Literary master widened Chinese horizons

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who died on Thursday at the age of 87, was arguably the most-read contemporary foreign writer in China in more than three decades.

In the early 1980s, his works triggered a new literary trend - the root-searching school of writing - and since then he has become an icon for his readers.

Chinese Nobel laureate in literature Mo Yan, once known as the "Chinese Garcia Marquez", is among his fans. Mo said he has tried to escape the Spanish-language writer's influence for 20 years.