Paper Butterfly

BOOK DETAILS

Mei Wang is a product of the new China. She works for herself running an “information consultancy” (private detective agencies are illegal, after all).

Mei is hired by a record company executive to find one of their new up-and-coming singing stars. Kaili hasn’t been seen since her last live concert. She just disappeared from her dressing room. The company want her disappearance kept quiet.

Mei’s initial reaction is to think that this spoilt diva has checked into a spa or a rehab clinic. A search of Kaili’s surprisingly modest apartment reveals a young woman with much more depth. Hidden away, Mei finds a delicate paper butterfly and a number of love letters written in June, 1989 from a politically active student.

Mei’s search takes her from the superficial glitz and glamour of modern-day Beijing to the poorly-lit back alleys where elderly residents still keep alive old superstitions and beliefs.

AUTHOR / TRANSLATOR

Author

Diane Wei Liang

Diane Wei Liang was born in Beijing. She spent part of her childhood with her parents in a labor camp in a remote region of China, and the other part in Beijing with her mother when her parents were forced to live and work in different cities. She studied psychology at Peking University. In 1989 she took part in the Student Democracy Movement and was in Tiananmen Square. Later that year, she left China for the U.S. Liang has a PhD in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University and was a business professor in the U.S. and U.K. for over ten years. She lives in London with her family.

Country of Origin

China

United Kingdom