Dai Sijie (born 1954) is a

Chinese French The Chinese diaspora in France consists of people of Chinese ancestry who were born in or immigrated to France. The ethnic Chinese population in France is estimated to be about 600,000-700,000, making it the largest overseas Chinese community in ...

author and

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

Early life

Dai was born in Putian, Fujian, in 1954. His parents, Professor Dai Baoming and Professor Hu Xiaosu, were professors of medical sciences at West China University. He grew up extensively reading and thinking. Dai excels in many things, including being a skilled tailor. The Maoist government sent him to a re-education camp in rural Sichuan from 1971 to 1974 during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. Though as the only child in the family he would have been excused, he went there with the idea of undergoing the spartan training. Much of this experience was the source of his first book. After his return, he completed his professional certificate as a teacher. He briefly taught in the No. 16 High School of Chengdu upon his enrolling to the Department of History of Sichuan University in February 1978 (so-called 77 grader), where he studied art history.

Career

In 1984, Dai left China for France on a scholarship to study at the

Institut des hautes études cinématographiques L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC; the "Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies") is a French film school, founded during World War II under the leadership of Marcel L'Herbier who was its president from 1944 to 1969. ...

. There, he acquired a passion for movies and became a director. Before turning to writing, he made three critically acclaimed feature-length films: ''China, My Sorrow'' (1989) (original title: ''Chine, ma douleur''), ''Le mangeur de lune'' (Moon Eater) and ''Tang, le onzième'' (The Eleventh Child). He also wrote and directed an adaptation of his novel, ''

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress ''Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress'' (french: Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise, links=no) is a semi-autobiographical novella written by Dai Sijie, and published in 2000 in French and in English in 2001. A film based on his novel di ...

'', released in 2002. He lives in Paris and writes in French. Dai's novel, ''Par une nuit où la lune ne s'est pas levée'' (Once on a Moonless Night), was published in 2007. ''L'acrobatie aérienne de Confucius'' (The Aerial Acrobatics of Confucius) was published in 2008.

Novels

Dai's first book, '' Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise'' (Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress) (2000), was made into a movie in 2002, which he himself adapted and directed. It recounts the story of a pair of friends who become good friends with a local seamstress while spending time in a countryside village where they have been sent for "re-education" during the

(see

Down to the Countryside Movement The Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement, often known simply as the Down to the Countryside Movement, was a policy instituted in the People's Republic of China between mid 1950s and 1978. As a result of what he perceived to ...

). They steal a suitcase filled with illegal Western classical novels from another man being re-educated, and decide to enrich the seamstress's life by exposing her to great literature. These novels also serve to sustain the two companions during this difficult time. The story principally deals with the cultural universality of great literature and its redeeming power. The novel has been translated into twenty-five languages, and finally into his mother tongue after the movie adaptation. Dai's second book, '' Le Complexe de Di'' (The Di Complex) won the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

for 2003. It recounts the travels of a Chinese man whose philosophy has been influenced by French psychoanalytic thought. The title is a play on "le complexe d'Oedipe", or "the

Oedipus complex The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to hav ...

". The English translation (released in 2005) is titled ''Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch''.

Works

Books

* '' Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise'' (''Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress'') (2000) * '' Le Complexe de Di'' (''Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch'') (2003) (

) * '' Par une nuit où la lune ne s'est pas levée'' (''Once on a Moonless Night'', translated by

Adriana Hunter Adriana Hunter is a British translator of French literature. She is known for translating over 60 French novels, such as '' Fear and Trembling'' by Amélie Nothomb or '' The Girl Who Played Go'' by Shan Sa. She has been short-listed for the Ind ...

) (2007) *
L’Évangile selon Yong Sheng
' (''The Gospel According to Yong Sheng'') (2019)

Filmography as director

* '' Le paon de nuit'' (2015) * '' Les filles du botaniste'' (''The Chinese Botanist's Daughters'') (2006) * '' Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise'' (''Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress'') (2002) (France) * '' Tang le onzième'' (''The Eleventh Child'') (1998) (France) * '' Le mangeur de lune'' (Moon Eater) (1994) * '' Chine, ma douleur'' (''China, My Sorrow'') (1989) ( Prix Jean Vigo)

References

Citations

Sources

* "Dai Sijie." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2011. Biography in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/H1000149472/BIC1?u=ivytech20&xid=4891c7a9. Accessed 16 Apr. 2017.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dai, Sijie 1954 births Living people People from Putian Sent-down youths 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French novelists Prix Femina winners Chinese emigrants to France Film directors from Fujian French film directors Screenwriters from Fujian Male screenwriters French male novelists Chinese film directors Chinese male novelists French-language writers from China