little cold. I have an extraordinary respect for readers, which I express by not compelling them or trying to pander to them. On the surface, this can look a little cold, but it comes from an underlying respect. Whose sense of humour do you enjoy among the classical novelists of the Ming and Qing dynasties? The Ming/Qing novel is a very mature form. I find the humour doesn't lie in the works of a specific author, but in the verbal style of the genre. Unlike with translated or western novels, in Ming/Qing or classical Chinese novels there is not much emphasis on the writer. Personal style is absent. Authors competed instead on their 'effectiveness' within a unified framework. This has both positive and negative consequences. On the positive side there is a very mature, adaptable literary form; on the negative is suppression of individualism in narrative. Contemporary Chinese novels basically use western forms, for reasons connected with authorial responsibility and the desire for personal expression. In your novels dedicate a lot of time and attention to external appearances and narrative, and relatively little on the 'inner world' of your characters -- their emotions, thoughts and motivations. Is that because you want to express their characters through their actions? A lack of subjective introspection is a feature of Chinese novels. In western novels, on the other hand, there is a very rich vein of psychological description. For me, I don't have a problem with the subjective or with psychology, The author