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GAO Xingjian was born in China in 1940, graduated from the French department of
the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute in 1962, and was employed as a
translator from 1962 to 1970, following which he spent five years doing labour
in the countryside. After his first play was produced at the Beijing People’s
Art Theatre, performances of his second play, Bus Stop, were halted by
the authorities in 1983. Gao was granted political refugee status in France in
1989 after writing the play Escape, following the events of Tiananmen
Square, and his works have been banned in China ever since. He was named
Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1992 and became a French citizen
in 1997. His novels include Soul Mountain and One Man’s Bible and
his paintings have been exhibited in Europe, Asia, and North America. In 2000
Gao Xingjian was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and named Chevalier de
l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur. He made his first film in 2006 shortly before
completing his latest play, Ballade nocturne.
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