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Su Tong (Tong Zhonggui)

スー・トン（トン・ジョングイ）

Su Tong (Tong Zhonggui)

Pen Names: Su Tong（Pen name used as author）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1963-01-23 （Suzhou, Jiangsu, China）
Nationality
Chinese
Languages
Chinese

Career

Occupations
Novelist
Active Years
1980-
Affiliations
Vice President of Jiangsu Writers Association
Nominations
Man Booker International Prize (nominated, 2011)

Education

Beijing Normal University
Department of Chinese / Department of Chinese
Period: 1980–
Country: China
Entered in 1980; began publishing in 1983.

Awards

Man Asian Literary Prize
2009
Work: The Boat to Redemption
Organization: Man Asian Literary Prize
Result: winner
Mao Dun Literature Prize
2015
Work: Shadow of the Hunter
Organization: Mao Dun Literature Prize
Result: co-winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Raise the Red Lantern

1990 Novella / Fiction

A novella depicting the power struggles and suppression within a household of multiple wives and concubines. One of Su Tong's best-known works in the West.

fate of womenpower and oppressionfamily disintegration
Adaptations
  • [Film] Raise the Red Lantern / Zhang Yimou (1991)
Translations
  • Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas (English translation)

The Boat to Redemption

2008 Novel

A story about local politics and personal redemption, focusing on family relationships and corrupt power.

politics and moralityredemptionlocal society
Translations
  • English translation: The Boat to Redemption (translated by Howard Goldblatt)

Shadow of the Hunter

2014 Novel

A novel exploring the intersection of individual lives and historical times. Co-winner of the 2015 Mao Dun Literature Prize.

individual and historymemory and violence
Translations
  • English translation: Shadow of the Hunter (translated by James Trapp)

Petulia's Rouge Tin

Novella / Short fiction

Follows two Shanghai prostitutes and depicts turmoil around the time of Liberation and their fates.

social changewomen's circumstances
Adaptations
  • [Film] Blush / Li Shaohong (1994)
  • [Film] Rouged Beauties / Huang Shuqin (1995)
Translations
  • English translation: Petulia's Rouge Tin (translated by Jane Weizhen Pan and Martin Merz)

Rice

Novel

A novel with allegorical elements concerning food and society. Available in English translation.

social satiresurvival and desire
Translations
  • English translation: Rice (translated by Howard Goldblatt)

Bibliography

  • Selected bibliography: Raise the Red Lantern; The Boat to Redemption; Shadow of the Hunter; Petulia's Rouge Tin; Rice

Adaptations

  • Film adaptations: Raise the Red Lantern (dir. Zhang Yimou), Blush (dir. Li Shaohong), Rouged Beauties (dir. Huang Shuqin)

Translations of Works

  • English translations: Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas (Michael S. Duke et al.); The Boat to Redemption (Howard Goldblatt); others

Style & Themes

Literary Style
realist depictionsouthern landscape imagerynarrative and sometimes provocative style
Recurring Motifs
fate of womenfamily and historypower and oppression

Legacy

Su Tong is one of the prominent contemporary Chinese novelists, widely translated and known in the West. He has gained international recognition through film adaptations and major literary awards.

Academic Societies

  • Jiangsu Writers Association

In Popular Culture

  • Several works adapted to films (e.g., Raise the Red Lantern) that influenced popular culture.

Trivia

  • His novella Raise the Red Lantern was adapted into a film by Zhang Yimou and became internationally known.
  • Won the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize for The Boat to Redemption.
  • Co-winner of the 2015 Mao Dun Literature Prize for Shadow of the Hunter.
  • Nominated for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize.