October 2016: He Jiahong 何家弘
He Jiahong is a professor of law at People's University in Beijing, director of law at the Evidence Research Institute and Director of the Research Center for Wrongful Convictions (established in March 2012) and director, Centre for Common Law working in cooperation with the Great Britain-China Centre and the University of Oxford Faculty of Law, in order to promote the value and principles of common law in China by supporting research and study and to support legal practitioners in both countries.
He is one of China's leading experts on criminal evidence, evidential investigation and criminal procedure, and gained his doctorate of law at Northwestern University in Chicago. He has been a visiting scholar, professor and researcher at other prestigious universities and institutions around the world including New York University and the Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law. Often referred to as 'the John Grisham of China', Professor He is also a successful writer of crime thrillers.
For this month's book club, we have the first chapter of his crime novel Black Holes 性之罪, translated by Emily Jones. The novel is part of a series which follows lawyer Hong Jun, who tackles unsolved crimes and injustices. You can read the chapter in Chinese and English.
When Xia Zhe, an ambitious trader at a state-owned securities company, is indicted for corporate fraud, lawyer Hong Jun takes on the case at the request of the young man’s father. But as the trial date looms, it becomes clear that this case of avarice and ill-gotten gains is far from black and white. Hong Jun discovers a web of family secrets and hidden motives leading back to the turbulence of the Cultural Revolution. What he doesn’t count on is that, in dredging up these long-dormant histories, he must face the shadows of his own past to get to the truth.
(Abstract from Penguin China, 2016)
'Return to the Great North Wilderness', translated by Emily Jones, was featured as part of the Read Paper Republic series of translated Chinese fiction, in May 2016.
We're delighted that Professor He and Emily Jones will be joining us in Leeds on October 27th. Find more on our events page here.