Stephanie Boote
As a third year student at the University of Leeds studying Mandarin, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to live and study in Beijing from September 2016 to June 2017. My interest in Mandarin and subsequently Chinese literature, stems from studying Mandarin in year nine and deciding to pursue the language further. I found myself absolutely fascinated and despite finding the language itself very challenging, I couldn't help myself from deciding to study it at University. When I was 15 I read Wild Swans, which led me to The Picador Book of Contemporary Chinese Fiction. With these I was introduced to the breadth of contemporary literature available and began to delve deeper. I've now been learning Mandarin for over eight years and I'm excited to continue to expand my knowledge further by reading a lot more Chinese fiction.