Left dentistry for fiction in the mid-1980s. 《活着》 (To Live, 1993) was adapted by Zhang Yimou into the Ge You film of the same name. Later novels 《兄弟》 (Brothers) and 《第七天》 (The Seventh Day) are social satires of post-reform China.
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On literary panels and social media he's known for a dry, self-deprecating wit — 'writing fiction was easier than pulling teeth' is roughly how he describes the switch.
