What is Shanghai Baby?

Shanghai Baby is literally about a baby in Shanghai. That’s me, baby masquerading as adult, parenting and writing and working in this strange city. It’s also my two babies, H(4) & M(2). I’m sure I’ll also kvetch about my husband, HD, man baby in Shanghai, the one who brought me to this vertiginous city.

I’m not the Wei Hui kind of Shanghai Baby. I’m the post-baby baby. No longer dating languid artists and having torrid love affairs. Married, two kids. But, like baby, I too am writing a novel (out in 2024 from Spiegel & Grau | Dialogue Books). Also about me: I recently finished an MFA in fiction from Warren Wilson. I am the editor in chief of The Shanghai Literary Review.

I am starting this monthly-ish (news)letter to let my friends and family know more about lockdown and life in Shanghai. Here is my NYTimes piece about lockdown from Day 1, April 1, 2022. This little baby is my lockdown project. My way to stay sane and communicate and journal through this mess, as I’ve always blogged and journaled through my life’s previous messes.

edit: Lockdown lifted on June 2022. Life still crazy.

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xx
J