Hometown

The room where Mo Yan married in his hometown of Gaomi, Shandong province. [Photo by Ju Chuanjiang/ China Daily]

Mo's writing is rooted in his hometown of Gaomi in Shandong province and he acknowledged this in his speeches.

He said two decades in Gaomi taught him to deal with hardship and learn how to change his situation through writing.

Xu Jinlong, a researcher at the Institute of Foreign Literature of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that although foreign writers helped hone his skills, Mo owes the most to homegrown writers and people.

"In his Nobel speech, hometown becomes a metaphor for Chinese history and writing," Xu said.

meijia@chinadaily.com.cn