Storytelling

Characterizing himself as an avid listener, as a youth, Mo said his mother introduced him to literature and later on other villagers told him stories.

MoYan's parents. [Photo Provided to China Daily]

"I respected storytellers most when I was young and I talked a lot then," he said.

Folklore and classic tales naturally made their way into his novels, commented Peking University associate professor Li Pengfei.

In his Nobel Lecture in Literature speech on Friday, Mo talked about Pu Songling, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) writer best known for his classic novel Liaozhai Zhiyi (Strange Tales from Make-Do Studio), a collection of grotesque tales about spirits.

"I heard lots of Pu's stories from the elders in my village. Now that I've grown up, I'm still amazed by his writing," he said.