Qu Bo

Qu Bo was born in 1923 in Longkou, Shandong, China. His father was a cotton dyer who went bankrupt due to the influx of foreign textiles. Qu Bo left home at the age of 15 and joined the war against the Japanese invasion. He changed his name from Qu Qingtao to Qu Bo and became a member of the Communist Party of China. He fought in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, where he witnessed the harsh realities of war and the suffering of the people. He also developed his interest in literature and wrote poems and stories for the army newspaper. After the war, he continued to fight in the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. He retired from the army in 1955 and became a full-time writer. He published his first and most famous novel, Tracks in the Snowy Forest, in 1957, which was based on his own experiences as a soldier in the Northeast. The novel depicted the heroic deeds of the communist guerrillas and their leader Yang Zirong, who infiltrated the bandit camp and helped the army to wipe out the enemy. The novel was praised for its vivid and realistic portrayal of the war and the people, and its combination of adventure, romance, and humor. It was also criticized for its glorification of violence and its political propaganda. The novel was adapted into a film in 1960, an opera in 1961, and a TV series in 2000. Qu Bo also wrote other novels, such as The Hurricane, The Roar of the Tiger, and The Wolf Pack, as well as essays, short stories, and memoirs. He was awarded the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 1982 and the National Outstanding Contribution Award in 1999. He died of cancer in Beijing in 2002. He was regarded as one of the most influential and popular writers of modern China.