季風人文講壇第83期：Claire Jia

Wanting and Belonging: Writing Modern China

with Claire Jia & Emily Feng

November 12, 2025｜In English

Novelist Claire Jia, author of Wanting, in conversation with journalist Emily Feng as they explore the landscape of modern China through fiction and reportage. In Wanting, Jia traces the tangled desires of friendship, love, and ambition across Beijing and California, revealing the emotional costs of aspiration in a rapidly changing society. Feng’s searing investigation complements Jia’s portrait of private longing with stories of public struggle and endurance. Together, their works illuminate a China both intimate and immense—where the search for freedom, belonging, and dignity continues to define the human experience.

About the Speaker 

Claire Jia is a writer from the suburbs of Chicago. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Modern Love column, The Rumpus, Reductress, and more. She writes for television and video games, including the 2024 Peabody Award-winning We Are OFK. Her family is from Beijing, and nothing puts her at peace like haggling in a chaotic Beijing marketplace.

Emily Feng is an award-winning international correspondent for NPR. She’s a regular contributor to NPR podcasts and member stations and she is also a frequent guest on U.S. and BBC radio and television programs. Previously based in Beijing, China for NPR.