Lu Xun literature prizes handed out in Shanghai

One of China's most esteemed literary awards, the Lu Xun Literature Prize, has been handed out in Shanghai for the first time.

The award ceremony for the ninth edition of the prize took place at AIA Grand Theatre on Friday night, when awards in seven categories were announced.

Organized by the China Writers' Association, the Lu Xun Literature Prize was founded in 1996 and awarded every four years. This year's event coincided with the 90th anniversary of the death of Lu Xun (1881-1936), who is widely recognized as one of the greatest Chinese writers in the 20th century.

A day before the award ceremony, the Shanghai Literature Museum was officially opened to the public. The museum sits at the intersection of Jiangxi Road North and Wujin Road in Hongkou district, consisting of a main building and three historical structures. With writers' manuscripts, rare vintage books, historical documents and immersive visual-audio experiences, the opening exhibition features the development and achievements of Shanghai literature.

At the opening ceremony of the new museum, and opening of the Lu Xun Literary Week on Aug 25, Sun Ganlu, chairman of the Shanghai Writers' Association, announced that from this year on, the Lu Xun Literature Prize will take place in Shanghai forever. "This is an honor of the city, as well as its duty," he said.

Quan Yongxian, one of the five winners of the novella category, said at the ceremony that "our generation has gone through civilizational progress and huge social changes that usually take humanity hundreds or even thousands of years to experience".

"Winning the Lu Xun Literature Prize has special significance to me," Quan said. "In our writing careers, having the chance to connect our own works with Lu Xun's name is an immense honor for us."

Fifty-eight-year-old Wang Jibing won the Lu Xun Literature Prize for Poetry. "I am a delivery worker with eight years' experience," he said. "I love my life and take it seriously, just as I love literature and take it seriously.

"I believe literature can make the world warmer and softer," he said. He went on to talk about his award-winning poem Flying Low: "I portray a group of people who live life with the same seriousness, holding light in their hearts.

"Not all wings can soar high; flying low is also flying," he said.

Ban Yu, who won the Lu Xun Literature Prize for Short Stories, spoke about writers' mission at the ceremony: "Writing is about using yourself as a stepping stone to reveal everything in your heart," he said.

"What we do is to tell the stories that urgently need to be told, to cast our sight on those lovable, gentle, kind and just people, and let literature illuminate a wider world."