Q&A with Scott Spacek

1. Why did you write China Hand?

Over the years, living in China, I saw, experienced, or heard about so many things that I thought could be great ingredients for a realistic, “torn from the headlines” espionage story, and I wanted to write one. There have been so many excellent espionage novels involving Russia or the Middle East but few set in China, and now just seemed like the perfect time. I mean, China is the top potential rival to the United States, determined to displace us economically, diplomatically, and militarily. The FBI is opening a new China-related counterintelligence case every twelve hours. And reader demand is there—there’s been an explosion of interest in the country, and it’s in the news constantly.

But I should add that I was determined not to paint some caricature of China. Having spent so much of my life there, studying the language, falling in love with the people and culture, I was committed to bringing the place and all its complexity to life, to not only telling a riveting story but also exploring—through the eyes of a relatable young protagonist—how the US and China got where we are today.

2. Why aren't there more novels or movies—and, specifically, espionage stories—involving China?

Let’s be honest—and I know it’s controversial to say this—media companies, and corporations in general, are terrified of offending China. Companies don’t want to lose access to the biggest consumer market in the world. It’s amazing how many authors I’ve spoken to who’ve said they were explicitly told by agents or publishers not to write about China unless it’s positioned as the hero. So the focus is usually on Russia and the Middle East—which is a shame given how central China is in the world today.

But I should be clear that China Hand is not intended in any way to be an “anti-China” book. There’s so much to admire about the country—and so much to criticize about the US’ own policies and actions—and I’ve tried to capture that, too. In fact, I genuinely think many Chinese people will like the book and how it captures a unique time in the country’s history, about twenty years ago. That said, I’m not holding my breath for China Hand to appear in Beijing bookstore windows.

3. Are you able to share any of the specific incidents that ‘inspired’ the story? How ‘real’ is it?

First—and I hate to disappoint you—I am not Andrew Callahan. Neither he nor any of the main characters is based on any real-life individual. But maybe in the same way that Jack Carr has drawn on some real events and his own experiences as a Navy SEAL to create James Reece, I’ve tried to do the same with China Hand.

In December 2000, a Chinese Colonel named Xu Junping defected while with a military delegation in the US. That got me thinking: Did he have a family? How did they get out? Who else might have been involved? I’ve had a number of friends and contacts who’ve spent time at the US Embassy or various consulates across China and heard some stories. That was the initial kernel, and I took it from there.

I’d taught at a university in Beijing where they trained government officials, an often nationalistic place where many of the students and faculty were children of top leaders, and I imagined how the defection might have played out if the general was one of their fathers—how they might have gotten away despite all the security, and who might have helped them. Might some unsuspecting young American student or teacher who randomly ended up at that school have been the only one who could help, and gotten caught up in the events—the way, for example, a Princeton Professor was involved in the dissident physicist Fang Lizhi’s seeking exile in the US in the 1990s? 

So I started with this simple concept of an unsuspecting American who heads to China to teach, only to get caught up in this crazy spy game—in a lot of ways, not unlike the arc of Tokyo Vice, but in Beijing, and with a bit of the The Bourne Identity thrown in! And once I got going, the details of the story sort of revealed themselves.        

The story is a work of fiction, but I tried to place it all in the context of other people or incidents that I’d directly experienced or become aware of while living in China: a local boxing club with some remarkable Chinese who became my friends; the constant surveillance; the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and the violent anti-American protests that followed; Bo Xilai and the New Leftist movement; and American intelligence successes and disasters, like Jerry Chun Shing Lee, who is believed to have exposed much of the CIA’s network to China. But I also wanted to show the wonderful people and culture, and the incredible economic boom that really was improving the lives of ordinary people in so many ways—most Americans simply don’t appreciate how poor China was just a generation ago, and why the government is understandably reluctant to make any dramatic changes that might derail that. I consulted with several former Navy SEALS on some of the grittier details.

China can be an often contradictory mix of heady elements, many of which I loved and miss, and I’ve tried to capture it all in China Hand.

4. Speaking of love, your protagonist has a forbidden case of it. The affair certainly has a James Bond flavor, intended or not. Based on your own experience?

Any “Bond flavor,” as you put it, wasn’t intended. But I did try to portray two twenty-somethings caught up in the emotions and, frankly, hormones of some stressful moments. I also think anyone who’s lived in another country can relate to some unexplainable cross-cultural attraction. Andrew and Lily even address that when they discuss Before Sunrise. But Callahan in particular is at first very self-conscious about the boundaries he’s not supposed to cross at his school, and the dangers of any relationship with the daughter of a general. But then again love makes its own rules, right?

5. What are some of your favorite recent espionage stories by other authors?

I really loved the ultra-realism of David McCloskey’s Damascus Station, as I thought it accomplished—with an intelligent, Middle Eastern-based espionage novel—many of the things I hoped to do with China Hand. Then Adam Brookes’ Philip Mangan series is a great (and rare) set of China-focused spy novels. And David Ignatius’ The Quantum Spy does an excellent job of capturing a lot of US-China technology competition—some of which I’ll try to go into in my sequel. Any of these would make great movies—if studios dare.

On my TBR: I’ve loved Charles Cumming, starting with Typhoon, years ago, and have been meaning to get to Box 88 and Judas 62.  

6. Did you say a sequel?

After 20 years, Andrew Callahan does need to come in from the cold, doesn’t he? Especially with the US-China rivalry really heating up. I mean, he speaks the language, knows how to take care of himself, and with his PhD in computer science might just be the one person who can save America from China’s high-tech espionage. But I probably shouldn’t give too much away!