of literature anyway, " he said. "We have to draw their attention back to the specific richness of language and text. But I also use more film and visual culture in my classes."As to his students' reaction to the "B

y the River" novella col▓lection, he said: "American students who don'▓t know so much about China find it a little dif▓ficult

to relate to the problems and issues that characters in these stories are dealing with.""Some of them liked stories more than I expected them to. And some of them disliked stories that I thought that they would like

,"▓ he said. "But I think they make a ▓great component to use in teaching about modern and contem▓porary Chinese literature."

"Apart from learning the thoughts, feelings, and priorities of Chinese characters or authors, I think literature helps convince us of our common humanity," he said. "This is particularly important in a world that use

s language and media increasingly to divide us and distance us from others.""People who don't read foreign ▓literatures are