The Houghton Mafflin Publishing Inc. signed a contract with Chinese writer, Alai, to buy the copyrights of his novel "The End", which won the Fifth Mao Dun Literature Prize, China's highest literature prize, Wednesday, at the price of US$150,000.

The Mao Dun Literature Prize is awarded to the best Chinese novels every four years. Four novels won the prize this year.

"American publishers' interest in my novel is good news for Chinese literati," Alai said, "It will help the western world observe Chinese literature and writers in an all-round way and increase their understanding of real Chinese literature."

He added that the event would also enable western readers to have access to more literary works created by Chinese mainland writers. "The End" has been widely acclaimed as one of the best novels written in China this century even before it won the Mao Dun prize.

It tells about the rise and fall of a Tibetan landlord's family, and the relationship between the Tibetan region and other parts of China. Alai, who is in his 40s, exhibits superb literary skills in the novel and he is the youngest writer to win the Mao Dun prize.

The writer said that Chinese literature has recently caused greater attention worldwide and it is progressing rapidly. However, a few westerners lack basic knowledge about the advancement of Chinese literature and always eye Chinese literature as an unchanged pattern.

As the editor-in-chief of the Science Fiction World, China's biggest Sci-Fi magazine, Alai noted that in the modern time more Chinese writers are paying attention to how science revolution will affect man's future, instead of merely telling about personal tragedy.

"China's excellent literature touches a wide range of themes rather than one or two subjects," he said. The writer's new book will be a selection from his science thesis.

(People's Daily 10/21/2000)