Biographical note

Zhou Daxin is a contemporary Chinese author and winner of several major literary honours including the Mao Dun Prize. Zhou draws on his countryside roots and long military career for inspiration in his extensive works. His piercing observations of Chinese society set characters in rural, urban and even allegorical environments, and touch upon challenging and often intimate humanitarian questions. Haiwang Yuan is Professor Emeritus at Western Kentucky University in the US, and Guest Professor of English at Nankai University, China. He is a writer, translator and translation consultant. He has authored and co-authored many books, including Tibetan Folktales, Tales from the Other Peoples of China, The Magic Lotus Lantern, Other Tales from the Han Chinese and This is China: The First 5,000 Years. Among two dozen of his translations are Songs from the Forest, There is a Fish in the Desert, Open-Air Cinema and Illustrated Stories of Chinese Characters for Children. He has consulted on the translation of two Sinoist Books titles.