Wang Yuewen (; born 1962) is a contemporary Chinese writer known for his popular

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

in the

anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive measu ...

genre. His 1999 novel, ''National Portrait'' (國畫), about municipal-level corruption in China became a sensation, spawning a craze in the genre. The novel received critical acclaim, despite being effectively banned by the government and only printing 105,000 copies. In 2013, he won the

Lu Xun Literary Prize The Lu Xun Literary Prize (or Lu Xun Literature Prize) 鲁迅文学奖 is a literary prize awarded by China Writers Association. It is one of China's top four literary prizes and is named after Lu Xun and has been awarded every three years since ...

for his novella ''Spreading Water'' (漫水). A native of

Huaihua Huaihua () is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Hunan province, China. It covers and is bordered by Xiangxi to the northwest, Zhangjiajie and Changde to the north, Yiyang, Loudi and Shaoyang to the east, Guilin and Liuzhou of Guangxi ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...

, Wang grew up in the countryside and attended

Huaihua University Huaihua University () is a university located in Huaihua, Hunan, China. As of fall 2019, the university has 2 campuses, a combined student body of 18,057 students, 867 faculty members. The university consists of 21 departments, with 49 specialt ...

when he was nineteen. Before becoming a full-time writer, Wang was a municipal and country-level

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

in west Hunan, serving in the

Xupu Xupu County () is a county of Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of Huaihua Prefecturel-level City. Located on the west central Hunan, the county is bordered to the north by Yuanling County, to the northeast by Anhua County, ...

country government from 1984 to 1992. He transferred to

Changsha Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...

around 1994 and later worked in the Hunan provincial government when he began writing in earnest in the late 1990s. His other popular works include ''Premier of the Qing Dynasty'' (大清相国), an anti-corruption themed novel focusing on the life of

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

politician, Chen Tingjing. The novel was endorsed by

Wang Qishan Wang Qishan (; ; born 19 July 1948) is a Chinese politician, and the current Vice President of the People's Republic of China. Wang is one of the leading figures behind China's foreign affairs, along with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Ke ...

, Vice President of the People's Republic of China, and adapted into a play in 2017. A TV adaptation of the novel written by Wang and directed by

Zheng Xiaolong Zheng Xiaolong (; born November 30, 1953) is a Chinese TV and film director and screenwriter. Selected filmography *''Stories from the Editorial Board'' (1991)—China's first sitcom *''A Native of Beijing in New York'' (1992)—first Chinese TV ...

is currently in production.

References

1962 births Living people 20th-century Chinese novelists 21st-century Chinese novelists Chinese male novelists People's Republic of China novelists 20th-century Chinese male writers 21st-century male writers {{China-writer-stub

See also

References