Writing Hope: A Close Look at Xu Zechen’s Beijing Sprawl with Claire Jia (Master Class)
Claire Jia’s experience as a television and video game writer enhances her capacities as a novelist, particularly with how her stories grapple with the bloom of interpersonal relationships—especially as it comes to friendship, a form of love that resists a predetermined script. Her stories are dense with plot and feeling, yet never lose a natural sense of rhythm.
Beijing Sprawl, by Xu Zechen and translated by Jeremy Tiang and Eric Abrahamsen, introduces us to 17-year-old Muyu, who’s come to Beijing from a small village in search of a dream. In Beijing, however, dreams rarely come true, and in nine interconnected stories, Muyu grapples with hope and all its maintenance, loss, and recapture. In one of the final stories, “Brother,” Muyu meets a man named Dai Shanchuan who has come to Beijing looking for his doppelganger. Ahead of class, students should read the story and come prepared to discuss. We will be closely analyzing its structure and the ways in which Xu sets up and then meets or subverts our expectations in its finale. Then, students will complete a writing exercise. Reading multiple chapters of Beijing Sprawl (or even the entirety!) will enhance the student’s experience, but it is not required. We will also discuss how Xu manipulates expectations in the book as a whole.
Claire Jia is a writer from the Chicago suburbs. She has written on TV shows such as Zombies: The Reanimated Series, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, Fresh Off the Boat, and Gangsters of Shanghai. She co-wrote the 2024 Peabody Award-winning video game We Are OFK. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Reductress, The Establishment, The Rumpus, and more. Her parents are from Beijing, and there’s nothing she loves more than haggling for stationary in a chaotic Beijing marketplace. She peaked at age sixteen, when she became the All-State Illinois Shotokan Karate Club Kihon Green Belt Champion. Today she lives in Los Angeles with her friends.
A novel of envy and longing that asks how far we’ll go for a friendship, a romance, and a dream
Ye Lian is thriving in Beijing. She has a well-paid job and a nice boyfriend, and she plans to marry and move into a luxury high-rise apartment. She’s wanting for nothing—until her childhood best friend, Luo Wenyu, comes whirling back into her life after a decade in California with seemingly everything. Lian’s own reliable choices are suddenly thrown into high relief.
As the two rekindle their friendship, Wenyu reveals a shocking secret about a past love, pushing Lian to question her own relationship. Then the dark side of Wenyu’s enviable life emerges and threatens everything Lian and Wenyu have built for themselves. They must choose between the stable known and the frightening unknown that may have devastating and unexpected consequences.