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Xi Xi

Xi Xi (1937–2022), the pen name of Cheung Yin, was a prolific Hong Kong author, poet, and essayist whose works vividly depicted the city's evolving identity, everyday lives of its residents, and the anxieties surrounding its 1997 handover from colonial rule to sovereignty. Born in , she relocated to in 1950 at the age of 13, where she spent the rest of her life and developed her literary voice amid the bustling urban landscape that became a central motif in her writing. Xi Xi graduated from Grantham College of Education in 1958 and worked as a teacher for over two decades, experiences that informed her empathetic portrayals of children, working-class individuals, and marginalized voices in society. Her writing career began in the mid-1950s with short stories published in local periodicals, but she gained prominence in the under her adopted , co-founding the influential literary collective Known as the "Plain Leaves Workshop" to promote experimental and accessible . Over her six-decade career, she authored more than two dozen books across genres, blending modernist techniques with fairy-tale elements, cinematic references, and a playful yet poignant style that elevated 's status in global . Among her most notable works are the novella My City: A Hong Kong Story (1979), a semi-autobiographical exploration of urban alienation and resilience; A Woman Like Me (1983), a collection featuring her prize-winning short story exploring themes of loss and memory; and The Floating City (1986), a surreal reflection on Hong Kong's precarious identity during the Sino-British negotiations. Later publications like Mourning a Breast (1992), inspired by her battle with breast cancer, addressed personal vulnerability with stark honesty and earned acclaim as one of the year's top books in Taiwan. Her short stories, such as "A Girl Like Me," highlighted the lives of young women navigating societal expectations, while poetry and essays further showcased her versatility as a critic of film, art, and culture. In her later years, Xi Xi received international recognition, including the 2019 Newman Prize for —the first awarded to a Hong Kong writer—and was the subject of the 2015 documentary My City. After surviving cancer, she turned to crafting teddy bears dressed as figures from and history, incorporating them into hybrid works like The Teddy Bear Chronicles (2013). She died of in a hospital on December 18, 2022, leaving a legacy as one of Hong Kong's most beloved and innovative literary figures.

Early Life

Childhood and Family Background

Xi Xi was born Zhang Yan, also known as Cheung Yin or Ellen Cheung Yin, in 1937 in , , to parents of ancestry whose roots traced back to , province. Her father, Cheung Lok, worked as a for a shipping company, providing the family with a stable middle-class existence amid Shanghai's cosmopolitan environment. The family later relocated within the city to Hongkou District, where they resided during her early years. As the second of five children, including two brothers and two sisters (with her eldest sister predeceasing her), Xi Xi grew up in a that emphasized familial bonds, with her mother managing the home while her father supported the family through his clerical role. This domestic setting, set against 's vibrant yet turbulent backdrop, fostered an environment conducive to creativity, as evidenced by her later reflections on childhood play. She was survived by two brothers, David Cheung Yung and Cheung Yiu, highlighting the enduring family ties from her Shanghai upbringing. Her childhood unfolded during the Japanese occupation of , which was completed shortly after her birth and lasted until 1945, exposing her to wartime hardships, restricted movements, and a sense of impermanence in the . The subsequent post-war instability, including economic disruption and the , further instilled in her a profound awareness of displacement and cultural flux that would permeate her later worldview. Simple joys, such as playing in local parks like Zhaofeng Park—where she recalled catching tadpoles—provided fleeting escapes and inspired elements of her future , "Xi Xi," evoking the playful motion of the game. Access to books and within the family during these uncertain times nurtured her budding fascination with narrative and language, laying the groundwork for her literary inclinations amid Shanghai's rich, multilingual literary scene. In 1950, amid escalating political changes on the mainland, the family immigrated to , marking the end of her formative years in .

Education and Move to Hong Kong

In 1950, at the age of thirteen, Xi Xi and her family relocated from to amid the political upheaval following the establishment of the . The family, originally of descent, settled in a modest flat, where they faced significant economic hardships that shaped her early experiences in the city. This move marked a profound transition from the Mandarin-speaking environment of to the Cantonese-dominated society of , leading to challenges in linguistic and cultural adaptation as she navigated a new urban landscape far removed from her childhood home. Upon arrival, Xi Xi enrolled in Heep Yunn School, an Anglican girls' institution that provided her through the mid-1950s. The school's curriculum introduced her to , fostering an early passion for Western authors such as and , whose works influenced her developing worldview. Amid the family's poverty, she balanced studies with part-time work to contribute to household expenses, an experience that heightened her awareness of social disparities and cultural dislocation in postwar . During her teenage years at Heep Yunn, Xi Xi began dabbling in as a personal outlet, experimenting with creative expression while immersing herself in global literary traditions. These formative pursuits, alongside the daily struggles of acclimating to Hong Kong's bilingual and multicultural fabric, laid the groundwork for the themes of identity and belonging that would permeate her later writings.

Literary Career

Early Writing and Influences

Xi Xi's writing career commenced in the late 1950s, shortly after she completed her education and began working as a teacher, with initial contributions of poetry and short essays appearing in Hong Kong newspapers including the Sing Tao Daily. These early pieces, often published in literary supplements, showcased her emerging voice amid the bustling urban environment of post-war Hong Kong, where she engaged with local literary circles through her student involvement at the newspaper. By the early 1960s, she had established connections with fellow emerging writers such as Wucius Wong and Quanan Shum, fostering her participation in the vibrant Hong Kong literary scene of the decade, which was shaped by rapid social and economic transformations under British colonial rule. In the 1960s, Xi Xi adopted her enduring pseudonym, derived from the playful repetition of the Chinese character 西 (xī, meaning "west"), which evoked the lighthearted motion of a child skipping across hopscotch squares and mirrored her whimsical literary approach. This pen name, which she used regularly throughout the 1960s, marked a deliberate shift toward a distinctive identity in her publications, including columns like "The Flower Column" in the Sing Tao Daily. Her debut short story, "Maria," appeared in 1965, signaling her transition to prose fiction and earning recognition for its innovative style within Hong Kong's evolving literary landscape. Xi Xi drew significant influences from modernist writers such as , whose sophisticated portrayals of urban life and emotional nuance resonated in her own explorations of city existence, as noted in scholarly comparisons of their works. She was also immersed in local literary networks during the , a period of cultural flux influenced by immigration waves, industrialization, and colonial tensions, which informed her engagement with contemporary social changes. Early themes in her writings frequently addressed urban alienation, capturing the disorientation of individuals in post-colonial through vignettes of everyday city life that highlighted isolation amid rapid modernization.

Mid-Career Breakthroughs

In the mid-1970s, Xi Xi achieved a significant breakthrough with the serialization of her My City from January to June 1975 in magazines, a work that surrealistically depicted the city's bustling urban landscape and its inhabitants amid growing uncertainties about its colonial future. This narrative, later published as a book in 1979, captured the everyday lives of working-class residents, transforming "My City" into a symbolic emblem of identity during a period of existential reflection on the territory's status under British rule, well before the formal Sino-British talks began in 1982. The 's innovative blend of fantasy and marked Xi Xi's emergence as a distinctive voice in local literature, emphasizing the city's , unanchored existence. During the late and , Xi Xi expanded her output to include numerous short stories and essays published in prominent outlets such as Taiwan's , where her contributions from 1976 to 1982 were collected in the 1983 volume A Woman Like Me. This period solidified her reputation, culminating in the 1983 United Daily News Fiction Prize for the title story "A Woman Like Me," which portrayed a female mortuary cosmetologist navigating societal taboos and gender expectations, earning widespread acclaim across the Chinese-speaking world. Her essays and stories often explored urban alienation and personal resilience, contributing to her growing fame as a chronicler of Hong Kong's social fabric. Xi Xi's mid-career also involved active participation in Hong Kong's evolving literary scene, including contributions to feminist through works that highlighted women's experiences in a patriarchal society, such as the gender-focused narratives in A Woman Like Me. She collaborated with fellow writers like Ye Si in fostering localist themes, as both authors advanced a recognition of Hong Kong's colonial context in their post-1950s writings, shifting literature toward an affirmation of the city's unique hybrid identity. Additionally, Xi Xi co-founded the Plain Leaves press in 1982, which published her poetry collection Stone Chimes and helped introduce diverse voices to readers. The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration profoundly influenced Xi Xi's subsequent works, prompting reflections on pre-handover anxieties in pieces like Marvels of (1986), a magical realist exploration of as a transient, dreamlike space facing political upheaval. These writings encapsulated the city's collective apprehensions about sovereignty transfer, blending whimsy with subtle critiques of impermanence and cultural displacement.

Later Career and Health Challenges

In 1989, Xi Xi received a diagnosis of at the age of 52, undergoing a that resulted in to her right hand and required her to relearn writing with her left hand. This ordeal significantly curtailed her prolific output during the , though it profoundly influenced her creative process and led to the publication of Mourning a Breast in 1992, a groundbreaking Chinese-language chronicling her treatment and emotional recovery. Following Hong Kong's 1997 handover to sovereignty, Xi Xi's writing increasingly grappled with the city's shifting cultural and political landscape, as exemplified by "The Fertile Town Chalk Circle," a story that reinterprets a classic tale to explore themes of belonging and transformation in a post-colonial context. Her narratives from this period captured the subtle anxieties of integration under mainland rule, blending whimsy with poignant observation of urban flux. By the 2000s, Xi Xi had transitioned into semi-retirement after retiring from teaching in 1979 to write full-time, shifting focus to therapeutic handicrafts like and teddy bear-making to aid her hand's recovery while contributing sporadic columns to periodicals. This phase allowed her to sustain creative engagement at a measured pace, emphasizing playful, introspective forms over voluminous production. In the 2010s, Xi Xi's output remained selective, featuring collaborations such as Western Science Fiction Literature and Film: Conversations with Xi Xi and Ho Fuk Yan in 2018, alongside later essays and stories reflecting on aging's inexorable advance and Hong Kong's evolving cityscape. Works like To Kwa Wan Stories (2021) evoked personal meditations on neighborhood redevelopment and the passage of time, underscoring resilience amid bodily and societal changes.

Literary Style and Themes

Writing Style

Xi Xi's writing style is characterized by its playful yet profound engagement with form, often employing stream-of-consciousness techniques to evoke the disorienting flux of urban life in . In works like My City, she uses fragmented narratives that layer personal memories with surreal vignettes, mimicking the chaotic rhythm of the city through abrupt shifts and associative leaps, which create a sense of bewilderment and immediacy for the reader. This approach draws from modernist influences, allowing her prose to capture the ephemeral quality of everyday experiences without linear progression. Linguistically, Xi Xi innovated by blending vernacular with elements, forging a hybrid voice that encapsulates Kong's cultural and resists standardized norms. Her use of , , and colloquial idioms infuses texts with a rhythmic vitality, as seen in her early short stories where spoken dialects interrupt formal structures to reflect bilingual realities. This fusion not only grounds her narratives in local speech patterns but also elevates them through erudite allusions, creating a distinctive "fairy tale realism" that bridges oral traditions and literary sophistication. Influenced by visual arts, Xi Xi incorporated collage-like techniques into her prose, assembling disparate elements—historical references, literary quotes, and mundane objects—into cohesive yet eclectic wholes that parallel the cut-and-paste aesthetics of . In The Teddy Bear Chronicles, for instance, she weaves imagery with narrative fragments, evoking the improvisational spirit of to explore creation and disassembly. Her experimental forms further embrace meta-fiction and , drawing on Western such as René Magritte's and reworking classical sources like Zhuang Zi's or Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary to subvert expectations and highlight narrative artifice. These methods underscore her commitment to innovation across genres, from to essays.

Recurring Themes

Xi Xi's literature frequently explores themes of and hybrid identity, drawing from her own migration from to at age thirteen, which instilled a sense of in her portrayal of characters navigating cultural borders. This hybridity manifests in her works as a fusion of mainland Chinese roots and 's , often symbolized by her "Xi Xi" (西西), evoking a playful yet ambivalent East-West interplay influenced by diverse literary traditions including Latin American and . In stories like those in My City, characters embody this duality through nostalgic reflections on lost homelands and adaptive urban lives, highlighting the perpetual "in-between" status of residents. A prominent feminist thread in Xi Xi's oeuvre centers on women's bodies and , particularly through illness narratives that challenge societal taboos and mind-body . In Mourning a (1992; English 2025), her account of battling reclaims agency by confronting the physicality of disease with intellectual curiosity, portraying the as a transformative loss that disrupts illusions of bodily control while asserting narrative authority over pain's "inscrutable language." This work critiques patriarchal views of female vulnerability, transforming personal affliction into a broader commentary on gendered and , as seen in her blunt depiction of the body as an "" that demands direct engagement rather than romanticization. Such narratives extend to earlier pieces like "A Girl Like Me," where she questions and romantic expectations, emphasizing women's individual struggles without aligning explicitly with . Xi Xi's critique of colonialism and post-handover anxieties recurs through her depiction of Hong Kong as a "floating city," a metaphor for its precarious geopolitical suspension between British rule and Chinese sovereignty. In The Floating City (1986), written amid uncertainties following the Sino-British Joint Declaration, she evokes the city as "a city that hangs suspended in the air," capturing collective apprehensions about identity erosion and cultural transience in the lead-up to 1997. This theme underscores postcolonial ambivalence, blending critique with affection for Hong Kong's hybrid vitality, as characters navigate ambiguous nationalities and foster a localized "city citizenship" amid historical flux. Urban surrealism permeates Xi Xi's writing as a lens for everyday alienation in a globalizing metropolis, employing magical realism and defamiliarization to reveal the estrangement beneath Hong Kong's bustling surface. Works like My City use fairy-tale elements—such as likening women to "lotus roots"—to defamiliarize urban routines, transforming alienation into moments of reconnection with communal legacies and countering the isolating effects of modernization. In The Floating City, surreal vignettes inspired by René Magritte's paintings depict the city's dreamlike instability, emphasizing how globalization fosters disconnection while inviting readers to reclaim habitual spaces as sites of belonging. This approach, distinct from mere stylistic play, underscores her conceptual focus on urban life's paradoxes.

Major Works

Novels

Xi Xi's novels are renowned for their innovative structures, blending , historical , and autobiographical elements to explore themes of , life, and existential displacement in the context of Hong Kong's socio-political landscape. Often experimental in form, her long-form fiction departs from traditional narrative linearity, employing fragmented perspectives and symbolic motifs to capture the fluidity of memory and place. Among her seven novels, several stand out for their critical acclaim and enduring influence in Sinophone literature, including My City (1979), The Absent Lover (1983), The Floating City (1986), Sentinel Deer (1982), Migratory Birds (1991), and Flying Carpet (1996). These works reflect her mid- to late-career evolution, prioritizing conceptual depth over plot-driven storytelling while addressing the tensions of colonial transition and personal migration. My City (Wo cheng, 我城), first serialized from January 30 to June 30, 1975, in the Express Daily under the pen name "A Guo" and published as a in 1979 by Su Ye Press in , presents a surreal through the city's districts as experienced by a young girl narrator. The plot unfolds as a dreamlike , where everyday locales like markets, ferries, and slums morph into symbolic landscapes representing 's collective memory and social undercurrents amid rapid modernization. Critics praised its childlike yet incisive prose for innovating the modernist novel form in , evoking James Joyce's in its urban cartography while grounding it in local rhythms and political subtext. Ranked among the top 100 Chinese novels of the by Asia Weekly, it established Xi Xi's reputation for transforming personal observation into communal allegory. Published in 1982 by Su Ye Press after serialization in 1980, Sentinel Deer (Shao lu, 哨鹿) interweaves two parallel narratives: one following Emperor Qianlong on an autumn hunt through imperial , and the other tracing a herdsman's descent into a to assassinate him, inspired by the Qing-era painting Sentinel Deer . The novel's structure juxtaposes historical grandeur with intimate human frailty, exploring themes of , betrayal, and the inexorable pull of fate without resolving into . Its reception highlighted Xi Xi's mastery of , with reviewers noting how the deer's watchful gaze symbolizes emotional exile and the of , earning it acclaim as a sophisticated critique of authoritarianism resonant with Hong Kong's own colonial anxieties. Migratory Birds (Hou niao, 候鳥), Xi Xi's longest at approximately 300 pages and published in 1991 by Hung Fan Books in , draws from her Shanghai childhood and 1950 relocation to , framing a coming-of-age tale through the lens of familial . The semi-autobiographical narrative follows a young girl's fragmented memories of , weaving episodes of wartime upheaval, cultural , and quiet against patriarchal norms into a tapestry of growth and resilience. Lauded as a feminist milestone for its introspective female voice and blend of fact and fiction, it received positive critical attention for humanizing the immigrant experience, with scholars emphasizing its role in preserving personal histories amid 's 1997 handover uncertainties. The 2018 revised edition further solidified its status as a key text in autobiographical prose. In Flying Carpet (Fei tan, 飛氈), published in 1996 by Su Ye and Hung Fan Books and expanded from her 1982 short story "The Story of Fertile Soil Town," Xi Xi crafts an allegorical chronicle of Fertillia, an island city rising and falling under foreign influences, mirroring Kong's colonial past and postcolonial fate. The spans generations through episodic vignettes of inhabitants' lives, from prosperity to decay, culminating in themes of freedom, confinement, and cyclical renewal via a magical flying carpet motif. Critics acclaimed its postmodern layering and satirical edge, viewing it as a prescient on and ; the 2006 English by Diana Yue introduced it globally, underscoring its impact on discussions of urban in Asian .

Short Stories and Essays

Xi Xi's short stories and essays frequently employed an episodic structure to delve into personal experiences and societal observations, distinguishing them from her longer narratives through their concise, introspective form. In the , following her first publication in , Xi Xi produced early experimental short stories that captured vignettes of Kong's bustling urban life, blending everyday scenes with subtle to establish her as a prominent local fiction writer. From the 1970s to the 1990s, she wrote numerous essays for newspaper and magazine columns, often critiquing social issues such as gender roles and cultural shifts in society; notable examples include "Movies and Me," "My Scrawling Room," and "The Flower Column," which mixed personal anecdotes with broader reflections on women's experiences and urban changes. A landmark work is her semi-autobiographical work Mourning a Breast (first published in parts from 1989 and as a book in 1992), which candidly recounts her mastectomy and recovery from breast cancer, challenging stigmas around illness through inventive, multi-genre prose; it received widespread acclaim and was translated into English by Jennifer Feeley in 2024. In the 2000s, Xi Xi's later short stories, including those exploring memory and transience amid Hong Kong's evolving identity, continued her tradition of poignant, episodic insights into human fragility and impermanence.

Poetry and Non-Fiction

Xi Xi's , characterized by its lyrical and reflective exploration of urban solitude, emerged prominently in the and continued to evolve throughout her career. Her early works, often published in literary magazines, captured the isolation and transience of life in Hong Kong's bustling yet impersonal , blending personal introspection with observations of everyday like rain-slicked streets and fleeting human connections. These poems, written in a modernist style influenced by both Western and Chinese traditions, eschew rigid forms to prioritize rhythmic language and vivid imagery that evoke a sense of quiet detachment amid urban flux. A key early collection, Stone Chimes (《石磬》), published in 1982 by Suye Publishers in , compiled many of these pieces and established her reputation as a attuned to the subtle melancholies of modern existence. The volume features poems that personify natural elements—such as clouds drifting over industrial skylines—to symbolize emotional drift and existential loneliness, reflecting Xi Xi's own experiences as a migrant from to in the . Later compilations, including the comprehensive Xi Xi Poetry Collection (《西西詩集》) in 2000 from Hong Fan Bookstore in , expanded on this foundation, incorporating poems up to 1999 that maintained her signature blend of whimsy and profundity, often infusing urban scenes with philosophical undertones. Her poetry's enduring appeal lies in its ability to transform mundane solitude into poignant, almost meditative lyricism, as seen in translations like Not Written Words (2016, Zephyr Press), which highlights her innovative use of language to bridge personal reverie and societal observation. In her , Xi Xi turned to columns and essays from the through the 2000s, contributing regularly to Hong Kong magazines and newspapers where she dissected cultural phenomena with a sharp, reflective eye. These pieces, often serialized in outlets like Kuai Bao (Fast Report), encompassed travelogues that chronicled her journeys across and , weaving personal anecdotes with critiques of colonial legacies and globalization's impact on local identities. For instance, her column Flower and Tree Bar (《花木欄》), revised and collected in the , offered miscellaneous reflections on , daily absurdities, and the evolving cultural landscape of , blending humor with incisive commentary on societal shifts under British rule. Memoiristic elements permeated her later , particularly in works reflecting on and , such as the semi-autobiographical Migratory Birds (《候鳥》), serialized in Kuai Bao starting in 1981 and published in book form in 1991 by Hong Fan Bookstore. This narrative draws from Xi Xi's own adolescence, recounting the family's migration from wartime to postwar through a sister's introspective voice, emphasizing themes of rootlessness and with lyrical that mirrors her poetic style. Its 2018 companion, Weaving a Nest (《織巢》), further explores these youth reflections, reweaving memories of bonds and urban adaptation into a of nostalgic yet unflinching self-examination. These texts highlight her non-fiction's reflective depth, transforming personal history into broader meditations on . Xi Xi's lesser-known non-fiction also delved into Hong Kong's arts scene, where she contributed essays and critiques on local , theater, and , often highlighting overlooked voices and experimental forms. In pieces published in literary journals during the and , she analyzed the interplay between traditional and modern urban influences, praising indigenous artists for their innovative responses to Hong Kong's hybrid culture. Collections like River Crossing (《交河》), edited by Liu Yichang and published in 1984, include such essays alongside other writings, underscoring her role as a cultural commentator who championed the vitality of the city's creative undercurrents. These works, reflective and advocacy-oriented, reveal Xi Xi's commitment to documenting Hong Kong's artistic pulse through a lens of empathetic observation.

Legacy and Recognition

Awards and Honors

Xi Xi's literary career was marked by several prestigious awards that underscored her innovative contributions to , particularly in blending modernist techniques with everyday experiences. In 1983, she received the Eighth Fiction Award for her "A Woman Like Me," a work that explored themes of urban alienation and gender roles, helping to establish her prominence in Taiwanese literary circles and broadening her readership beyond . This recognition came at a pivotal moment, affirming her shift toward experimental prose after retiring from teaching in 1979 to focus on writing full-time. In 1993, she won the Second Hong Kong Chinese Literature Biennial Novel Award. Her novel Mourning a Breast (1992), a semi-autobiographical account of her breast cancer experience, received significant acclaim upon publication in Taiwan, where it was selected by the China Times as one of the top ten books of the year, highlighting her ability to transform personal trauma into universal literary inquiry. In 2000, Xi Xi received the Flower Trail World Chinese Literature Award from Sin Chew Daily, celebrating her prolific output across genres and her role in promoting Hong Kong writing regionally. This accolade, followed by the 2005 Flower Trail Award for her novel Flying Carpet, emphasized her mastery of fantastical realism and reinforced her status as a bridge between local and global Chinese literary traditions. In 2011, she was named Writer of the Year at the Book Fair. Later honors included the 2014 Commitment Award from Taiwan's Global Chinese Literature Award, honoring her dedication to humanistic themes in and . In 2019, she received the Newman Prize for from the , awarded for her poetry's "delicate, witty, and profound" capture of human condition, marking her as the first writer to receive this international distinction, as well as Sweden's Cikada Prize. Following her death, she was posthumously awarded the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts Development Council, recognizing her enduring contributions to 's cultural landscape.

Influence and Posthumous Projects

Xi Xi passed away on December 18, 2022, at the age of 85 due to heart failure at a hospital in . Her literary contributions have profoundly shaped subsequent generations of Hong Kong writers, notably influencing Dung Kai-cheung, who has cited Xi Xi alongside Liu Yichang and Leung Ping-kwan as key sources of inspiration for his own experimental and place-centered narratives. Xi Xi's use of vernacular Chinese infused with local idioms and rhythms played a pivotal role in preserving and elevating Hong Kong's dialect-inflected literature, capturing the city's working-class voices and everyday cadences in a way that resisted Mandarin standardization. Following her death, several of Xi Xi's works have received renewed attention through posthumous English translations, broadening her global reach. Notable among these is Mourning a Breast (1992), her semi-autobiographical account of battling breast cancer, which was translated by Jennifer Feeley and published by New York Review Books Classics in July 2024, highlighting themes of bodily autonomy and creative resilience. Additionally, a new translation of My City (1976), her seminal novel exploring Hong Kong's urban identity through a child's perspective, was released by Penguin Modern Classics in autumn 2024, also by Feeley, further cementing Xi Xi's portrayal of the city's socio-political flux. In 2025, "The Xi Xi Space" opened as a dedicated memorial in the Foo Tak Building in , , serving as a cultural archive, exhibit , and community hub to honor her life and oeuvre. Established by the Xi Xi Foundation through a 21-month initiated by her friends, the space features installations like "Xi Xi's Room Boxes," drawing on her personal artifacts and thematic motifs such as teddy bears to evoke her whimsical yet incisive style, while fostering ongoing literary discussions and events.

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