Gao xingjian biography examples

Biography of Gao Xingjian

Gao Xingjian, a Chinese novelist, playwright, translator, and critic, was born on January 4, 1940, in the picturesque town of Hangzhou, near Shanghai, which was under Japanese occupation at the time.

His father was a banker and his mother an actress, which later had a negative impact on his life under Mao Zedong's rule. Gao experienced the Japanese occupation during his childhood and completed his studies at the French Department of the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute in 1962. He began writing at an early age but was forced to burn all his manuscripts during the Cultural Revolution when he was sent to a labor camp for re-education.

Until 1979, when China adopted reform policies, Gao was forbidden to publish his books and leave his hometown without "special permission." It was o