Shen Rong [real name Shen Derong] 1936-

Born in Hubei, much of her early life was interrupted by frequent moves. In 1954, she passed the entrance exams for the Peking Russian Language Institute. After graduation, she worked as an editor and translator. In 1969, during the Cultural Revolution, she was sent to the countryside to work in a production brigade, and it was this experience she drew on for her first novel, published in 1975. Her real success came with the novella Ren dao zhongnian [At middle-age], first published in the magazine Shouhuo in 1980. The novella poignantly dramatized the plight of Chinese intellectuals burdened with the task of modernization for little material reward or recognition. Other fiction by Shen Rong includes Zhenzhen jiajia [True and false], Taizicun de mimi [The secret of Taizi Village] and Cuo, cuo, cuo! [Wrong, wrong, wrong!].

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