HARD LESSONS
Born in 1954, Cao spent his younger days in poverty. In middle school, his clothes were often worn-out and full of holes. "I was so embarrassed that I would lean against a wall or a tree, afraid to join my classmates in any game."
He remembers a constant lack of food. "Hunger is like a ghost that clings to you wherever you go," he wrote. His childhood plight taught him many important lessons and injected fortitude into his character. He entered Beijing University in 1974, majoring in Chinese language and literature, and began a career in teaching and writing soon after graduation.
Today, Cao is among the best-selling authors of young adult literature in China. Widely applauded by critics, teachers and his readers, Cao's works are disliked by some parents, particularly middle-class urbanites who believe children's books should be anodyne: interesting rather than educational, light-hearted rather than provocative.
"Neither myself nor my 14-year-old son like Cao's work. The plots are often simple and naive. Many stories are like propaganda stuff," said Zhao Lianyu, a Beijing business executive.
"The award is something worth celebrating, but that doesn't mean all children enjoy his books," a mother with the screen name of "Kiko" wrote online. "As I see it, a child does not need to delve into so much misery. Why not let them be happy and carefree, as children should be?"
Despite the controversy, the Hans Christian Andersen prize is sure to draw more parents and their children to the bookshelf, rather than spending endless hours on iPads and smartphones, said Beijing primary school teacher Liu Junqing.
"I encourage my students, mostly fifth-graders, to read extensively and I'd be very happy if they read Cao's novels instead of playing video games in their spare time," she said.
Cao once refused a mother's request for him to inscribe "May happiness and laughter surround you every day of your life" in a book she had bought as a gift for her daughter. "Children's literature should not be based only on illusions. The kids have the right to know what the world is really like."
