Xue Yiwei

{{Short description|Chinese author}}

{{Chinese

|order=st

|s=薛忆沩

|t=薛憶溈

|p=Xuē Yìwéi

}}

Xue Yiwei ({{zh|first=s|s=薛忆沩}}, born in 1964{{cite web|url=https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/rct/renditions/authors/xueyw.html|title=Xue Yiwei|work=Renditions|publisher=Chinese University of Hong Kong|accessdate=2022-07-29}}) is a Chinese-born Canadian author.

His hometown is Changsha, Hunan, and his birthplace was Chenzhou in the same province.{{cite web|url=https://china.usc.edu/calendar/fate-novel-amid-chinas-reform|title=The Fate of a Novel Amid China's Reform|publisher=University of California Los Angeles|accessdate=2022-07-29}} He attended the Beijing University of Aeronautics (now Beihang University) in a computer science program, gaining a BsC. Next he attended the Université de Montréal, taking a program in English literature, attaining a Master of Arts. Finally he attended the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in a doctoral program in linguistics and received his degree.{{cite web|url=https://library.torontomu.ca:443/asianheritage/authors/xue-yiwei/|title=Xue Yiwei|work=Asian Heritage in Canada|publisher=Toronto Metropolitan University|accessdate=2022-07-29}}

In 2002, he relocated to Canada,{{cite web|url=https://chinachannel.lareviewofbooks.org/author/xue-yiwei/|title=Xue Yiwei: In Search of Universal Values|work=Los Angeles Review of Books|date=2020-04-25}} due to his disenchantment with the materialism-focused direction of literature in his home country. In February, he occupied an apartment in proximity to the St. Joseph Oratory,{{cite web|last=McGillis|first=Ian|url=https://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/montreals-chinese-literary-secret-is-finally-out|title=Montreal's Chinese literary secret is finally out|newspaper=Montreal Gazette|date=2016-08-25|accessdate=2022-07-29}} in Côte-des-Neiges.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/garrison-keillor-chinese-writer-xue-yiwei-christiane-amanpour-and-librarian-john-pateman-1.3866221/metaphors-in-montreal-a-david-gutnick-documentary-1.3866507?x-eu-country=false|title=Metaphors in Montreal - a David Gutnick documentary|work=CBC Radio|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Company|date=2016-11-25|accessdate=2022-07-29}} In 2016, CBC Radio presented him as having a high level of popularity in China, known to "millions of people". Ha Jin stated that Xue is a "maverick".

Shenzheners was his first work translated into English.{{cite web|last=Beattie|first=Steven W.|url=https://quillandquire.com/review/shenzheners/|title=Shenzheners|work=Quill and Quire|date=6 September 2016 |accessdate=2022-07-29}} Previously, he was not known among Anglophone audiences, and he lived in Montreal in relative obscurity.