Shen Rong (; 1936 – 4 February 2024) was a Chinese writer. Her name also appears as Chen Rong.

Biography

Shen was born Shen Derong () in

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers wh ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

. Because of the political unrest of the time, her family moved frequently, finally settling in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Cou ...

. She worked as an assistant at a publishing house and studied Russian in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. She then worked as a translator at a radio station but was released in 1963 due to illness. In 1973, she went to live with a peasant family in

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

. Shen began writing in the 1970s, producing the novel ''The Eternal Spring'' (Yongyuan shi chuntian). Her story ''At Middle Age'' (Ren dao zhongnian) (1980) won a literary award and was made into a movie, catapulting her into the spotlight. In 1991, she published ''At Old Age'' (Rendao Iaonian). In 1983, she wrote the essay ''Novels strangled in the cradle: My Senseless Literary Battles'', which described her difficulties as a writer living through radical shifts in her society's ideology. Shen died on 4 February 2024, at the age of 88.《人到中年》作者谌容去世，享年88岁

References

1936 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Chinese novelists Chinese women novelists 20th-century women writers International Writing Program alumni Chinese women short story writers 20th-century Chinese short story writers Short story writers from Hubei Writers from Wuhan {{China-writer-stub