Chen Zhongshi (; 3 August 1942 – 29 April 2016) was a Chinese author. He started writing prose in 1965 and finished his magnum opus ''White Deer Field'' in 1993 (for which he won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 1997). In 1979, he became a member of the Chinese Writers Association (which he at one point served as the association's vice chairman).

Biography

Chen was born in

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

on 3 August 1942. After graduating from No. 34 High School of Xi'an in 1962, he got a teaching job in primary school and, after two years, became a senior high school teacher. In 1966, Chen joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

. He was interested in literature and soon began devoting himself to a writing career. Chen became the vice director of Culture Bureau of

Baqiao District Baqiao District () is one of 11 District (China), districts of the prefecture-level city of Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province, Northwest China, Northwest China. The district borders Gaoling County, Gaoling District to the north, Lint ...

of Xi'an in 1980. He served as a member of the Writers Association of Shaanxi, becoming vice president in 1985 and chairman in 1993. Between 2001 and 2006, he was the vice president of the Chinese Writers Association. Chen died on 29 April 2016 at the age of 73 in Xi'an.

Works

Short stories

*Trust () *Country () *Early Summer () *The courtyard of the Kangs ()

Novels

*''White Deer Field''() **''White Deer Field'', which has a large following in China, as of 2016, had not been translated into English.

Reportage

References

1942 births 2016 deaths Chinese male short story writers Writers from Xi'an 20th-century Chinese essayists Mao Dun Literature Prize laureates Chinese male novelists 20th-century Chinese novelists 20th-century Chinese short story writers Short story writers from Shaanxi {{China-writer-stub