Liu Hong grew up in the North East of China, near the Chinese-North Korean border. She immigrated to Britain in 1989. Since then she has worked here as a writer, teacher, and as a translator. Her writing career began with four novels published only in the UK: Startling Moon (2002), The Magpie Bridge (2004), The Touch (2006), and Wives of the East Wind (2007). She took a break from writing to raise children, chickens and chives before returning with her North American debut, The Good Women of Fudi.