... This name also serves several functions, as an indication of a mother’s expectation, though unrealistic at times, of her daughter’s success in life; a foretelling of the many difficulties and obstacles that the daughter has to overcome in order to survive; and her fate of eventually leaving the small and stifling hometown filled with dark memories, to live in a big and faraway world.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I grew up during China’s Cultural Revolution when most books were banned and public display of emotions and feelings discouraged. What filled my mind then was secret longings for love and romance, a forbidden land in the era of revolution. If I were to write a book then, I probably would have created a fantasy tale about an omnipotent hero coming to rescue me from my complete boredom and loneliness, and to take me away to a world where I could have a life. My adolescent self would never have expected, nor believed, that my adult self would be writing sagas and historical novels.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

In general, I have more difficulty dealing with beginnings. I have a habit of patiently building up the momentum and keeping the suspense, or rather, the shock effect, till the very end. As a result, my opening chapter might read slow and flat to myself upon a second or third reading. Then I would go back to revise or even rewrite it. The endings are usually well-planned, ready to jump out at me at any moment. Normally I do very little changing to my endings.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I write family sagas and historical novels such as Where Waters Meet and A Single Swallow, exploring themes of war, trauma and healing. Empathy and compassion are the core of my creative process. However, I’ve been careful not to allow my emotions cloud my judgment. Logic and common-sense are what I usually resort to when I plot my characters’ trajectory of life and course of action. The story is theirs but the eyes that perform the observation and perception are entirely mine. I can totally see myself in my characters, yet I keep a rational distance from them at the same time.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

My family is probably the most important source of inspiration. I grew up surrounded by many strong women in my extended family. My maternal grandmother gave birth to 11 children (in addition to a few miscarriages) through wars and incessant social turmoil. The fact that ten survived to adulthood is nothing short of a miracle as infant mortality rate was very high in those days. With unbelievable courage, tenacity, and a great deal of common sense, Grandma kept her huge family afloat despite all sorts of social unrest and economic hardship. Ever since I was a little girl, my mother has been telling me the remarkable survival stories of the women in her family. Although Rain in Where Waters Meet and Swallow in A Single Swallow are fictional characters, they are a true reflection of these women in spirit.

Learn more about Where Waters Meet at the publisher's website.

--Marshal Zeringue