张辛欣：也许你在猜，我想著赶在美国大公司网上电影Unantun之前，做出第一部网上电影？不过，如果你上网，一定有感受，别说在网上下载电影了，想看好莱坞网站的极短广告片，都得等上老半天。还是等等吧，等到观赏技术再成熟一些，也许我就干网上电影。我不难想象自己在网上出版长篇，并且，我已经写下几部东西，打算什么时候就在网上出版。不过，眼下我只打算在网上张贴小玩意。

记者：小玩意！我读你第一天上网的内容，好家伙：小小爱尔兰文化创造与大中国当代文化创造的对比。今年夏天美国恐怖片分析。网络对当今生活的全面改观。还有附栏里你的个人推荐，从电影、录像、电视、戏剧、评论摘要、点评书、纽约时报新书评、杂志封面摘要和整本杂志的摘要，有点损精英们的“如何用书装饰室内”......等等，你的其中一篇文章讨论到报纸的生死存亡，但是你，分明在一个人办一份网上报纸。等一等，我还读到你的明天预告，新文章题目是，“全世界为Harry Potter狂热？”

张辛欣：我每天都会换文章。

记者：每天都换？还有什么内容？

张辛欣：东西方文化的个人观察、我自己东西结合的个人婚姻处境，各种个人感受的小玩意吧。每个星期，我会换个人推荐的娱乐，包括阅读内容。每个星期，我还会让出一天版来，专门刊登读者从这个专栏引发的议论。你不觉得吗？网上最让人迷醉的一个现象，是“无政府状态”地，庞大错综地交换个人看法。想象一下，不同的议论风格，文字风格，不是比我当年全国跑著辛苦采写《北京人--一百个中国人的口述历史》，要生动，要有趣多少倍？！立刻就表达在这里了：http://www.bookoo.com/columnists/html/1/www.bookoo.com/zhangxinxin。你也来讨论吧。对我做批判也行。对了，你用你的名字，或者换个名字。在网上反正我们不知你真在哪里，你是谁。

记者：不过，我们知道你。而你一向很个人化，也非常隐私化，我实在很难想象，你会跟著时尚，一下子全变了？

张辛欣：是变节吗？在网上时代，速度，透明度，机智，想象力，都无比地丰富。自以为有名有姓的个人，完全淹没在众声喧哗里。当然，是封闭在网络里的无声的喧哗。我绝对不在浪尖上，我根本不是时尚。在美国，有个人网站的人在100万以上。当然，大量的网建了，又闲置了，就像孩子好新奇，又没有长性。网站需要辛勤的工作，在我后面有设计师，工程师支持著。教我一下怎么干，回头我真可以自己一个人做全活。

记者：那么，所有没有上网，没有电脑的老读者呢，不是都被你抛弃了吗？

张辛欣：换个批判的词，喜新厌旧？其实，我自己半新不旧。也许，我既不是古典意义的作家，也不算是导演，尽管我受过专业训练。我不过是不断观察并且使用各种材料，看用什么更方便做什么罢了。这样，让我们来面对一种真实。说网络扩大了交流，其实，我们在屏幕前看到的是，电脑和网上手段的差距，还有地域的差距。就是说，网上交流看来无国界，实际上文化的针对性很强，也许比小说和影视的针对性更强。但是，在网上，每一种话题的讨论更集中，话题的边缘性可能也扩大了。你问，怎么把封在网外的人连接起来？好问题！咱们想著吧。

记者：你的网站名中，BOOKOO，什么意思？

张辛欣：是网上书店“博库”的拼写方法，有点好玩吧。

记者：你为什么把专栏开在“博库”这家网上书店里？因为你是书虫吗？

张辛欣：谈不上是书虫。实际上，就像我在我的专栏里“批判”的许多读者，我自己正在丧失读书的能力。太忙了，信息太多了，我大量读报，读杂志，但是，我觉得这都不能算深度阅读。我还是觉得读书才叫“读”。不过，你不觉著平面阅读在全面蜕化吗？我把网上专栏开在博库，是有点儿被在这里干活的人吸引了(他们在矽谷，我们没见过面)。起码的，这和定摊位时候的实用考虑有关，博库是全球第一家网上开架运营的中文书店，到这个虚拟空间来实在读书的人，是不是也在用一种文字，寻找文化距离的梦幻？

记者：什么时候会出版你的网上长篇呢？

张辛欣：随时的。

记者：稿费，版权保护呢？

张辛欣：其实有些办法。博库的雄心和口号，恰恰包括著保护在网上出版的作家权益。这让我有点感动，证明在电子时代还有骑士？练著看吧。假如，把网上的自由抒发，包括传抄新闻，都看做是出版，那么，那些定义为“作家”的人在网上出版，可能有些危险，意味著扔掉传统饭碗，加入免费漫天散发的游戏，或者，紧紧看守著自己小发明，小文章吧，在古典渠道里残存，或者，像我这样的，本来就靠任何方式活著，先想好，最坏是一子儿不挣地出版了(把被盗版变成主动式)，那么，不过是有点文字小手艺嘛，怎么都是可以玩的。

Internet, East-West Culture, Marriage and Personal Life

-- An interview with Ms. Xinxin Zhang, writer and director, on her new web site

Jiwei Huang(reporter, China Reading Business): Hi, Xinxin, after all these years, I found you on the web! What are you doing on the netland? You know, there are so many readers like myself, who remembered your novels in the early 80s, such as "On the Same Horizon" and "Craving Orchid". Your image was the young CCTV hostess for the "People of the Grand Canal" program, riding a bicycle from Beijing to Hangzhou. You were the first independent hostess on a state TV station in China, the first writer broadcasting your own novels on a radio station, and the first author of Chinese oral literature. But it was so hard to keep track of you. This time I caught you surfing the web J . All right, with your reputation on creative styles, are you going to play novels or movies on the web this time?

Xinxin Zhang: Well, you might think that I would compete with the big American companies to make the first web movie before "Unantun" gets online. But have you tried to download a short advertisement from Hollywood's web site? Can you imagine how long you would have to wait to download a real movie? I'd wait till the technology is mature for that. You never know, by then I may work on web movies. Novels are ready for the web now. I can do it any time I want, but not yet. I want to play light to begin with.

W: "Play light"? My God! I read your site at http://www.bookoo.com/zhangxinxin. You have articles on comparison of Irish and Chinese culture; comments on American horror movies; analysis of web's impacts on modern life; recommendations on movies, videos, TV programs, operas, commentaries, book reviews, magazine digests; and the satirical "how to decorate a room with books"; etc. You talked about the life and death of newspapers in this information technology era, but you are actually running a web newspaper single-handedly now. I will for sure read your new article tomorrow on "The Whole World Goes Crazy for Harry Potter?" But I just can't believe you can update your entire site daily.

X: You'd better believe it, because I do have new articles everyday on there.

W: What will you write about everyday?

X: Like my observations on east and west cultures, my personal experiences on cross-culture marriage, and other subjects. Some columns I will update weekly, like my recommendations on recreation, including what to read. I will also have a column for readers' comments. Don't you agree that the most amazing phenomenon on the web is the huge volume of personal opinions exchanged without any censorship? Just think about all the different views and styles in expression. It is a lot more dynamic and interesting than my "Oral History: Chinese Lives" which took me so much effort traveling all over China for the interviews. Hey, why don't you join in too? Come to my web site, and make your comments. You can argue with me there. You can use a pen name or your real name if you like. On the web, one person can have multiple personalities under different pen names. Nobody will know who you really are, and where you are.

W: But I know you for real. I knew you were very independent, and private. It is hard to imagine that you have changed so much.

X: So am I degenerated or transformed? At this web era, there is infinite speed, transparency, intelligence, and imagination. Those who used to be famous can be buried by the public noise at no time. Of course this "noise" is silent on the web. I am not going after fame. I am not even on the cutting edge. There are millions of people in America who have personal web sites. It is easy to set up a site, but hard to maintain it. I have over a dozen web designers and computer engineers supporting me now. My dream is to learn the tricks, and run a site all by myself someday.

W: Are you abandoning the old fashioned readers who have no computer and never surf the web?

X: I know you are blaming me for betraying my loyal readers in the early years. To be honest, I was never loyal to my own style. I am not a classic writer, nor a classic director -- although I did have professional training in that. I am keen to observe, quick to pick up subjects and flexible in adopting efficient means for expression. Let's face the reality. The web is for extended information exchange. There are different technical levels when accessing the web. There are also cultural variations when expressing on the web. You may say the web has no country boundaries. But I think literatures and arts on the web need to target on certain culture, more so than traditional novels, movies or TV programs. Subjects on the web may be more focused, yet with unlimited extension to related subjects. How to reach readers outside of the web? Good question. Let's keep that in mind.

W: What does "bookoo" mean in your http://www.bookoo.com/zhangxinxin?

X: You can think of it as "book pool", or "book cool". It is "Buo Ku" in Chinese, a book store on the web.

W: So you are still a book worm, linking your site under a book store.

X: I am really not a book worm, at least not any more. Just like the readers I mocked on in my article there, I myself have gradually lost the ability to read. I am too busy, and there is too much to read about. I do read a lot of newspapers and journals. But that is not professional reading -- since I am not reading real books. But I feel that the traditional reading on a single dimension is fading. We are living in a multi-media era. I was attracted to "bookoo" not by the books, but by the people running it. They are in the Silicon Valley. I have never met them face-by-face. I like them because they run the store with open shelves and open books. It is the first Chinese bookstore so open on the web. I often imagine who come to this virtual space to read, and what are they looking for here. Do they all share a dream of filling in the cultural gaps by literature?

W: When are you going to publish your long novels on the web?

X: Any time.

W: How about remuneration? Copy rights?

X: You got it. There are problems, and there are solutions. "Bookoo" has stated that it will protect the benefits of authors who publish on their web. I am moved. Are they the knights in an electronic era? I don't know how they can do it in practice though. Let's wait and see. You may say posting anything on the web is publishing. For the professional authors, they may either give up their privileges and join in this game of free posting, or stay in the traditional publishing channel to safe guard their products. For me, I used to survive on anything I can grab. So why not give it a try? I am prepared. Worse comes worst, I will just volunteer to be a victim of copyright violation, so what? Let me offer my skills in playing with words, in exchange for the fun.

W: It is always fun talking with you. Good luck!

X: Thanks.

Born in Beijing. Grew up in a farming village in south China during theCultural Revolution. Entered college in early 1978 at age 16. Spent thenext 16 years studying, teaching and doing research at 6 universities in threecountries (China, Canada, USA). Earned four degrees (B.SC., M.Sc., M.A.,Ph.D.). Majored in Biology, Geography, Ecology, Environmental Planning,Natural Resource Management, Remote Sensing, and Geographic InformationSystems. Currently a Senior Supervising Geographer at South FloridaWater Management District.　

At spare time, served as volunteer editors for China News Digest, HuaXia Wen Zhai, Chinese Community Forum, and other internet publicationsrun by Chinese students and professionals abroad. Currently managing theweb journal of "Resources, Environment and China".