At the Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary's oldest and largest university, Han and other writers, scholars and translators from China and Hungary, read Mother's House, a poem from his latest book Qiji (Miracles), a collection of his mourning poems and poems about animals and to relatives and friends.

"The poems are written for all those people or beings who cannot talk to me anymore. Although they cannot talk to me, thinking of them makes me feel at home," he says. "These are universal themes, and also my reality."

At the Universite Paris Cite, he read excerpts from Fellow Feelings: Selected Stories of Han Dong, which has been translated into French, with students and Sinologists from France and Britain. Some 30 teachers and students from a number of universities participated in the event.

"It was a holiday, but I was surprised to see that they all came, students and translators that I have known for many years," Han recalls.