Association of Chinese Language Writers in Europe was established in 1991 in Paris. It is the first association dedicated to the promotion and creation of contemporary Chinese literary work. Its first president was Ms. Susie Chao, a renowned Chinese writer, and its current president is Sheng-Mei Hsu, a Chinese writer based in Germany. Since its inception, over the years, the association has been recognized as a driving force successfully assembling and supporting the Chinese writers in Europe. It currently has over 80 members, across 22 countries.
A brief history of the CWAE
The CWAE was founded on 16 March 1991 in Paris, after more than a year of intense preparation led by Ms. Susie Chao. For this purpose, she worked almost on a daily basis with a number of Chinese writers who were based in Paris. A European association, uniting those working towards an overseas Chinese literary body with European characteristics, was finally established. This was the first time in the history of overseas Chinese in Europe, that a truly pan-European Chinese writers’ organization was formed. Apart from a few, all other founding members only finally met face to face either at their hotel on the eve of the opening ceremony or during the ceremony itself. At that time, Mr. Sui Haoping, then only 30-year-old, but already a well-known writer, TV presenter, and a household name in Taiwan, was in the UK for his PhD studies. It took all Ms. Chao’s persistence to locate and then persuade him to join the association. To ensure that the venue and organization of the opening ceremony were perfectly ready, Ms. Chao, who was based in Switzerland, undertook a special trip to Paris prior to the event. Many VIPs traveled from all over the world to Paris to attend the opening ceremony. The gala dinner for the opening ceremony was held in a Chinese restaurant, for which a whole floor was reserved to accommodate over 100 guests. A Chinese classical music orchestra and amateurs of Chinese opera from London came to perform. Ms. Chao was instrumental in soliciting subsidies from numerous relevant organizations to cover the costs. On the next day, leading Chinese language newspapers in Europe and Taiwan dedicated special full page coverage to this major event for the Chinese cultural world in Europe. Since then, the CWAE has evolved, matured in its organization and is recognized today as one of the most important associations of its kind. The CWAE, besides the Chinese Writers Association of Asia, is one of the earliest branches that led to the formation of the World Association of Chinese Writers. The Chinese Writers Association of North America was established in 1992, after which other such associations were established in South America, Australia and Africa. They all contributed then, across the seven continents, to form the WACW. The WACW was established in the winter of 1993 in Taipei, Taiwan, with an opening ceremony held at the Grand Hotel. A delegation of 14 members of the CWAE attended the event. Chinese writers, who until then mostly worked in isolation in different parts of the world, came under one roof, to share the same passion and a longing for their homeland. In the excitement of the exchanges and the warmth of friendship, nobody noticed the particularly cold weather during the event. Today the WACW, with 113 branches and 4,000 members all over the world, has become the largest association of Chinese writers.
