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 Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

and lives in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

. He entered the Department of Chinese at

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 ...

in 1980, and started to publish novels in 1983. He is now vice president of the Jiangsu Writers Association. Known for his controversial writing style, Su is one of the most acclaimed novelists in China.

Work

Su has written seven full-length novels and over 200 short stories, some of which have been translated into English, German, Italian and French. He is best known in the West for his novella '' Raise the Red Lantern'' (originally titled ''Wives and Concubines''), published in 1990. The book was adapted into the film, '' Raise the Red Lantern'' by director

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 14 November 1950) is a Chinese filmmaker.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retrieved 21 August 2008. A leading figure of China's Cinem ...

. The book has since been published under the name given to the film in the English version and in some other versions. His other works available in English translation are ''

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

'', ''My Life as Emperor'', '' Petulia's Rouge Tin'' (''Hongfen'' in Chinese), ''Binu and the Great Wall'' (tr. Howard Goldblatt), ''Madwoman on the Bridge and Other Stories'', ''Tattoo: Three Novellas'' and ''The Boat to Redemption'', also translated by Goldblatt. His novel ''Petulia's Rouge Tin'', about two Shanghai prostitutes at the time of Liberation in 1949, has been adapted to two films: Li Shaohong's '' Blush'' (''Hongfen'', 1994) and Huang Shuqin's ''Rouged Beauties'' (''Hongfen Jiaren'', 1995). In 2009, he was awarded the

Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to write ...

for his work ''The Boat to Redemption'', the second Chinese writer to win the prize. In 2011, Su Tong was nominated to win the Man Booker International Prize. In 2015, he was a co-winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize for ''Shadow of the Hunter''.

Selected works in translation

* ''Midnight Stories''. Translator Honey Watson. Horsham: Sinoist Books. November 2024. * ''Missives from the Masses''. Translator Josh Stenberg. Horsham: Sinoist Books. February 2024. * ''Open-Air Cinema: Reminiscences and Micro-Essays from the Author of Raise the Red Lantern''. Translators Haiwang Yuan, James Trapp, Nicky Harman, Olivia Milburn. Horsham: Sinoist Books. October 2021. * ''Shadow of the Hunter''. Translator James Trapp. London: ACA Publishing. May 2020. * * * * * * * * ** Includes ''Raise the Red Lantern'', '' Nineteen Thirty-four Escapes'', and '' Opium Family''.

Work

Selected works in translation

References

Reference notes

Further reading