With two earlier collections of stories and a novella, Ha Jin attracted notice as a guide to a world few outside China know.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Books: Divorce, Chinese-Style

The route, they said, is prohibitively expensive due to China's high permit and guide fees.

BBC: The ethics of asking strangers to pay

Since my family couldn't speak Chinese, I had to guide them, somehow, through more than 2, 000 miles in China and then into Southeast Asia.

CNN: Why I fled North Korea