Campus Digest

“Death of the Sun” by Mainland author Yan Lianke wins HKBU’s “The 6th Dream of the Red Chamber Award”

20 Jul 2016

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Chairman of the final judging panel Professor Chung Ling (centre), Professor Chen Zhi, Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts (third from left), unveil the winning novel with members of the final judging panel
Mainland author Yan Lianke’s "Death of the Sun" wins the first prize of the 6th Dream of the Red Chamber Award

HKBU announced the winner of “The 6th Dream of the Red Chamber Award: The World’s Distinguished Novel in Chinese” yesterday (19 July). The prize went to Death of the Sun by Mr Yan Lianke from Henan, China. The award presentation ceremony will be held in September.

Mr Yan is Professor of the School of Liberal Arts in Renmin University of China and writer of an extensive body of novels, novellas and essays, which have won worldwide acclaim. Born in Henan, China in 1958, he obtained a degree in politics and education from Henan University in 1985 and a degree in literature from The People’s Liberation Army Academy of Art in 1991. Professor Yan is also the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the Lu Xun Literary Prize and Lao She Award Literature Prize. In 2014, he was awarded the Franz Kafka Literature Prize. His works have been translated into more than 20 languages, including Japanese, Korean, English and French.

The judges also proposed The Girl and the Woodcutter by Gan Yao-ming from Taiwan; and Jerusalem by Xu Zechen from Jiangsu, China as winners of the Jury Award. The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming-yi from Taiwan; The Second Year of Jianfeng: An Alternative History of New China by Chan Koon-chung from Hong Kong, China; and On the Mountain Summit by Chi Zijian from Heilongjiang, China, were Highly Recommended by the judging panel.

The final judging panel chaired by Professor Chung Ling, novelist and poet, Master of Cheng Yu Tung College of University of Macau, comprises Professor Michael Berry, translator of Chinese novels; Professor Chen Sihe of Fudan University; Professor Chen I-chih of National Taiwan Normal University; Professor Huang Ziping, Honorary Professor of HKBU; and Ms Wong Bik-wan, novelist, winner of “The 5th Dream of the Red Chamber Award” for her novel Children of Darkenss.

Launched by HKBU’s Faculty of Arts in 2006, “The Dream of the Red Chamber Award” which runs every two years aims at encouraging the publication of excellent Chinese novels worldwide and recognising outstanding Chinese novels by writers from around the world to enhance the standards of Chinese novel-writing. The award recipient receives a cash award of HK$300,000. The entries for “The 6th Dream of the Red Chamber Award” are original Chinese novels of 80,000 characters or more and published in either 2014 or 2015. 

List of winners