The extraordinary world of the ordinary

Gaining ground

Recently, more works of Sinophone Malaysian literature have made their way to the Chinese market. Last year, two books by Ho Sok Fong were published on the Chinese mainland.

In July, Gong Wanhui's full-length novel Ren Gong Shao Nyu (Artificial Girl) was released.

In 2024, this work won the grand prize of Sinophone Malaysian literature at the biennial Hua Zong (Floral Trail) Literature Award, one of Malaysia's most prestigious Chinese-language literature awards, given by Sin Chew Daily. Worldly Land was the winner of this prize in 2022.

This August saw the launch of Lim Suat Hong's debut nonfiction work, A Mother with No Name, which tells the story of the arduous life of her mother Tee Kin and her reflections on the mother-daughter relationship — one of the most complex of human connections.

Lim has been living in China for 20 years. After her mother passed away, Lim spent six years documenting Tee's life.

She was born into a large Chinese family in Malaysia, the eldest daughter who was not favored, the mother of five children, the wife of a gambler and the sole breadwinner who kept the family going with her tailoring shop. Yet, at her funeral, she was simply referred to as the nameless "Madame Tee of the Lim Family".

Wang Meng, the book's editor at Horizon Books, a branch of the Shanghai People's Publishing House, says that like Worldly Land, which is a landmark work in its genre, Lim's work focuses on ordinary people's everyday lives in a small town. It presents the experiences and secret family history of a Chinese woman from the working class. Its keenly observed and delicate portrayal of life is set amid descriptions of Southeast Asian customs.

"It is precisely this writing based on real-life experiences, expressed in incredibly honest and sincere language, that I believe will resonate emotionally with Chinese readers," she adds.

Li has publicly lauded the works of both Gong and Lim.

At the Beijing International Book Fair, Li said that in the past Sinophone Malaysian literature may have overly emphasized its identity in an effort to stand out.

"However, a truly capable writer is one who can write about universal life experiences while still conveying the distinctiveness of Sinophone Malaysian writers," she says.

"When I wrote about these ordinary people and their lives in Worldly Land using a certain tone and style, I realized that I was writing about the same group of Chinese people, whether in Malaysia or on the Chinese mainland. Yet, others may not be able to create a novel like Worldly Land. Sinophone Malaysian literature will truly thrive when our writers possess this confidence."

Li encourages young writers from Malaysia to read works by emerging authors from the Chinese mainland, paying particular attention to their writing style and experimental approaches that differ from those of established writers.

"I would recommend that Sinophone Malaysian writers view themselves as part of the broader Chinese-speaking world, learn more about the entire Chinese community, and observe how their contemporaries are creating, both in terms of method and approach," she says.

Contact the writer at fangaiqing@chinadaily.com.cn