Liu Heng (writer)
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Liu Heng (; born in May 1954) is a Chinese writer. He is generally seen as a realist writer. He became a professional writer in the 1970s after having worked as a peasant farmer, a factory worker and a soldier, classes which have served as fodder for his stories and, not coincidentally, classes which
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
promoted as the audience for literature in his 194
Talks At The Yenan Forum On Literature And Art
"Dogshit Food" won the 1985-86 best short story award. "Fuxi Fuxi" won him the national Prize for Best Novelettes in 1987, and was the basis for the film ''
Ju Dou ''Ju Dou'' () is a 1990 film directed by Zhang Yimou and Yang Fengliang, starring Gong Li as the title character. The film, based on the novel ''Fuxi, Fuxi'' (伏羲伏羲) by Liu Heng, is a tragedy that revolves around Ju Dou, a beautiful you ...
''. His novel "Hēi de xuě" (Black Snow; 黑的雪), about the problems faced by a young juvenile delinquent upon his release from prison, was made into a feature
film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
, and "Pínzuǐ Zhāng Dàmín dē xìngfú shēnghuó" (The Happy Life of Chatter-box Zhang Damin; ) has been made into a television series in the same name.


Early life

Liu Heng was born in May, 1954 in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
. Liu's native place is
Mentougou District Mentougou District () is a district of the city of Beijing. It is at the western part of the city. Spanning , with 392,606 inhabitants (2020 Census), it is subdivided into 4 subdistricts and 9 towns. It borders the Beijing districts of Changping ...
, Beijing. He attended the affiliated primary school and junior school of
Beijing Foreign Studies University Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU; ) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction. The Internation ...
. In 1966,
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
, the Chairman of
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, started the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
, with all the schools were closed, so Liu and his mother had to back to the countryside and did farm works. Later, schools were open again. Liu joined the
PLA Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy, also known as the People's Navy, PLA Navy or simply Chinese Navy, is the naval warfare branch of the People's Liberation Army, the national military of the People's Republic of China. It is composed of fiv ...
after graduating from the junior school. In 1975, Liu left the army and returned to Beijing, the superior offered him two works to choose: Beijing Museum of History and Beijing Agricultural Machinery Research Institute. As a result, Liu exchanged with a demobilized soldier and he became an assembler in Beijing Automobile Works, while worked on the assembly line. In 1977, Liu wrote his first short story ''Small Millstone'', which is published on ''Literature of Beijing''. As a result, Liu was chosen to do trainee work in the editorial department of ''Literature of Beijing''. Later, he became an official editor who worked for Yang Mo, a female writer. Liu once edited
Wang Anyi Wang Anyi (born 6 March 1954) is a Chinese writer, vice-chair of the China Writers Association since 2006, and professor in Chinese Literature at Fudan University since 2004. Wang widely writes novels, novellas, short stories and essays with div ...
,
Chen Jiangong Chen Jiangong (; 1893–1971), or Jian-gong Chen, was a Chinese mathematician. He was a pioneer of modern Chinese mathematics. He was the dean of the Department of Mathematics, National Chekiang University (now Zhejiang University), and a found ...
, and
Su Tong Tong Zhonggui ( zh, c=童忠贵, p=Tóng Zhōngguì; born January 23, 1963), known by the pen name of Su Tong ( zh, s=苏童, t=蘇童, p=Sū Tóng, labels=no) is a Chinese writer. He was born in Suzhou and lives in Nanjing. He entered the Depa ...
's works. From 1985 to 1987, Liu felt that he didn't have enough knowledge and he studied in special class for cadre of
Beijing Normal University Beijing Normal University (BNU) () is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education of China, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education and the B ...
for 3 years. In 1986, Liu Heng published his short stories - ''Dogshit Food'', ''Wolves's Home'', and ''Strength''. Among the three works, ''Dogshit Food'' won the National Excellent Award for Short Story. In 1986, Liu left ''Literature of Beijing'' and joined Beijing Writer's Association. His career began. He was awarded the
Lao She Literary Award The Lao She Literary Award (''Lao She wenxue jiang'' 老舍文学奖) is named after the Chinese novelist Lao She, a writer and activist of 20th-century Chinese literature. The award is awarded to a Beijing writer every two to three years, recognisi ...
in 2000.


Works

;Short stories *"Dogshit Food" ( ''Gǒurì de Liángshi'') tr. Sabina Knight. In Joseph S. M. Lau and
Howard Goldblatt Howard Goldblatt (, born 1939) is a literary translator of numerous works of contemporary Chinese (mainland China & Taiwan) fiction, including '' The Taste of Apples'' by Huang Chunming and ''The Execution of Mayor Yin'' by Chen Ruoxi. Goldblatt ...
, eds., '' Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature''. NY:
Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...
, 1995, 416-428. *"Grain." Tr. William Riggle. ''Chinese Literature'' (Summer 1990): 3-17. *"The Heated Earthen Bed." trs. Ren Zhong and Yuzhi Yang. In ''Hometowns and Childhood''. San Francisco:
Long River Press Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...
, 2005, 97-104 *''The Obsessed''. tr. David Kwan. Beijing:
Panda Books The Chinese Literature Press (中国文学出版社) is a state-owned book publisher in China established in 1951, focusing on translating Chinese literature into other languages. Since the 1980s, more than 200 titles have been published by the p ...
, 1991. (includes "Fuxi, Fuxi" ) ; 083512083X ;Novels *''Black Snow: A Novel of the Beijing Demimonde'' (). trs. Howard Goldblatt. NY:
Atlantic Monthly Press Grove Atlantic, Inc. is an American independent publisher, based in New York City. Formerly styled "Grove/Atlantic, Inc.", it was created in 1993 by the merger of Grove Press and Atlantic Monthly Press. As of 2018 Grove Atlantic calls itself " ...
, 1993 *''Green River Daydreams: A Novel'' (Cang He bai ri meng ). tr. Howard Goldblatt. New York:
Grove Press Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United S ...
, 2001


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Heng 1954 births Living people Chinese male short story writers Screenwriters from Beijing Lao She Literary Award International Writing Program alumni 20th-century Chinese short story writers 21st-century Chinese short story writers Short story writers from Beijing