Chinese author wins the Nobel

China and its controlled media praised it, but its most prominent dissident questioned it. Chinese author Mo Yan on October 11 won the Nobel Literature Prize for writing that mixes folk tales, history and the contemporary. Yan, whose real name is Guan Moye and was born in 1955, has published novels, short stories and essays on various topics, and despite his social criticism is seen in his homeland as one of the foremost contemporary authors, the Nobel committee noted. In his writing Mo Yan draws on his youthful experiences and on settings in the province of his birth. Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng criticized the award, however, saying the move was meant to appease Beijing. Wei praised Mo Yan’s skill as a writer but questioned his actions including copying by hand part of a speech by late leader Mao Zedong for a commemorative book. Wei said the Chinese regime “tolerates” Mo Yan.

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Mo Yan awarded Nobel Prize in Literature
China dissident criticizes Nobel literature