Writer Studies at Ningbo University

By Yu Renjie

Though her name on her student card and other official documents at the International College of Ningbo University is Wong Wai Khum, her classmates and friends on the campus all call her Bo Yi, or Miss Bo Yi. Bo Yi is Wongs penname. By this name, she is widely known in the Chinese literary circles of Malaysia and the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. She has been a director and deputy secretary-general of the Malaysian Chinese Writers Association for nearly 20 years.

As a matter of fact, readers on the mainland and surrounding regions are quite familiar with Wongs writings. Her short essays frequently appear in the literary supplements of the overseas edition of Peoples Daily, Shenzhen Daily, Xinmin Evening News and Tianjin Daily. She once wrote a regular column for Yangcheng Evening News in Guangzhou. Her essays have also appeared in newspapers in Hong Kong and Macao. In 1995, Hebei Education Press put on the market a series of collections by overseas Chinese writers. One of them was a collection of stories by Wong.

With her ancestral roots in Heshan, Guangdong Province of China, Wong was born in Malaysia in 1964. The Chinese tradition and culture nurtured her in her childhood years. Her writings appeared in local Chinese newspapers when she was still a middle school student. The teenage writer was regarded as a rising literary star by the Chinese literary circles of Malaysia. Upon her graduation from middle school, she was employed as a trainee by a Chinese newspaper in Kuala Lumpur. While working as a journalist, she took a college course offered by Xiamen University, a remote education course taught in Kuala Lumpur. She finished college education and was promoted a senior editor at the newspaper.

None of the Chinese writers in Malaysia has published more novels than Bo Yi. Her 15 publications include novels, novellas, short stories and essays. Five titles were published on the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan. The film and television rights of a novel hers have been purchased by China Film and Television Company and another novel has been adapted into a film script. Over the past 20 plus years, she has won about 30 literary prizes at home and abroad. She has appeared in various television talk shows.

As a Chinese descendent, Wong loves both Malaysia and China as the land of her ancestors. After she became well known as a writer, China and Malaysia began to enjoy good relations. The friendly changes between the two countries have deepened, giving her a lot of opportunities to visit China with cultural and religious groups from Malaysia. She has visited Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou. When Chinese scholars visit Malaysia, she always finds time to go with them. Bo Yi has many friends in China.

Though a successful writer, Bo Yi believes she needs improvement. With a desire to explore psychology more meaningfully and more incisively in her novels, she wanted to quit her job as a journalist and go abroad to take a college course in psychology. She chose Ningbo University, for the university has two professors prominent in psychology. Her purpose for further studies is not just psychology. The experiences will be valuable too.

She keeps a low profile at Ningbo University. She majors in psychology and her selected courses include Chinese philosophy, English literature and tourism aesthetics. In her spare time, she loves to chat with her classmates from all over the world. In holidays and during weekends, she and her friends tour the major sightseeing sites around Ningbo.□