Hon Lai Chu

Hon Lai Chu is one of Hong Kong’s most prominent writers and the author of Mending Bodies. She has received accolades from Taiwan’s Unitas Literary Association, the Liang Shiu-chiu Literature Award, the Dream of the Red Chamber Award and the Hong Kong Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature. ‘Scrap’ is translated from her short story collection A Dictionary of Two Cities, co-authored with Dorothy Tse, which won the Hong Kong Book Prize.

Articles

The fine for a surplus child was equivalent to the annual income of an average household, and for homes already cluttered with children, every child was more or less the same. Getting rid of one was the decision most likely to ensure more comfortable lives for everyone else while causing minimal harm – so Mr Decimo came to this conclusion, discerning the logic behind his mother’s choice, even though he’d never met her.