Shi Tiesheng(Chinese:Sử thiết sinh;January 4, 1951 – December 31, 2010) was a Chinese novelist, known for his story which was the basis of the filmLife on a String.TheChina Dailystated regarding his essay about the park near where he lived, "Many critics have consideredI and the Temple of Earth(zh: Ngã dữ địa đàn) as one of the best Chinese prose essays of the 20th century. "[1]

Shi Tiesheng
Native name
Sử thiết sinh
Born(1951-01-04)January 4, 1951
Beijing,China
DiedDecember 31, 2010(2010-12-31)(aged 59)
Beijing,China
OccupationWriter
Period1979–2010

Shi was born inBeijing,and graduated fromTsinghua University High School. In 1969 he was a "sent-down youth"or urban youth sent to a rural area ofShaanxias part of theDown to the Countryside Movementof theCultural Revolution.There he was paralyzed in an accident at the age of 21, and was sent back to Beijing.[2]

Shi was published for the first time in 1979. His 1983 short story "My Faraway Clear Peace River" ( ngã đích dao viễn đích thanh bình loan ) won the National Excellent Short Story Prize. The story is about a sent-down youth and an old man of the village, and takes the view that the peasants suffer more over the long term than the urban youth sent from the city.[3]A sequel, "A Story of Rustication" ( "Chadui de gushi" ) was published in 1986.[2]

In 1980 directorTian Zhuangzhuangbased a short film calledOur Corneron a story by Shi; it was the first film by a filmmaker ofChina's Fifth Generation Cinema.[4]

Shi's 1985 novella "Like a Banjo String" ( mệnh nhược cầm huyền ) about a pair of blind musicians, was the basis of the 1991 filmLife on a Stringdirected byChen Kaige.[2]

His collections of short stories includeMy Faraway Clear Peace River(Wo de yaoyuan de qingping wan) (1985) andSunday(Libairi) (1988).[2]

A collection of English-language translations of his short stories was published in 1991 asStrings of Life.[5]

In 1996, his novelNotes on Principles( vụ hư bút ký ) was published. In selecting it as a notable work of Chinese literature since 1949 which could qualify as an overlooked classic, Professor Shelley W. Chan ofWittenberg UniversitysaidNotes on Principleswas comparable to yet more profound thanSoul MountainbyNobel Prize-winnerGao Xingjian.[6]

In 1998, his kidneys began to fail and he subsequently requireddialysisthree times weekly.[7]

He received theLao SheLiterature Prize forFragments Written at the Hiatuses of Sickness( bệnh khích toái bút )(2002).[1][5]

In 2006, he publishedMy Sojourn in Ding Yi( ngã đích đinh nhất chi lữ ), about an immortal spirit that inhabits the bodies of a succession of people, includingAdam,Shi Tiesheng himself, and the book's hero, Ding Yi.[7]An English translation of this novel was published by Sinoist Books in 2019.[8]

On the morning of December 31, 2010, Shi died ofcerebral hemorrhage.[9]

References

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  1. ^ab"Taking Tortured Soul's Path",China Daily,2003-03-17,retrieved2010-04-27
  2. ^abcdLeung, Laifong (1994),"Shi Tiesheng: Wheelchair Humanist",Morning sun: interviews with Chinese writers of the lost generation,M.E. Sharpe, p. 153,ISBN978-1-56324-130-7
  3. ^Cao, Zuoya (2003),Out of the crucible: literary works about the rusticated youth,Lexington Books, p. 72,ISBN978-0-7391-0506-1
  4. ^Berry, Michael (2005),"Tian Zhuangzhuang: Stealing Horses and Flying Kites",Speaking in Images: Interviews With Contemporary Chinese Filmmakers,Columbia University Press, p. 58,ISBN978-0-231-13330-2
  5. ^abLeenhouts, Mark."Shi Tiesheng - China"(PDF).Shwob.Retrieved2010-04-27.
  6. ^Basu, Chitralekha (2010-04-23),"Quest for nation's unsung literary gems",China Daily,retrieved2010-04-27
  7. ^ab"Writer Overcomes His Condition to Produce Exceptional New Novel",China Daily,2006-01-06,retrieved2010-04-27
  8. ^Shi, Tiesheng (2019).My Travels in Ding Yi.London: Sinoist Books.ISBN978-1-910760-39-0.OCLC1099276015.
  9. ^"Renowned writer Shi Tiesheng passes away".China.org.cn. 2010-12-31.Retrieved2010-12-31.
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