White Deer Plain writer Chen Zhongshi, 73, dies

Chinese writer Chen Zhongshi died of cancer on Friday in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. He was 73 and his masterpieces included White Deer Plain, which won him China's top literature prize.

Chen was born in August 1942 in Xi'an. He started writing prose in 1965 and completed White Deer Plain in 1992, for which he won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 1997, one of the most prestigious literature prizes in China.

With the novel's publication in 1993, Chen shot to fame almost overnight. Critics described his works as a "realistic reflection of Chinese contemporary history".