Jin says that his first reason for writing in English was that he had to. Jin had never published in Chinese prior to going to the US and had no readership. His wife, Bian Lisha, told him: "The only way you're going to get results is by writing in English.
所以用英語寫作，哈金說，一來他非得如此，除非他來美國之前就已經用漢語寫作、擁有讀者，用哈金妻子卞麗莎的說法是：「你只能用英語寫作，才能寫出個名堂來。