Nestled near the birthplace of Nieh Hualing Engle - Guangshui City, Hubei Province, China – the Nieh Hualing Literature Museum was inaugurated on November 6, 2023, the name of the museum having been inscribed in characters by Wang Meng, a prominent Chinese writer, former Minister of Culture and one of the earliest alums of IWP. The establishment of this literary haven aims to pay tribute to the remarkable woman who has made important contributions to global literary exchange.

Sponsored by the Guangshui City Investment Management Co., and spanning an area of 400 square meters, the museum displays an array of nearly 3,000 photos, objects, books, and documents. Its layout is divided into three areas: special exhibitions, a screening room, and “Hualing’s House of Books.” Borrowing from the title of her famous autobiography, the permanent exhibition "Nieh Hualing’s Three Lives " consists of four parts: (1) Time in the Old Garden: Born in 1925 into a traditional feudal family, Nieh Hualing navigated her youth through the tumultuous first half of 20th century China, completing her education in the course of wartime displacement. (2) A Chapter in Taiwan: At the age of 24, in the wake of the civil war, Nieh Hualing moved in 1948 to Taiwan. During her 16 years there, she blossomed into a mature writer, teacher, translator, and magazine editor. (3) World Literature: After moving to the United States in 1964, she and the director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop Paul Engle (whom she eventually married) founded the International Writing Program, which soon became a famous literary exchange platform that brings together writers from all over the world. (4) A Literary Homecoming: After 1978, Nieh Hualing frequently visited the Chinese mainland, where she fostered numerous cherished relationships with local writers and made beautiful memories of her hometown Guangshui.

Nieh Hualing is celebrated in PRC as a distinguished writer, translator, and avid promoter of literary events. Her works began to be published on the Chinese mainland in 1980, the year after the establishment of diplomatic relations between PRC and the United States, positioning her as one of the first overseas Chinese writers known to mainland readers. At the same time, she is revered as "mother of world literary organizations," for the International Writing Program she co-founded with Engle has since its founding in 1967 welcomed over 150 Chinese-language writers to Iowa City, having in 1979 orchestrated the first of several reunions of writers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and in diaspora. The Nieh Hualing Literature Museum presents her as "a pioneer and selfless devotee of world literary dialogues, a catalyst for promoting Chinese literature to the world, and a harbinger for literary interactions across the Taiwan Strait.”

Envisioned as a literary haven, the Museum plans to gather materials and provide a home for scholarship, education, and literary dialogues. Beyond collecting and exhibiting objects associated with Nieh Hualing, it also aims to serve as a gathering space for literary enthusiasts from across China, aspiring to be a cultural landmark and a literary mecca for Chinese-speaking writers from around the world.