 Wang Meng was born
on October 15, 1934 in Beijing. Nurtured by his father who taught
philosophy at a university, he read avidly during his childhood.
While a student in high school, he took an active part in the
revolutionary movement led by the underground organization of
the Chinese Communist Party, which he eventually joined in 1948.
Soon after the founding of the PRC in 1949, he was assigned to
work at the headquarters of the Communist Youth League of China.
In 1953 he published his maiden work titled "Long Live the
Youth." Two years later, he wrote "The young Newcomer
in the Organization Department," a realistic portrayal of
the clash between youthful and idealistic revolutionaries and
older and entrenched party bureaucrats. He was labeled "rightist"
in 1957 and sent down to labor on a farm in Xinjiang Province
for seven years, where he learned to speak, read and write in
Uygur. A member of the Chinese Writers Association, he has many
publications that include "The Wounded", "A Spate
of Visitors." "The Butterfly," "Voices of
Spring," "The Movable Parts," and "Bolshevic
Salute". In 1985, he became a member of of the Central Committee
of Party, and later he was appointed head of the Ministry of
Culture, an official post from which he resigned in 1989 because
he refused to criticize the students and workers who protested
for democracy at Tiananmen. He is now vice chairman of the CWA. |
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