Gao Xingjian (Chinese: Gao Xing Jian ; Mandarin: [kau ciNG tcien]; born January 4, 1940) is a Chinese emigre novelist, playwright, and critic who in 2000 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature "for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity." He is also a noted translator (particularly of Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco), screenwriter, stage director, and a celebrated painter. In 1998, Gao was granted French citizenship.
Gao's drama is considered to be fundamentally absurdist in nature and avant-garde in his native China. His prose works tend to be less celebrated in China but are highly regarded elsewhere in Europe and the West.


== Early life ==
Gao's original home town is Taizhou, Jiangsu. Born in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, China in 1940, Gao has been a French citizen since 1998. In 1992 he was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.


=== Early years in Jiangxi and Jiangsu ===
Gao's father was a clerk in the Bank of China, and his mother was a member of the Young Men's Christian Association. His mother was once a playactress of Anti-Japanese Theatre during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Under his mother's influence, Gao enjoyed painting, writing and theatre very much when he was a little boy. During his middle school years, he read lots of literature translated from the West, and he studied sketching, ink and wash painting, oil painting and clay sculpture under the guidance of painter Yun Zongying (simplified Chinese: Yun Zong Ying ; traditional Chinese: Yun Zong Ying ; pinyin: Yun Zongying).
In 1950, his family moved to Nanjing. In 1952, Gao entered the Nanjing Number 10 Middle School (later renamed Jinling High School) which was the Middle School attached to Nanjing University.


=== Years in Beijing and Anhui ===
In 1957 Gao graduated, and, following his mother's advice, chose Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) instead of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, although he was thought to be talented in art.
In 1962 Gao graduated from the Department of French, BFSU, and then he worked for the Chinese International Bookstore (Zhong Guo Guo Ji Shu Dian ). During the 1970s, because of the Down to the Countryside Movement, he went to and stayed in the countryside and did farm labour in Anhui Province. He taught as a Chinese teacher in Gangkou Middle School, Ningguo county, Anhui Province for a short time. In 1975, he was allowed to go back to Beijing and became the group leader of French translation for the magazine China Reconstructs (<<Zhong Guo Jian She >> ).
In 1977 Gao worked for the Committee of Foreign Relationship, Chinese Association of Writers. In May 1979, he visited Paris with a group of Chinese writers including Ba Jin. In 1980, Gao became a screenwriter and playwright for the Beijing People's Art Theatre.
Gao is known as a pioneer of absurdist drama in China, where Signal Alarm (<<Jue Dui Xin Hao >> , 1982) and Bus Stop (<<Che Zhan >> , 1983) were produced during his term as resident playwright at the Beijing People's Art Theatre from 1981 to 1987. Influenced by European theatrical models, it gained him a reputation as an avant-garde writer. His other plays, The Primitive (1985) and The Other Shore (<<Bi An >> , 1986), all openly criticised the government's state policies.
In 1986 Gao was misdiagnosed with lung cancer, and he began a 10-month trek along the Yangtze, which resulted in his novel Soul Mountain (<<Ling Shan >> ). The part-memoir, part-novel, first published in Taipei in 1990 and in English in 2000 by HarperCollins Australia, mixes literary genres and utilizes shifting narrative voices. It has been specially cited by the Swedish Nobel committee as "one of those singular literary creations that seem impossible to compare with anything but themselves." The book details his travels from Sichuan province to the coast, and life among Chinese minorities such as the Qiang, Miao, and Yi peoples on the fringes of Han Chinese civilization.


=== Years in Europe and Paris ===
By the late 1980s, Gao had shifted to Bagnolet, a city adjacent to Paris, France. The political Fugitives (1989), which makes reference to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, resulted in all his works being banned from performance in China.


== Works ==
Selected works:


=== Dramas and performances ===

<<Jue Dui Xin Hao >>  (Signal Alarm, 1982)
1982, in Beijing People's Art Theatre
1992, in Taiwan

<<Che Zhan >>  (Bus Stop, 1983)
1983, in Beijing People's Art Theatre
1984, in Yugoslavia
1986, in Hong Kong
1986, in Britain, University of Leeds, England. Translated and Directed by Carla Kirkwood
1991, in United States (California) Southwestern College, Chula Vista. Translated and Directed by Carla Kirkwood.
1992, in Austria
1997, in United States (Massachusetts) Smith College, Northampton. Translated and Directed by Carla Kirkwood.
1999, in Japan
2004, in United States (California) University of California at San Diego. Translated and Directed by Carla Kirkwood

<<Ye Ren >>  (Wild Men, "Savages", 1985)
1985, in Beijing People's Art Theatre
1988, in Hamburg, Germany
1990, in Hong Kong

<<Bi An >>  (The Other Shore, 1986)
1986, published in magazine Oct. (<<Shi Yue >> ), Beijing
1990, in Taiwan
1994, translated into Swedish by Goran Malmqvist
1995, in The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
1997, translated into English by Jo Riley as The Other Side
1999, translated into English by Gilbert C. F. Fong

<<Duo Yu >>  (Shelter the Rain)
1981, in Sweden

<<Ming Cheng >>  (Dark City)
1988, in Hong Kong

<<Sheng Sheng Man Bian Zou >>  (Transition of Sheng-Sheng-Man)
1989, in United States

<<Tao Wang >>  (Escape)
1990, published in magazine Today (<<Jin Tian >> )
1990, in Sweden
1992, in Germany, Poland
1994, in France
1997, in Japan, Africa

<<Sheng Si Jie >>  (Death Sector / Between Life and Death)
1991, published in magazine Today (<<Jin Tian >> )
1992, in France
1994, in Sydney, Italy
1996, in Poland
1996, in US

<<Shan Hai Jing Chuan >>  (A Tale of Shan Hai Jing)
1992, published by Hong Kong Cosmos Books Ltd. (Xiang Gang Tian Di Tu Shu Gong Si )
2008, published by The Chinese University Press as Of Mountains and Seas: A Tragicomedy of the Gods in Three Acts

<<Dui Hua Yu Fan Jie >>  (Dialogue & Rhetorical / Dialogue and Rebuttal)
1992, published in magazine Today (<<Jin Tian >> )
1992, in Vienna
1995, 1999, in Paris

<<Zhou Mo Si Zhong Zou >>  (Weekends Quartet / Weekend Quartet)
1999, published by Hong Kong New Century Press (Xiang Gang Xin Shi Ji Chu Ban She )

<<Ye You Shen >>  (Nighthawk / Nocturnal Wanderer)
1999, in France

<<Ba Yue Xue >>  (Snow in August)
2000, published by Taiwan Lianjing Press (Tai Wan Lian Jing Chu Ban She )
Dec 19, 2002, in Taipei

<<Gao Xing Jian Xi Ju Ji >>  (Collection)
<<Gao Xing Jian Xi Ju Liu Zhong >>  (Collection, 1995, published by Taiwan Dijiao Press (Tai Wan Di Jiao Chu Ban She ))
<<Xing Lu Nan >>  (Xinglunan)
<<Ke Ba La Shan >>  (Mountain Kebala)
<<Du Bai >>  (Soliloquy)


=== Fiction ===
<<Han Ye De Xing Chen >>  ("Constellation in a Cold Night", 1979)
<<You Zhi Ge Zi Jiao Hong Chun Er >>  ("Such a Pigeon called Red Lips", 1984) - a collection of novellas
<<Gei Wo Lao Ye Mai Yu Gan >>  (Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather, 1986-1990) - a short story collection
<<Ling Shan >>  (Soul Mountain, 1989)
<<[?] Ge Ren De Sheng Jing >>  (One Man's Bible, 1999)


=== Poem ===
While being forced to work as a peasant - a form of 'education' under the Cultural Revolution - in the 1970s, Gao Xingjian produced many plays, short stories, poems and critical pieces that he had to eventually burn to avoid the consequences of his dissident literature being discovered. Of the work he produced subsequently, he published no collections of poetry, being known more widely for his drama, fiction and essays. However, one short poem exists that represents a distinctively modern style akin to his other writings:
Tian Zang Tai 
Zai Liao  / Ge Liao  / Lan Dao Sui Liao  / Ran [?] Zhu Xiang  / Da [?] Sheng Hu Shao  / Lai Liao  / Jiu Qu Liao  / Lai Qu Du Gan Gan Jing Jing 
Sky Burial
Cut / Scalped / Pounded into pieces / Light an incense / Blow the whistle / Come / Gone / Out and out
(April 13, 1986, Beijing)


=== Other texts ===
<<Ba Jin Zai Ba Li >>  (Ba Jin in Paris, 1979, essay)
<<Xian Dai Xiao Shuo Ji Qiao Chu Tan >>  ("A Preliminary Examination of Modern Fictional Techniques", 1981)
<<Tan Xiao Shuo Guan He Xiao Shuo Ji Qiao >>  (1983)
<<Mei You Zhu Yi >>  (Without -isms, translated by W. Lau, D. Sauviat & M. Williams // Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia. Vols 27 & 28, 1995-96
<<Dui [?] Zhong Xian Dai Xi Ju De Zhui Qiu >>  (1988, published by China Drama Press) (Zhong Guo Xi Ju Chu Ban She ))
<<Gao Xing Jian *2000Nian Wen Ku ----Dang Dai Zhong Guo Wen Ku Jing Du >>  (1999, published by Hong Kong Mingpao Press) (Xiang Gang Ming Bao Chu Ban She )


=== Paintings ===
Gao is a renowned painter, especially for his ink and wash painting. His exhibitions have included:
Le gout de l'encre, Paris, Hazan 2002
Return to Painting, New York, Perennial 2002
"Wu Wo Zhi Jing *You Wo Zhi Jing ", Singapore, Nov 17, 2005 - Feb 7, 2006
The End of the World, Germany, Mar 29, - May 27, 2007


=== Works translated in English ===
Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather, short stories, trans. Mabel Lee, Flamingo, London, 2004, ISBN 0-00-717038-6
Bus Stop (Che zhan). Gao Xingjian. Trans. Carla Kirkwood. Ed. Roger Davies. World Anthology of Drama, London: Longman. 2004.
Soul Mountain, novel, trans. Mabel Lee, Flamingo, London, 2001, ISBN 0-00-711923-2
One Man's Bible, novel, trans. Mabel Lee, Flamingo, ISBN 0-06-621132-8
The Other Shore, plays, trans. G. Fong, Chinese University Press, ISBN 962-201-862-9
The Other Side, play, trans. Jo Riley, in An Oxford Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama, 1997, ISBN 0-19-586880-3
Bus Stop (Che zhan) by Gao Xingjian. Trans. Carla Kirkwood. Modern International Drama Journal. New York. Spring 1995.
Silhouette/Shadow: The Cinematic Art of Gao Xingjian, film/images/poetry, ed. Fiona Sze-Lorrain, Contours, Paris, ISBN 978-981-05-9207-3
Gao Xingjian: Aesthetics and Creation, essays, trans. Mabel Lee, Cambria Press, Amherst, New York, 2012, ISBN 978-160-49-7836-0


== Reception ==


=== Response from Zhu Rongji ===
The Premier Zhu Rongji delivered a congratulatory message to Gao when interviewed by the Hong Kong newspaper East Daily (<<Dong Fang Ri Bao >> ):
Q.: What's your comment on Gao's winning Nobel Prize ?
A.: I am very happy that works written in Chinese can win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Chinese characters have a history of several thousand years, and Chinese language has an infinite charm, (I) believe that there will be Chinese works winning Nobel Prizes again in the future. Although it's a pity that the winner this time is a French citizen instead of a Chinese citizen, I still would like to send my congratulations both to the winner and the French Department of Culture. (Original words: Wo Hen Gao Xing Yong Yi Yu Xie Zuo De Wen Xue Zuo Pin Huo Nuo Bei Er Wen Xue Jiang . Yi Zi You Ji Qian Nian De Li Shi ,Yi Yu You Wu Qiong De Mei Li ,Xiang Xin Jin Hou Huan Hui You Yi Yu Huo Hua Yu Zuo Pin Huo Jiang . Hen Yi Han Zhe Ci Huo Jiang De Shi Fa Guo Ren Bu Shi Zhong Guo Ren ,Dan Wo Huan Shi Yao Xiang Huo Jiang Zhe He Fa Guo Wen Hua Bu Biao Shi Zhu He . )


=== Comments from Chinese writers ===
Gao's work has led to fierce discussion among Chinese writers, both positive and negative.
Many Chinese writers comment that Gao's "Chinoiserie", or translatable works, have opened a new approach for Chinese modern literature to the Swedish Academy, and that his winning the Nobel Prize in its 100th anniversary year is a happy occasion for Chinese literature.
In his article on Gao in the June 2008 issue of Muse, a now-defunct Hong Kong magazine, Leo Ou-fan Lee praises the use of Chinese language in Soul Mountain: 'Whether it works or not, it is a rich fictional language filled with vernacular speeches and elegant Wen Yan  (classical) formulations as well as dialects, thus constituting a "heteroglossic" tapestry of sounds and rhythms that can indeed be read aloud (as Gao himself has done in his public readings).'
Before 2000, a dozen Chinese writers and scholars already predicted Gao's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, including Hu Yaoheng (Chinese: Hu Yao Heng ) Pan Jun (Pan Jun ) as early as 1999.


=== Honors ===
1985, DAAD Fellowship, Germany
1989, Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, United States
1992, Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
2000, Nobel Prize in Literature
2000, Premio Letterario Feronia in Rome
2001, honorary doctorate by Chinese University of Hong Kong
2001, honorary doctorate by National Sun Yat-sen University
2002, honorary doctorate by National Chiao Tung University
2002, Legion of Honour by then French President Jacques Chirac
2003, l'Anne Gao Xingjian, the City of Marseille
2005, honorary doctorate by National Taiwan University
2006, Lions Award, by the New York Public Library (NYPL) at Library Lions Benefit event


== Trivia ==
Gao Xingjian's Swedish translator Goran Malmqvist, is a member of the Swedish Academy and was responsible for the translation to Swedish for Nobel Prize consideration. Ten days before the award decision was made public, Gao Xingjian changed his Swedish publisher (from Forum to Atlantis), but Goran Malmqvist has denied leaking information about the award.
Gao is the second of the three laureates to give Nobel lecture in Chinese (the other two are Samuel C. C. Ting in 1976 and Mo Yan in 2012).


== See also ==
Chinese literature
List of Nobel laureates in Literature
List of Chinese writers


== References ==


== External links ==
Appearances on C-SPAN
Gao Xingjian collected news and commentary at The New York Times
The Voice of One in the Wilderness critical essay on the works of Gao Xingjian by Olivier Burckhardt, PN Review #137, 27:3 (Jan-Feb 2001) 28-32, shorter version also published in Quadrant. 44:4 (2000) 54-57, and anthologized in Contemporary Literary Criticism Vol. 167, ed. Jeff Hunter, Gale Publishing, (2003) 200-204
Gao Xingjian: Bio, excerpts, interviews and articles in the archives of the Prague Writers' Festival
"The Challenge to the 'Official Discourse' in Gao Xingjian's Early Fiction" by Deborah Sauviat. First-class Honours thesis. University of Sydney, 1996.
Gao Xingjian and "Soul Mountain: Ambivalent Storytelling, Robert Nagle, Houston, Texas, 2002.