Gu Hua

Gu Hua (June 20, 1942) (traditional :古華, simpified :古华, Original:羅鴻玉 Luo Hongyu) is a Chinese novelist born in the People's Republic of China. His writings concern rural life in the mountainous area of southern Hunan of which he was familiar. In 1988 he emigrated to Canada.

Hua is best known for his 1981 novel Furong zhen (A Small Town Called Hibiscus) which won the inaugural Mao Dun Literature Prize (1982), one of most prestigious literature prizes in China. It was the third top-selling novel to ever win that prize, selling over 850,000 copies. The novel was a rebuke of the Cultural Revolution. The novel was famously adapted to film in 1986 as Hibiscus Town, winning many awards including 'Best Film' of the 1987 Golden Rooster Awards, China's equivalent of the Academy Awards.

In 1986, The New York Times reported that Hua has "risen to prominence in the last three years among some younger writers who seek to rediscover, if not necessarily to affirm, China's traditional life and values. In China he has been called the Shen Congwen of the 80's and even, amazingly, the [Thomas] Hardy of Hunan," although the Times author Perry Link (professor of Chinese at the University of California) disagreed that Hua is comparable to those talents.

Hua's novel Virgin Widows (Chen Neu) deals with outmoded views of chastity and adultery.

Works

 * 1981 Furong zhen, trans. by G. Yang as A Small Town Called Hibiscus, 1983
 * 1982 Paman Qingteng Oe Muwu, 1982, trans. as Pagoda Ridge and Other Stories, 1986
 * 1986 Xin ge jing, 1986
 * 1984 Gu Hua Zhongpian Xiaoshuoji, trans. as Collected Novellas of Gu Hua
 * 1984 Jiejie Zhai, trans. as Sisters' Village
 * 1985 Gu Hua Xiaoshud Xuan, trans. as Selected Novels of Gu Hua
 * 1985 Chen Neu, trans. by H. Goldblatt as Virgin Widows, 1997
 * Other books published in Chinese
 * Screenplays of own novels