Quick Facts
Biography
Gu Hua (simplified Chinese: 古华; traditional Chinese: 古華; pinyin: Gǔ Huá; born June 20, 1942) is a Chinese novelist. His birth name is Luo Hongyu (羅鴻玉). His writings concern rural life in the mountainous area of southern Hunan of which he was familiar. In 1988 he emigrated to Canada.
Gu is best known for his 1981 novel Furong zhen (A Small Town Called Hibiscus) which won the inaugural Mao Dun Literature Prize (1982), one of the most prestigious literature prizes in China. It was the third top-selling novel to ever win that prize, selling over 850,000 copies. The novel was a rebuke of the Cultural Revolution. The novel was adapted to film in 1986 as Hibiscus Town, winning many awards including 'Best Film' of the 1987 Golden Rooster Awards.
In 1986, The New York Times reported that Gu has "risen to prominence in the last three years among some younger writers who seek to rediscover, if not necessarily to affirm, China's traditional life and values. In China he has been called the Shen Congwen of the 1980s and even the Thomas Hardy of Hunan," although Perry Link (professor of Chinese at the University of California) disagreed that Gu is comparable to those talents.
Gu's novel Virgin Widows (Chen Neu) deals with outmoded views of chastity and adultery.
Works
- 1981 Furong zhen, trans. by G. Yang as A Small Town Called Hibiscus, 1983
- 1982 Paman Qingteng Oe Muwu, 1982, trans. as Pagoda Ridge and Other Stories, 1986
- 1986 Xin ge jing, 1986
- 1984 Gu Hua Zhongpian Xiaoshuoji, trans. as Collected Novellas of Gu Hua
- 1984 Jiejie Zhai, trans. as Sisters' Village
- 1985 Gu Hua Xiaoshud Xuan, trans. as Selected Novels of Gu Hua
- 1985 Chen Neu, trans. by H. Goldblatt as Virgin Widows, 1997
- Other books published in Chinese
- Screenplays of own novels