THE Eighth Mao Dun Literature Prize winners were announced last week in Beijing. There were five rounds of voting by 61 jury members, including literary critics and writers.

“You Are on the Highland” by Zhang Wei topped the five winners. The other four were “Sky Walker” by Liu Xinglong, “Frog” by Mo Yan, “Massage” by Bi Feiyu, and “A Sentence Is Worth Thousands” by Liu Zhenyun.

Spanning 100 years, the 10-volume river novel “You Are on the Highland” recounts the vicissitudes experienced by four generations of a family in the country’s political and social transformation.

It took Zhang 22 years to finish this magnum opus of 4.5 million words.

“Sky Walker” narrates the struggle and hope of citizen-managed teachers (teachers in rural schools who do not receive the normal remuneration from the government) in a mountain village school.

Mo Yan takes on the country’s family-planning policy in “Frog,” through the life of a rural gynecologist, a character based on his aunt.

“Massage” centers on the lives of a group of blind massage therapists.

Liu Zhenyun explores the theme of loneliness in a society without religion in “A Sentence Is Worth Thousands,” with the story of a man’s constant search for someone to talk to.

Jury member and literary critic Chen Xiaoming commented that all five winners are great works by great writers in a great period in Chinese literature.

“The result shows an immense respect for literature, and for the writers for their devotion and perseverance,” he said.

However, the result caused controversy around the Chinese Writers’ Association, administrator of the literature prize.

As Chinese media pointed out, eight of the top 10 in the winners’ list are chairpersons or vice-chairpersons of provincial writers’ associations. The standard of a literary prize becomes doubtful if most of its winners are officials, says an article in Guangzhou Daily.

The 4.5-million-word “You Are on the Highland” is also in the center of controversy. Six times the length of “A Dream of Red Mansions,” the book is divided into 10 volumes. In an interview questioning the credibility of the prize, Sheng Zichao, one of the jury members, admitted that only a dozen of the 61 judges have read the novel, while most of the others finished reading four or five volumes of it, according to Jinghua Times.

“How can you award a book without even finishing it? Is this prize a credit to the writer or to the literature work?” Chen Yongxing, executive editor of Harvest magazine, questioned in his microblog.

In response to these doubts, Hu Ping, director of the 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize jury, insisted the award-winning list is “a fair result that came after an open competition.”

Established in 1982, the Mao Dun Literature Prize is one of the country’s most prestigious literature prizes.

It is awarded every four years and is now administered by the Chinese Writers’ Association.

(SD-Agencies)