Emre Demir (from Turkey)

1. What's your favorite food for Spring Festival?

As a foreigner living in northern China, of course I enjoy eat jiaozi and totally agree with what Chinese people say: “好吃不過(guò)餃子，好看不過(guò)嫂子！”

2. What would you like to do most during the Spring Festival?

Spring Festival means going back home for Chinese, but for me, it means staying at home and reading. I already ordered a lot of books for my spring festival reading.

On the other hand, I really enjoy Beijing city during the festival. At that time, in terms of population and atmosphere, I feel Beijing is back to her 1930s self, which I know about from novels and biographies. During that time, we have a chance to think about a city’s limitations, capacities and possibilities. These days I am working on my new book, some short stories that happened in Beijing. Before I start the writing process, I really need to see the space in its quite empty state.

3. What is the biggest change in your life during the past year?

Changing is a process and always in progress.

2016 was a hard year at the scale of global, national and personal levels for me. I think this hard period taught me a lot, increased my endurance, reduced my sensibility.