Night time in Beijing

I am lying in bed writing this on my phone . My book trip has been exciting , exhausting , and it’s still underway , so I won’t write much tonight.

Last week I suggested that anyone in Shanghai or Beijing without tickets to an event of mine should just come along . This has caused quite a bit of trouble . I didn’t know that in China a venue has to apply for a permit for an event , yes even a simple literary event, and while the permit is not usually a problem, the organiser has to specify numbers . So when another 400 or 500 people turned up on the street in Shanghai, because I had invited them , there was a bit of local difficulty . The police came but they didn’t shut us down. I stayed as late as I could signing books for several hours .

We meet on the steps of a story .

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The people who have come to see me, here in China , are full of hope and full of heart . Like everyone, everywhere ,they are worried about the economy , but they are more worried about finding someone to love .Someone who will love them in return . My generation used to wrestle with whether to break up . Many young people would like to have that problem .

What is the world we have made ?

Why did we make a world where simple things like love and livelihood consume us with fear and sadness ?

But I also found willingness and openness. My audience in China is mainly young women and some sensitive men. They are thinking deeply about their situation. They want to read . It’s true they want answers , or at least enlightenment, but so do we all . They are brave enough to swerve the curve of non stop internet slop . They want books . Lots of books .

To me , this is optimistic . Young people are the future . If they are seeking and finding, reading , culture , art, there is a chance they will help society move in a more fulfilling direction . Fulfilling for humans I mean. Not for corporations and tech bros. Not in thrall to A.I.

Readers who know my work know I am ( still ) an AI optimist , it’s early enough to turn the tech in the direction that really would benefit humanity . Maybe young people can do that .

Here in China , I have found keen understanding of manmade climate breakdown, as well as the challenges of A.I.

These challenges are new to humanity . We haven’t stood here before . How we meet these challenges , and soon, will determine the viability of human life on Earth 🌍.

I am not depressed . I am realistic. Of all times, this is not the time to give up and turn away . This is the time to get involved . And yes, reading, just reading a book , is a personal protest against the homogenous and trivialised life humans are being sold as progress. Getting more stupid is not progress.

The Chinese love their phones but the young people I met in their thousands know they need to switch them off sometimes .

Phones are not friends . Phones do not encourage depth . A life lived on the surface is no life at all .

And we can agree on that .

But we have laughed a lot and people have cried and we all, all of us , felt we were sharing a space . There was no cultural divide , no generational divide . When you love books you come together .

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So, I have some more to do before I set off home, but next Sunday I will be back in my garden . And yes, we talked about nature , and the importance of finding natural space in your life . Since the Industrial Revolution we have acted as though Nature is optional /disposable. Well, we are finding out this summer how stupid that view is .

For me, Nature and Art are not separate at all . They are Life.

I will see you next week in my garden