He was born in Liaoning, China in 1956.
He sets many of his stories and novels in China, in the fictional locale of Muji City. He has won a number of awards for his writing, including The National Book Award for his novel, Waiting. Many of his short stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories anthologies, and his collection Under The Red Flag won The Flannery Connor Award in fiction while Ocean of Words has been awarded the PEN-Hemingway Award. He currently teaches at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.