China / Shanghai / Portrait for That's Shanghai 2007
Yu Hua is a Chinese author. He worked as a dentist for five years and later turned to fiction in 1983 because he didn't like "looking into peoples mouths the whole day." Writing allowed him to be more creative and flexible. He grew up during the Cultural Revolution and many of his stories and novels are marked by this experience.Yu Hua has written four novels, six collections of stories, and three collections of essays. His most important novels are Chronicle of a Blood Merchant and To Live. The latter novel was adapted for film by Zhang Yimou. Because the film was banned in China, it instantly made the novel a bestseller and Yu Hua a worldwide celebrity