Mao Dun Literature Prize
Encyclopedia
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
: 茅盾文学奖) is a prize for novels sponsored by the Chinese Writers Association. Awarded every four years, it is one of most prestigious literature prizes in China. It was first awarded in 1982.
Background
The prize was created by the will of Mao DunMao Dun
Mao Dun was the pen name of Shen Dehong , a 20th century Chinese novelist, cultural critic, and journalist. He was also the Minister of Culture of China from 1949 to 1965. He is currently renowned as one of the best realist novelists in the history of modern China...
, a prominent Chinese writer in the 20th century. The purpose was to encourage novel writing. Mao Dun himself personally donated 250,000 RMB to the prize committee .
Selection rule
According to selection rule, any work, authored by Chinese nationals, published in mainland China, and with over 130,000 characters, is eligible.The selection committee in the Chinese Writers Association holds the voting poll twice, and the winner must receive over 2/3 of the votes cast. The process is highly selective, and each time the number of winners is between 3 to 5. The prize was initially awarded once every three years. Later, it changed to once every four years.
Criticism
The awards has recently been criticized, especially in the 8th session in 2011, as it was reveled that eight of the top 10 on the list were either the chair or vice-chairpersons of prominent provincial writers' associations. According to an editorial in the China Daily, it said: :"Official status cannot and should not be a criterion for literary excellence. That's why people doubt the authenticity of prizes that are awarded to officials for their literary achievements."Past winners and their works
- 1st, 1982
- Wei WeiWei WeiWei Wei , originally known as Hong Jie , was a poet, a prose writer, a literary report writer, a journalist, a vice-editor-in-chief and the editor of various newspapers in China and a propagandist. His works are noted for their themes of patriotism, communism, and nationalism...
"Orient" (The People's Literature Publishing House) - Zhou KeqinZhou KeqinZhou Keqin was a Chinese writer regarded as a representative of Scar Literature. Born in Jianyang County, Ziyang, Sichuan Province of China, he is famous in China for his novel Xu Mao and His Daughters, published in 1979, which was made into a movie in 1981 and which also won him the first-time...
"Xu Mao and His Daughters" - Yao Xueyin "Li Zicheng"
- Mo Yingfeng "General's Chant" (The People's Literature Publishing House)
- Li Guowen "Spring in Winter" (The People's Literature Publishing House)
- Gu Hua "Lotus Town" (The People's Literature Publishing House)
- Wei Wei
- 2nd, 1985
- Zhang JieZhang Jie (writer)Zhang Jie is a Chinese novelist and short-story writer. She was one of China's first contributors to feminist fiction.Her novel Leaden Wings was translated into German in 1982 and published in England in 1987 by Virago Press....
"Leaden Wings" - Liu XinwuLiu XinwuLiu Xinwu is a Chinese author, and one of the earliest proponents of the post-Maoist wave of Chinese literature.-Biography:Born in the province of Sichuan, his family moved to Beijing, a city that figures prominently in his work, in 1950...
"Bell and Drum Tower" - Li Zhun "Yellow River Flowing to East"
- Zhang Jie
- 3rd, 1991
- Lu YaoLu Yaofrom http://english.shaanxi.gov.cn/articleCulture/culture/artculture/fwofaaa/200811/1301_1.htmlLu Yao ,originally known as Wang Weiguo（） ,a writer from China Shaanxi Province Qingjian County, was born to a poor farmer’s family in Northern Shaanxi Province in 1949...
"Ordinary World" - Ling Li "Young Emperor"
- Sun Li, Yu Xiaohui "Rhapsody of Metropolis"
- Liu BaiyuLiu BaiyuLiu Baiyu was a Chinese writer who took an orthodox Communist line on writing issues. He opposed "Western bourgeois values" influencing Chinese literature.-References:...
"The Second Sun" - Huo DaHuo DaHuo Da Huo Da Huo Da (Chinese: 霍达/霍達） is a Chinese female writer of the Hui Nationality. She also is a film editor. Her Hui name (Chinese: 经名) is 法图迈. One of her works, The Muslim's Funeral won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 1991. It has been translated into English, French, Arabic and...
"The Funeral of Muslim" - Honorary Prize
- Xiao KeXiao KeXiao Ke was a general in the People's Liberation Army of China, former vice chairman of the CPPCC, as well as principal of the University of Military and Politics.-Early life:Xiao was born in Jiahe County, Hunan Province of China....
"Bloody Heaven" - Xu Xingya "Broken Golden Bowl"
- Xiao Ke
- Lu Yao
- 4th, 1997
- Chen ZhongshiChen ZhongshiChen Zhongshi is a Chinese author born in June 1942 in Xi'an. He started writing prose in 1965,and finished his representative novel White Deer Plain in 1993. In 1979, he became a member of Chinese Writers Association. He was once the vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association. White Deer...
"White Deer Field" - Wang Huo "War and People"
- Liu Sifen "White Gate Willow"
- Liu Yumin "Unsettled Autumn"
- Chen Zhongshi
- 5th, 2000 (awarded in Mao Dun's hometown, TongxiangTongxiangTongxiang City is a county-level city, part of Jiaxing , in northern Zhejiang Province, China. Population : 109,976.The scenic town of Wuzhen is part of Tongxiang....
, ZhejiangZhejiangZhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
on November 11.)- A LaiAlai (author)Alai is a Chinese poet and novelist of Rgyalrong Tibetan descendent. He was also editor of Science Fiction World.- Novels :...
"After the Dust Settled" - Wang AnyiWang AnyiWang Anyi is a Chinese writer, and currently the chairwoman of Writers' Association of Shanghai. The daughter of a famous writer and member of the Communist Party, Ru Zhijuan, and a father who was denounced as a Rightist when she was three years old, Wang Anyi writes that she "was born and raised...
"The Everlasting Regret" - Zhang Ping "Decision"
- Wang XufengWang XufengWang Xufeng , is an influential Chinese woman writer and tea expert. She is a recipient of the most prestigious Mao Dun Literature Prize in China.-Career:...
"Three Episodes of Tea-man"
- A Lai
- 6th, April 11, 2005
- Xiong Zhaozheng "Zhang Juzheng"
- Zhang JieZhang Jie (writer)Zhang Jie is a Chinese novelist and short-story writer. She was one of China's first contributors to feminist fiction.Her novel Leaden Wings was translated into German in 1982 and published in England in 1987 by Virago Press....
"Wordless" - Xu Guixiang "Heaven of History"
- Liu Jianwei "Heroic Time"
- Zong Pu "Lead-in of Wild Gourd"
- 7th, 2008
- Jia PingwaJia PingwaJia Pingwa is a Chinese novelist.He is the third most popular writer in China, in a biennial poll conducted by the Chinese Publishing Science Research Center in 2006. His Turbulence: A Novel won the Pegasus prize in literature...
"Qin Qiang" - Chi Zijian "The Right Bank of Er'guna River"
- Mai Jia "Plot"
- Zhou Daxin "The Scenery of the Lake and the Mountain"
- Jia Pingwa