He doesn't even give off that sense of almost-divine brilliance common to great artists. We're sitting at the Eslite Books across from National Taiwan University, where Ha Jin is diligently signing books for readers, smiling amiably from beneath a shock of curly but thin white hair. Our first impression of Jin is of a down-to-earth middle-aged man.
坐在那裡很認真為讀者簽名的哈金，親切和善的笑臉配上一頭捲翹但稀疏的灰白頭髮──人的直覺通常準確，而哈金給人的直覺，不就是一個既樸實又憨厚的中年男人？