2 On February 5, the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles issued an obituary stating: Comrade Chen Rong, a professional writer from the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles, passed away in Beijing at 9:00 on February 4, 2024 at the age of 88 due to ineffective treatment for illness. According to Chen Rong's wishes during his lifetime, the funeral was to be simple. There would be no farewell ceremony, no memorial service or any form of memorial service, and there would be no mourning hall at home.
Chen Rong was born in Hankou, Hubei Province in October 1935. His ancestral home is Wushan County, Chongqing. He is a member of the Communist Party of China and graduated from Beijing Russian Institute (now Beijing Foreign Studies University). He started working in March 1951 and served successively as an external translator and editor at the Central People's Broadcasting Station, and a teacher at Beijing No. 5 Middle School. In August 1980, he joined the Beijing Writers Association as a professional writer, with first-level literary creation, and enjoyed special government subsidies from the State Council. Representative of the Fifth National Congress of Chinese Women, member of the fifth National Committee of the Chinese Writers Association and honorary member of the sixth and seventh sessions.
Chen Rong is a famous writer and screenwriter. He began literary creation in the 1970s. He published his first novel "Eternal Youth" in 1975 and his novel "Light and Darkness" in 1978. In 1979, the novella "Always Spring" was published in "Harvest" magazine, which was edited by Mr. Ba Jin. Mr. Mao Dun praised the work in his speech at the Fourth Literary Congress, calling it "a preliminary development of the novella." representative of prosperity.
Chen Rong adheres to the principle of realism in creation and has the courage to touch on real issues. His works have a strong sense of the times. In 1980, he published the novella "Middle Age", which quickly attracted widespread attention both inside and outside the literary world. The novel successfully creates a typical image of new socialists represented by ophthalmologist Lu Wenting, and expresses the living situation and mental journey of intellectuals in the period of social change. The writer keenly touched upon a social issue of great significance to the times, demonstrated his artistic conscience and courage, and aroused the whole society's attention to intellectual issues.
"Middle Age" won the first prize of the 1st National Outstanding Novella Award and was named one of the "40 Most Influential Novels in China's 40 Years of Reform and Opening Up". The film of the same name won the 3rd China Film Award. It won the Golden Rooster Award and the Best Feature Film Award at the 6th Popular Film Hundred Flowers Award. Chen Rong himself also won the Outstanding Screenplay Award at the 5th Little Hundred Flowers Award for this film.
Chen Rong created a lot throughout his life. His published works include the novels "Ten Years Less" and "Too Too Lazy to Get Married", etc., which are included in "Collected Works of Chen Rong".
The obituary of the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles also commented that Chen Rong spent her childhood and teenage years in wandering. Her life was full of ups and downs and experienced many twists and turns, but this also cultivated her tough character and unyielding spirit, which made her Literary works can directly face life and society, have deep and profound humanistic care, and create many characters that have attracted widespread attention from society.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zhang Enjie
editor/Gong Lifang
