ABSTRACT
Bai Xianyong is a professor of Chinese at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and thus is one of those who voluntarily emigrated to the United States to maintain his independence. This new form of self-exile, which does not preclude continued publication for Chinese audiences in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the PRC, nor frequent visits to those areas, is the real topic of the following essay. It defines Bai's own situation as well as the circumstances of fellow writers Chen Ruoxi, Liu Daren, Zhang Xiguo, and many others who reside permanently in the United States.
