Mo Yan's success represents recognition

BEIJING - Mo Yan's winning of 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature shows the world's recognition of China's contemporary literature, according to the China Writers Association.

It also represents the attentions drawn to Chinese writers and the international influences of Chinese literature, said an official statement from the organization on Thursday evening.

Mo is the first Chinese national to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In the statement, the association congratulated Mo Yan on his success and spoke highly of his "outstanding achievements."

Mo had effectively extended the boundaries of imagination, the depth of thoughts and state of arts of Chinese literature by focusing on lives the countryside with a unique national style, said the statement.

He Jianming, vice president of the association, said in a separate interview that "It is not only a joyous occasion for Mo, but also a dream coming true for generations of Chinese writers."

The prize also shows recognition in realism writing derived from traditional Chinese literature, said He.

He cited Mo's latest novel, Frog, which was published in China in 2010, as an example of Mo's focus on realism. The book focuses on the influence of China's "one child" policy in the countryside.

People think literature has been marginalized in recent years but a series of Chinese contemporary writers have kept their attention on Chinese society and reflected the times and historical changes in a sober manner, He said.

Mo's works are among the best when it comes to Chinese contemporary literature, He said, adding the award is significant for the development of Chinese literature and will boost confidence in the country's cultural creativity.

Mo Yan, a pseudonym for Guan Moye, was born in 1955 and grew up in Gaomi in east China's Shandong province.

Mo is one of the most widely translated Chinese writers. His best-known works are "Red Sorghum," which was made into a film by director Zhang Yimou.

According to the official Nobel citation, Mo's body of works "with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary."

A press release published on Nobelprize.org said "Through a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives, Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent in its complexity of those in the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, at the same time finding a departure point in old Chinese literature and in oral tradition."