Pen name of
王卫国. His novel《
平凡的世界》(Ordinary World, 1986-89) — the story of two farmer brothers in Shaanxi navigating the post-reform era — won the 3rd Mao Dun Literature Prize and remains one of the most-cited 'books that changed my life' among mainland readers. Lu Yao died of cirrhosis at 42, not long after completing the trilogy.
