Author of White Deer Plain dies

Chinese writer Chen Zhongshi, whose works included White Deer Plain, which won him China's top literature prize, died of cancer on April 29 in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. He was 73.

Chen was born in August 1942 in Xi'an. He started writing prose in 1965, and in 1992, he completed White Deer Plain, a novel based on the county annals of his hometown, Bailuyuan in Shaanxi. It tells of changes to the land over 50 years from the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The novel is a mix of realism, magical realism and many other avant-garde writing techniques. Critics described his works as a "realistic reflection of Chinese contemporary history".

With the novel's publication in 1993, Chen shot to fame almost overnight. In 1997, he won the Mao Dun Literature Prize, the most prestigious in China.

Since the novel was first published, it has set a record as a contemporary literary work, with about 2 million copies sold in China, according to People's Literature Publishing House.

It has been translated into French, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian and Vietnamese.

"If this novel can arouse the interest of readers and help them to gain a real sense of the history it relates and of the background against which contemporary China walks, I will feel totally satisfied," Chen had said.

In 2010, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name directed by Wang Quan'an and starring Zhang Fengyi, Zhang Yuqi and Duan Yihong. The film competed for the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival.

Feng Jicai, another highly accomplished writer, says in a message of condolence: "Chen scaled the highest peak of Chinese contemporary literature. He was a good-natured and well-respected person. His works will live long after his death."

Chang Zhenjia, 72, an editor at People's Literature Publishing House for more than 30 years, read the first edition of White Deer Plain and published the first review of the novel.

"It's very thoughtful, having many breakthroughs such as the explicit sexual descriptions and the creation of an intelligent, amiable, elite landlord," he says.

yangyangs@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 05/06/2016 page18)