born Feb. 21, 1956, Jinzhou, China
Chinese-U.S. writer.
He joined the army at age 14. He received a doctorate at Brandeis University in the U.S., where he remained. His book of stories Under the Red Flag (1997) concerns the Cultural Revolution. His novel Waiting (1999), about Chinese society, won the National Book Award, as well as the 2000 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction.