Wang Meng

Wang Meng, born in Beijing in 1934 with ancestral roots in Nanpi, Hebei, is a contemporary Chinese writer and scholar. He served as Minister of Culture and as vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association. He began writing the novel Long Live Youth in 1953; his representative works include A Young Man Arrives at the Organization Department and The Metamorphosis of Li Weng. In 2019 he was awarded the national honorary title of "People's Artist." His works span social fiction, essays, literary appreciation and cultural writing, combining acute observation of reality with a reflective account of life experience. The library holds 69 of his works, including Ten Lectures on Dream of the Red Chamber Culture and several volumes of the Sunbird literary annuals, showing that he has contributed both as a creative writer and as an editor and has maintained an enduring influence on the contemporary literary scene.