Source: School of Foreign Languages
Written by: School of Foreign Languages
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

Recently, the School of Foreign Languages at Sun Yat-sen University in conjunction with the Center for Creative Writing welcomed internationally published author, Michael Meyer, whose book The Last Days of Old Beijing is set to release this week on the mainland. Mr. Meyer spoke to the English Department's Creative Writing students about his experiences living in one of Beijing's oldest districts and following the stories of the people within his community.

Mr. Meyer said that he had heard rumors that his neighborhood, Dazhalan and the surrounding hutong, were set to be changed, moved, torn down, or altered, so he set out to find more information about this, but to his detriment the information was nowhere to be found. Mr. Meyer encouraged SYSU's Creative Writing students by saying "when you can't find the book you want to read, it's time to write it". The Creative Writing students were astonished and amused by the information, but also by Mr. Meyer's smooth oscillation between Chinese and English.

After the plethora of pictures and riveting information about his journey, Mr. Meyer finished by informing the students to never rush their writing, he said "as long as it takes for the writing process, you cannot rush, you have to follow through to the end."

Michael Meyer's book, The Last Days of Old Beijing is set to release in Chinese this week. It has already been released in the U.S. in English. This event coincides with the Center for Creative Writing's mission to foster a community of writers in and around Sun Yat-sen University.