Writer Yan Fei Literary Lecture: Leading Figure of Contemporary Chinese Writers

(Toronto, The Chinese Daily) The Chinese Writers Association of Canada, in collaboration with the Chinese Elderly Research and Education Centre of Canada, co-hosted a senior tea room lecture on August 7th. The event featured author Yan Fei, who presented a literary lecture titled "Leading Figures of Contemporary Chinese Writers." The lecture was successfully held virtually via video conference in Toronto.
This lecture is hosted by Professor Zhang Weiguo from the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. Participants are located all over the world. Professor Guo Xibo gave the opening remarks and introduced the keynote speaker, Yan Fei, President of the Canadian Chinese Writers Association.

In a two-hour lecture, Yan Fei provided a detailed introduction to several leading figures in contemporary literature, including influential Chinese writers Tie Ning, Wang Meng, Mo Yan, and Zhang Xianliang. He discussed their literary achievements, personal growth, interesting life anecdotes, and their influence in both Chinese and international literary circles. The lecture also touched upon literary movements and trends from different periods, as well as the unique literary characteristics of each writer. Yan Fei's lecture style was described as free-spirited and unconventional. Throughout the talk, he also shared his own literary journey, his apprenticeship under Wang Meng, and his personal interactions and connections with literary masters like Wang Meng, Zhang Xianliang, and Mo Yan. The related stories and experiences were vividly and colorfully recounted. By the time the Q&A and discussion session began, the audience's response was enthusiastic, with many expressing that they hadn't heard enough and wished the lecture could have continued.
Yan Fei, also known as Yan the Great Hero, is a writer and editor. He currently resides in Toronto and serves as the President of the Canadian Chinese Writers Association, and the Vice President and Secretary General of the Canadian Association of Chinese Journalists and Editors. Yan Fei graduated from Changsha University of Science and Technology (formerly Changsha Communications Institute) with a major in Highway and Bridge Engineering. At the age of 20, he graduated from university and was assigned to work as an editor at the People's Communications Publishing House. He began his literary创作 (creation) during his university years. He has published over a million characters of literary works, including novels, poems, and essays, in literary magazines such as "Chinese Writers," "People's Literature," and "Tianya." He also published a full-length novel in "October." At the age of 24, Yan Fei left Beijing for Hainan, where he served as a supplement editor for "Hainan Special Zone News," assistant editor-in-chief of "Hainan Youth News," deputy editor-in-chief and executive editor of the literary magazine "Coconut City" under the Haikou Federation of Literary and Art Circles. He has authored the Hainan Dream Trilogy: "Hainan Has No Dreams," "Hainan Awakens from Dreams," and "Hainan Seeks Dreams," the full-length novel "Tribulation: A Woman's Glory and Shame," the documentary literature "Glory and Sin," and the essay collection "Yan Fei's Dream Talk." His literary works were highly popular in the mid-1990s and won provincial and ministerial literary awards. His Hainan Dream Trilogy, represented by "Hainan Has No Dreams," was a national bestseller and became a landmark literary work during the period of Hainan's large-scale development and establishment as a province. Recently, Yan Fei has also launched the video channel "Yan the Great Hero's Three Thousand Worlds" on multiple platforms such as YouTube.
The Chinese Writers Society of Canada (CWSC) is a non-profit organization registered with the Canadian federal government. Its purpose is to unite writers in Canada who write in Chinese. Writer Yan Fei is the current president of the Chinese Writers Society of Canada.

According to Professor Guo Xibo, the Canadian Chinese Seniors Research and Education Centre was established as a non-profit organization based on the WeChat group "Seniors' Tearoom" initiated by Professor Zhang Weiguo of the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto. The Centre aims to achieve the goal of lifelong learning, researching and exploring the path to happiness for Chinese seniors' lives. Its purpose is to serve the Canadian Chinese seniors' community, dedicated to caring for and developing the physical and mental health of Canadian Chinese seniors, improving the quality of life for Chinese elderly, and creating harmonious senior communities.

This year, the Canadian Chinese Writers Association is collaborating on a series of four lectures with the Canadian Chinese Seniors Research and Education Centre. These include: author Pang Jin's lecture on dragon culture, "The Dragon and Chinese Civilization"; Yan Daxia's literary lecture, "Leading Contemporary Chinese Writers: Mo Yan, Wang Meng, Zhang Xianliang, Tie Ning"; female author Lang Li's lecture, "The Growth Journey of the Canadian Women Writers Association"; and accomplished novelist Yan Bo's lecture, "Several Insights on Writing My Full-Length Novels," among others.