Huo Da

Huo Da
Native name	霍达
Born	November 26, 1945 Beijing, China
Occupation	Novelist
Language	Chinese
Ethnicity	Hui
Period	1980 - present
Genre	Novel
Notable works	The Muslim's Funeral
Notable awards	Mao Dun Literature Prize 1991 The Muslim's Funeral

Huo Da (simplified Chinese: 霍达; traditional Chinese: 霍達; pinyin: Huò Dá) is a Chinese female writer of Hui ethnicity. She also is a film editor. Her Hui name is Fa Tumai (Chinese: 法图迈; pinyin: Fǎ Túmài). One of her works, The Muslim's Funeral won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 1991.^[1] It has been translated into English, French, Arabic and Urdu.

Her most famous novel, and the only one to be translated into English, was the 1988 Muslim Funeral, which chronicled the history of three generations of a family of Muslim jade carvers in Beijing; it provoked controversy for its positive attitude towards market entrepreneurialism and its suggestion that the Han in Beijing negatively stereotype the Hui for their poverty and lack of education, while they do not have the same attitude towards the Manchu.^[2]

Biography

Huo Da was born into a family of scholars on November 26, 1945 in Beijing. She graduated from Beijing Construction College in 1966. And then she engaged in translation work for many years. In 1976, she became a film editor of Beijing Film Studio. In 1978, she was transferred into Beijing television art center and started her professional writing career.

Works

• The Muslim's Funeral (穆斯林的葬礼)（1982）^[3]
• I'm not a Hunter (我不是猎人) (1982)
• Red (红尘) (1985)
• War (国殇) (1988)
• The split Sky (补天裂) (1997)^[4]
  • 霍达文集 (Collected Works of Huo Da). Beijing October Literature and Arts Publishing House, August 1999. ISBN 7530205951.
• 红尘 (Red Dust). Beijing October Literature and Arts Publishing House, April 2005. ISBN 7530207873.
• 万家忧乐 (The Worry and Joy of Thousands of Households)
• 龙驹 (Dragon Foal)
• Magpie Bridge

References

1. 第三届茅盾文学奖获奖作者及作品. CCTV (in Chinese). 2003-12-26. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
2. Gladney 1998: 126-127
3. 穆斯林的葬礼 (in Chinese). xiexingcun.com. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
4. 霍达_中国作家网 (in Chinese). chinawriter.com.cn. Retrieved 2014-01-14.

Further reading

• Sleeman, Elizabeth (2001). The International Who's Who of Women 2002. United Kingdom: Routledge. p. 261. ISBN 1857431227.
  • Gladney, Dru C. (1998). "Getting Rich is Not So Glorious: Contrasting Perspectives on Prosperity among Muslims and Han in Deng's China". In Hefner, Robert. Market Cultures: Entrepreneurial Precedents and Ethical Dilemmas in East and Southeast Asia. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. pp. 104–128. ISBN 0813333601.