Celebrated Scriptwriter as Art Adviser to Hangzhou

Hangzhou， the capital of eastern China’s coastal Zhejiang Province， has engaged a team of art and literary celebrities as cultural and art advisors. These celebrities include novelists， actors， directors and painters. On June 8th， 2010， the city held a forum in Hangzhou for these advisers to brainstorm for ideas that can boost the progress of the city’s cultural and art undertakings in the next decade.

Liu Heng is one of these advisers who attended the brainstorm session on June 8. Since June 24， 2008， Liu has been an adviser as well as an honorary professor of Hangzhou Citizens University. A famed novelist and scriptwriter， he is now a vice chairman of China Writers Association， chairman of Beijing Writers Association and vice chairman of Beijing League of Cultural and Art Circles.

Background

Liu Heng was born in a mountainous village in a suburb of Beijing in May 1954. He joined the military services at the age of 15. With education he had received at junior middle school， the young ambitious soldier began to write stories. When he was discharged from the navy in 1975， Liu was offered two office jobs， but the 21-year-old young budding writer turned them down and chose to work at Beijing Auto Works. As a worker at an assembly line， he was overwhelmed by the physical challenge， but he conquered the daily fatigue and continued to work hard in his spare time at his dream future. In 1977， he contributed a short story to Beijing Literature. It was published. This became the turning point of his career. Shortly afterwards he was transferred to the editorial office of the literary magazine on a probation basis. He was a model worker there， doing all the chores in the office. The people at the office liked him and decided to give him more chances. He continued his probation. In 1979， he became an editor at Beijing Literature.

Liu Heng spent next ten years working as an editor and writing his stories. As an editor， he discovered some young men and women who have now become established writers. It was during this period that he acquired a 2-year college diploma through a special college course. As a writer， he published quality stories during this period of time. His stories naturally attracted attention of first-class film directors.

In 1989， he resigned from the literary monthly and became a full-time writer with Beijing Writers Association. Since the 1980s he has published three novels， 20 novelettes and dozens of short stories. Over years， he has established himself as an outstanding realist scriptwriter.

Scriptwriter’s Career and Glory

Liu Heng produced his first film script in 1989 when he adapted his “Black Snow” at the request of director Xie Fei. The novel is about the problems faced by a young juvenile delinquent upon his release from prison. The feature film was a Silver Bear winner in 1990 Berlin International Film Festival.

Liu Heng’s next stunt was to adapt his 1987 prize-winning story “Fuxi Fuxi” to a film script for Zhang Yimou， who had just catapulted himself into international fame with “Red Sorghum” which won a Gold Bear at Berlin International Film Festival in 1988. Entitled “Ju Dou”， the film was a sensational success and nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 1991.

In 1992， Liu Heng adapted a short story by Chen Yuanbin to “The Story of Qiu Ju” for Zhang Yimou. This film was released to critical praise and won the Golden Lion for Best Picture at the 1992 Venice International Film Festival.

Though these films were huge successes， Liu Heng was in the shadow whereas these directors and their films shone brilliantly. He made his name widely known when he turned his novel “The Happy Life of Chatter-box Zhang Damin” into a television series.

In December 2007， “Assembly”， a film directed by Feng Xiaogang， was released to a sensational success across China. It grossed 260 million yuan at the national box office， a new record in this film category. This blockbuster was based on “Lawsuit”， a short story by Yang Jinyuan and adapted by Liu Heng. The film garnered four top awards at Golden Rooster Awards， the Chinese equivalent to Oscars in America.

In December 2008， “The Past Events of China”， a 42-episode television drama， was screened across the country and enjoyed a great popularity. It was based on “Green River Daydreams”， a novel by Liu Heng. Liu Heng wrote the script for the television version. The drama won the best long series award at the fourth Seoul International Television Festival in August， 2009.

Liu Heng as a scriptwriter is also behind the success of “Zhang Side”， “The Iron Man”， and “Ballad of Cloud and Water”， all so-called government-sponsored mainstream films. It is agreed that it would be challenging to write a script for such a film and it would be equally challenging to make such a film popular. But Liu Heng made the three films successful and helped them win top awards.

Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaogang， two best film directors， remarked on different occasions that Liu Heng is a first-class scriptwriter and his scripts are good.

Liu owes his success to hard work. When he is ready to write a script， he usually leaves home and shuts himself up in a hotel room in a remote area. Sometimes he holes up in a small village far away from anywhere. He spends the next month or so writing and rewriting until he gets the script right.