Observations of a city

Vincent Hein's A l'est des nuages is now available in Chinese.

"The place will always be what it is, the problem is you," he says. "Even at the rate China is growing today, the people remain the same underneath as everywhere else."

Hein, who has been in Beijing for 10 years with his Chinese family, calls it home and misses it when he's away.

"Even if I go for a while, I know I'll come back to China," he says of the place that keeps him fascinated with its rich culture, laid-back pace and interesting, hospitable people.

He is currently in the process of writing about his childhood in Cote d'Ivoire. His new work will explore the same themes - that racism is artificial and people are fundamentally the same.

"You may eat with fork or chopsticks, but the hunger is the same."