Yan Geling: Cultural Revolution and Human Destruction
– China
Geling Yan (嚴歌苓) was born in Shanghai in 1958. During the Cultural Revolution she served in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), starting at twelve as a dancer in an entertainment troupe; she was discharged after ten years with a rank equivalent to Lieutenant Colonel.
Her first novel was published in 1986 and numerous novels, novellas, short-stories, scripts and essays followed. Her best-known novels published in English are: The Secret Talker, Little Aunt Crane, The Flowers of War, The Banquet Bug and The Lost Daughter of Happiness. She also published a short-story collection White Snake and Other Stories. Several of her works have been adapted for film, including Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (directed by Joan Chen) and Siao Yu (directed by Sylvia Chang, screenplay co-written by Ang Lee). Chinese director Zhang Yimou adapted one of her novellas as The Flowers of War; the story is set during the Nanjing Massacre in 1937.
Geling Yan is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hollywood Writers Guild of America and French Société des Gens de Lettres. She was a member of the Writers Association of China.