A drunkard's monologue

Chinese author Shi Tiesheng

Shi was born and grew up in Beijing near the Temple of Earth. In 1969, he was sent to rural Shaanxi province during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

He was paralyzed after an accident at age 21. Shi was sent back to Beijing and worked in a factory. His kidneys failed in 1998, and he had to undergo dialysis three times a week.

Shi began to publish his works in 1979 and won many of the country's literature prizes, including the Lu Xun Literature Prize, the Lao She Essay Prize and the National Excellent Short Story Prize.

He is best known for his short stories, including My Faraway Clear Peace River and Strings of Life.

One of his novellas, Like a Banjo String, which was published in 1985, was adapted into the film Life on a String by Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige. The film was a nominee at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991.

The same year, a collection of Shi's short stories was translated into English and published as Strings on Life.

Shi died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Beijing in 2010.

For Lupa, the acclaimed theater director who is known for his productions based on Austrian writers Robert Musil and Thomas Bernhard, Mo Fei was part of a culture he could not relate to until he was immersed in it.

Before this play, Lin had brought three of Lupa's stage productions－Persona, Marilyn, Heroes' Square and Woodcutters－to China.