The panel for the 9th Mao Dun Literature Prize announced its winners Sunday afternoon. Five writers, Ge Fei (Jiangnan Trilogy), Wang Meng (Zhebian Fengjing), Li Peifu (Shengming Ce), Jin Yucheng (Fan Hua) and Su Tong (Huangque Ji) took home prizes this year.
Among the five winning works, Jin's Fan Hua (Blooming Flower), written in the Shanghai dialect, has been regarded as a "black horse" in literature circles since its publication in 2012. However, it has won several important literature prizes and has proven popular even among readers in their 20s and 30s.
A novel about Shanghai life, Fan Hua's use of the local language gives it just the right flavor for its location. While Putonghua (Standard Chinese) is the standard choice for Chinese literature today, Jin's use of the Shanghai dialect has been seen as a bold and interesting choice.
"Chinese literature is getting monotonous both in language and form. I want to be special, and have my own language," Jin told the Global Times in a preview interview before the announcement.
Zhebian Fengjing, a novel that Wang first began writing during his time in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region's rural areas during 1960s and 1970s and finished in 2013 at age 80, won Wang his first Mao Dun prize. The novel depicts the real lives of Han and Uyghur people against the special historical background of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as explores the region's ethnic folklore.
In his Shengming Ce (A Record of Life), Li, a 61-year-old writer from Henan Province, examines the drastic changes that have occurred in China's rural and urban areas over the past 50 years. Written from the perspective of a rural man moving to the big city, the introspective novel reveals a complicated society and the blood and tears shed by those struggling to survive in an increasingly urbanized China.
The other two winners, Ge and Su, are both avant-garde writers. Ge's Jiangnan Trilogy is regarded by many critics as depicting "the changing spirit of Chinese society over the past 100 years." Meanwhile, well-known writer Mo Yan has described the novel as inheriting the spirit of Cao Xueqin's famous novel A Dream of Red Mansions.
Su's Huangque Ji, which describes the rape of a teenager in the 1980s, takes on the concepts of sin and punishment, desperation and hope.
A total of 252 works published between 2011 and 2014 competed for this year's prize, including works by well-known writers such as Jia Pingwa and Wang Anyi.
Writers nominated to the shortlist include Fan Wen, Yan Zhen, Lin Bai and Xu Zechen. Each winner will receive an award of 500,000 yuan ($78,000).
One of the top literature prizes in China, the Mao Dun Literature Prize has selected excellent writers every four years starting from 1982.
