SocietyThe Soundtrack: Murong Xuecun | As the Iron Curtain Falls, What Can Chinese People Do?

Murong Xuecun rose to fame more than two decades ago with the online serial novel “Chengdu, Please Forget Me Tonight.” After writing about pyramid schemes and people at society’s margins, he increasingly criticized reality; his books could no longer be published, his name could not appear, and his accounts repeatedly vanished. He left China in 2021. In Melbourne in August 2026, he discussed exile, writing and the predicament of people unable to leave.