Yu Hua (Beijing/China)

Host: Hans Kühner (sinologist, Berlin)

More than anything else, it is through the shocking descriptions in his works, his original treatment of seemingly normal everyday themes and succinct style that Yu Hua captivates his readers.

Yu Hua was born in Hangzhou in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang in 1960. He lived for almost thirty years in the small town of Haiyan, where ‘there wasn’t even a bicycle’ at first. After completing secondary school, he studied to become a dentist at the local hospital, spent a further year at medical school and then worked for five years as a dentist. Parallel to working he began to write. Later, Yu Hua abandoned his career in medicine and took on a job at the district cultural centre where he was primarily responsible for the collection of folk songs and stories. After his debut as a writer in 1967 with the story "Wie Schall und Rauch", Yu Hua moved to Beijing. In the late 1980s early 1990s, he wrote a number of works in quick succession. In 1991, his first novel "Schreie im Regen" appeared, in 1992 "To Live!" and in 1995 "Chronicle of a Blood Merchant".

Publications in English include

- To Live (2003)

- Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (Pantheon, 2003)