A Look Back at Writer Wang Xiaobo, Who Admired Wisdom, Pleasure and Sex

The first time I heard of author Wang Xiaobo was in the autumn of 1997, several months after he died of a sudden heart attack in his Beijing apartment. A friend recommended Wang's books, and I was immediately drawn in by his visceral humor and honesty when discussing the ills plaguing Chinese society and culture.

Born in 1952 in Beijing, Wang was sent to the countryside in his late teens to work on farms during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). He spent several years in the southwestern province of Yunnan and the eastern province of Shandong before returning to the capital in the early 1970s. His experiences inspired him to start writing.