Press Release
When the Wild Boars Cross the River by Malaysian Chinese novelist Chang Kuei-hsin wins HKBU's Dream of the Red Chamber Award
Thursday, 30 Jul 2020
Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) announced the winner of the 8th Dream of the Red Chamber Award: The World's Distinguished Novel in Chinese today (30 July). The prize went to When the Wild Boars Cross the River（《野豬渡河》）, which was written by Mr Chang Kuei-hsin（張貴興）, a Malaysian national who currently resides in Taiwan. The award presentation ceremony will be held in October.
Born in Borneo, Malaysia, Mr Chang graduated from the Department of English at Taiwan National Normal University. He received his Taiwanese citizenship in 1981. Most of his works are set in the rainforest in Borneo, and they depict the lives and difficulties of Malaysian Chinese people. He has written a number of award-winning novels. Published in 2018, When the Wild Boars Cross the River has won several literature awards since its publication.
The judges also proposed the Chronicle of Cloud Village by A Lai（阿來《雲中記》）, Beloved Wife by Dung Kai Cheung（董啟章《愛妻》）and Superman Kuang by Lo Yi-chin（駱以軍《匡超人》）for the Jury Award. Weaverbird by Xi Xi（西西《織巢》）and Islands by Hu Ching-fang（胡晴舫《群島》）were presented with the Highly Recommended Award by the judging panel.
The final judging panel comprised Professor Carlos Rojas of Duke University; Professor Chen Sihe（陳思和）of Fudan University; Professor Chen I-chih（陳義芝）of National Taiwan Normal University; Professor Huang Ziping（黃子平）, Emeritus Professor of HKBU; Mr Liu Qing（劉慶）, winner of the 7th Dream of the Red Chamber Award for his novel History through Words, and Professor Chung Ling（鍾玲）, Emeritus Professor of HKBU.
Launched by HKBU's Faculty of Arts in 2006, The Dream of the Red Chamber Award is held every two years. It aims to encourage the publication of excellent Chinese novels, recognise outstanding Chinese novels by writers from around the world, and enhance the standard of Chinese novel writing. The award recipient receives a cash prize of HK$300,000.
Original Chinese novels of 80,000 words or more, published either in 2018 or 2019, were eligible for the 8th Dream of the Red Chamber Award. For details of the Award, please visit http://redchamber.hkbu.edu.hk.
-END-
