Feb. 17: Mo Yan, Chinese author

BORN FEBRUARY 17:

Mo Yan (1955 - ) (born Guan Moye) Chinese novelist and short story writer whose winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2012) stirred controversy for his pro-Communist-Party associations. His best-known work in the west is the 1987 Red Sorghum Clan, which revolves around three generations of a family in Shandong (the author's home province) between 1923 and 1976. To date he has written ten other novels, as well as collections of short stories and novellas, and essays.

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Jan. 8: Su Dongpo, Chinese poet

BORN JANUARY 8:

Su Dongpo (1037-1101), also called Su Shi, major Chinese poet; around 2,700 poems, including "Chibifu" ("The Red Cliffs"); "Nian Nu Jiao: Chibi Huai Gu" ("Remembering Chibi"); and "Shui diao ge tou" ("Remembering Su Zhe on the Mid-Autumn Festival"). One of "Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song."

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Oct. 18: Liu E, Chinese novelist

BORN OCTOBER 18:

Liu E (1857-1909) Chinese novelist who wrote the social satire Lao Can Youji (The Travels of Lao Can).

In his younger days he worked in the government, and privately raised funds to purchase rice to feed the poor during difficult times.

Later he became an archaeologist, working especially with so-called "oracle bones" (carved ox bones and turtle shells superheated to create cracks thought to convey messages), publishing a work called The Repository of Turtles.

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Sep. 28: Confucius, Chinese philosopher

BORN SEPTEMBER 28th:

Confucius (551-479 BCE) Chinese philosopher; credited with three of Confucianism's "Four Books" (the fourth is The Mencius, attributed to Mencius, a disciple of Confucius's grandson): The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, and--probably most important of all--The Analects; he is credited with several other books, but most likely everything attributed to him was written by his disciples. His ideas are the foundation stones of all of Chinese culture, and have inspired numerous horrible jokes.

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