Ancient Chinese men of letters prefer “delicate”, free, and detached lifestyle, yet their innate character is always accompanied by thinking the philosophy of life. On May 11, German writers—Marcel Beyer and Jörg Magenau, and the sinologist—Ulrich Kautz, talked about the return to tradition with five famous Chinese writers in Nanjing—Bi Feiyu, Huang Beijia, Lu Ming, Su Tong, and Ye Zhaoyan.

Ulrich Kautz is a German sinologist, who is as famous as Gu Bin inside the field. Once he and Gu Bin won the China Books Special Contribution Price together. Plus, he is the sinology who has translated the most Chinese contemporary literatures in Germany at present. His translated works include novels written by Yu Hua, Wang Meng, Wang Shuo, and Yan Lianke, etc.

As for the contemporary literature writers who impressed him the most, Ulrich Kautz said frankly, “Wang Shuo and Yu Hua!” Neither of them was at the spot. He added, “I’ve read a lot of works by Chinese contemporary literature writers, but Wang Shuo’s is the only one which made me laugh, especially The Trouble Shooters. I highly recommended it to the publishing house later after I translated it. As for Yu Hua, his To Live is the one which made me cry for the first time when I read Chinese novels. That book impressed me a lot. Then I translated his Chronicle of a Blood Merchant. The Brother that I just finished translation will be on the market in Germany this August.” (Modern Express)