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  • Hongying YangChina ⋆ Author
  • Samantha Christensen

"I didn't have the slightest desire to become famous. Therefore, when I was writing, all I was concerned with was nothing but the kids."

Hongying Yang

As one of the most popular and beloved children's authors in China, Hongying Yang has impacted millions of children not only in China, but also all over the world. Yang was born in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province in 1962, and she has followed a complex and interesting career path. She began her adult life as an elementary school teacher, then moved on to become a children's book editor, until finally following her passion for children's book writing. She published her first book, Seeds in a Lifejacket, a scientific fairytale, when she was nineteen years old, and in the six years she was teaching primary school she wrote over a hundred fairytales for her students. The stories for her students were later published in a collection called Hongying Yang's Science Fairy Tales Series, and her quest to create approachable literature for children and young teens continued throughout her own daughter's childhood.

As her daughter transitioned from childhood into adolescence, Yang decided to relate to her through literature, and wrote Girl's Diary, a novel that went on to be considered the "growth guidebook for adolescent girls today" in China. Taking the time to relate to not only her daughter, but all the young people in her life, Yang writes with an adept sense of understanding in her YA novels, and flawlessly writes from the perspective of a struggling teen. She is passionate about fostering a love for reading in children: with every book she writes she simultaneously encourages children to choose reading over television, computer games, and the Internet. Her Mo's Mischief series has helped millions of children on their path through childhood, and the character of Mo has become one of the most recognizable children's characters in twenty-first-century China. Her ability to tap into the purity and innocence of childhood allows her to relate to her readers on a personal level.

Yang has earned numerous awards for her work, including the 2011 Publication Project Award for The Green Dog's Village, the 2010 Second Government Award for The Black Afternoon, and the 2007 Best Children's Literature Award for Mo's Mischief. Her stories have also been translated into French, German, English, and Korean, and therefore have influenced children internationally as well as domestically. As she states in an interview with Dr. Li Hong, "Writing is the only source of love and happiness to me. Even if I hadn't achieved fame, I would keep writing for children. Otherwise, my life would become meaningless."

Selected Bibliography

The Diaries of Smiling Cat: The Blue Rabbit-Ear Grass. Jinan: Tomorrow, 2006. Print.
Girl's Diary. Beijing: Writers' Press, 2000. Print.
Mo's Mischief: Four Troublemakers. 2003. London: Harper Collins, 2008. Print.
Picnic Surprise. Bath: Parragon, 2012. Print.
Why I Love Zai-Zai the Poodle: A Collection of Essays. Wuhan: Hubei Juvenile, 2012. Print. [End Page 14]
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