Biography of WANG MENG
Wang Meng is one of China's foremost contemporary writers, a professor and researcher. He was born in October 1934 in Beiping (now Beijing) and is a native of Hebei Province. He taught at the Department of Chinese Language & Literature, Beijing Normal University in 1962. He is presently Professor and Consultant at Ocean University of China and Honorary Dean of School of Literature, as well as Honorary Professor of Nankai University, Zhejiang University, Xinjiang University, Nanjing University, Art College of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Beijing Normal University, Northwest Polytechnic University, Central China Normal University, Sun Yat-Sen University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Zhejiang Normal University; and consultant at the Chinese Poetry Research Center, Anhui Normal University. He was former presidential fellow of Trinity University, United States and is visiting scholar at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, USA.

The novel is the major representation of Wang Meng's prolific literary works. Since the 1950s, he has published seven saga novels; over ten collections of novelettes; short stories and short-short stories and many others.  Wang Meng's works have drawn wide attention and been studied in research, discussions, reviews and with both positive and negative comments.  During the 1950s, Mao Zedong cited Wang Meng's short story The Young Newcomer in Organisation Department on several occasions with positive criticism. He is the first Chinese mainland writer to employ a stream-of-consciousness style.

Wang Meng has received numerous prizes and honours, including the Italian Premio Literature International Award; the Prize for Peace and Culture awarded by Sokagakkai; an honorary doctorate degree from the Far Eastern Studies Dept, Russian Academy of Sciences; and honorary membership of Jordan Writers Association.
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