Career
His birth name is Luo Hongyu (羅鴻玉). His writings concern rural life in the mountainous area of southern Hunan of which he was familiar. In 1988 he emigrated to Canada.
The novel was a rebuke of the Cultural Revolution.
The novel was adapted to film in 1986 as Hibiscus Town, winning many awards including "Best Film" of the 1987 Golden Rooster Awards. In 1986, The New York Times reported that Gu has "risen to prominence in the last three years among some younger writers who seek to rediscover, if not necessarily to affirm, China"s traditional life and values.
In China he has been called the Shen Congwen of the 1980s and even the Thomas Hardy of Hunan," although Perry Link (professor of Chinese at the University of California) disagreed that Gu is comparable to those talents. Gu"s novel Virgin Widows (Chen Neu) deals with outmoded views of chastity and adultery.
