Qing Niao: A Collection of Stories

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Yilin Press

After reading French historian Fernand Braudel in 1994, literary critic Li Jingze wrote a collection of stories about foreigners who've visited China, many of whom left their mark on history.

The rights to a French-language version were sold to a French publisher.

A decade and three French translators later, Li has reconfigured the book into a first-person time-travel fantasy novel.

Li seeks to reveal hidden history by looking at the forgotten faces of those who contributed to East-West relations in the past.

"It's a book about curiosity－curiosity about willpower, differences, misunderstandings and illusions," he says.