Ever since his first full-length novel was printed, Su Tong, the now well-known Chinese writer whose works are marked by sensuality and gloom, has had big book sales while critics vary in their opinions of his writing.

One of his novels Plural Wives, depicting polygamy in a large southern family in old China, has been adapted for the record breaking film "Raise The Red Lantern" directed by China's Zhang Yimou, who is considered the first and most prestigious of the country's fifth-generation directors.

Using the same title as the film, a New Year gala ballet performance also based on the novel, was staged by China Central Ballet Troupe Friday night in Beijing. It was the premier performance and will be followed by a world tour.

Su is currently working on a book which exposes the lives of people which he describes as "teetering on the edge of city and abandoned by their time".

"I have never been troubled with what can or cannot be written, " the writer said.

The art elite of China is enjoying a freedom they could not dream of a decade ago, when they still had to think twice before writing about a "taboo" topic.

Every night while millions of Chinese people stay at home watching the TV series about an early emperor from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), many urban youngsters are browsing the Internet for romantic love stories or raving about avant-garde dramas at theaters in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.

Some novelists create large works about fateful historical events and social evolution, such as the Town of Bailuyuan by Chen Zhongshi while other popular writers publish many beatage novels including "Wandering" and "Worldliness", which are being positively reviewed by even the particular critics.

While addressing the 7th National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC), CFLAC president Zhou Weizhi, said that China's literature and art sectors have been experiencing a boom in recent years, with a diversity of schools, artists and opuses standing out in recent years.

All this has not come easily, the official said, scholars in ancient China often suffered bitterly because of strict cultural taboos, even in modern times, creative literature was severely restricted during the "Cultural Revolution" period (1966-76).

"Most artists had to give up work and join the masses in the countryside or factories as only eight model revolutionary theatrical works were permitted, mostly in the form of traditional Peking Opera," recalled Xie Jin.

"Female Basketball Player", a popular movie directed by Xie in the early 1950s, won high awards at two international film festivals in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

But during the ten-year period of the "Cultural Revolution", the once productive director had no work.

Since the opening up and reform policies in late 1970s, Xie has become active again and has produced a number of movies revealing the tragedy of the revolution. These are regarded as master works and are shown in cinemas across the country.

"Chinese art and literature now have slipped out of the formal restrictions and can accept opinions and ideas which are poles apart," the 78-year old man said.

Xie is directing Taiwanese artists in a drama "The Last Evening of Dancing Girl", which is adapted from a novel popular among overseas Chinese.

Under the cultural policy of content and multiformity, artists and writers are encouraged to produce works reflecting real life and modern changes in the country.

Even art and literary works on sensitive political themes are entering forbidden zones. In April 2001, a novel about a notorious smuggling and corruption case became a best seller.

Photographers have even started to focus on AIDS patients and prostitutes, once socially unacceptable subjects.

New and modern art and literary works have become fashionable and have opened the minds of Chinese people, who no longer get upset by any art creation.

Even with their traditional frugality, residents in south China's Shenzhen City recently were able to appreciate an action art work by Gu Xinde, who unloaded ten tons of ripe apples into a pool demonstrating life from birth to death and decomposition.

"Without freedom, no creative works will be produced by writers of the younger generation," said Wang Anyi who is famous for her tragic novel Pathos of Life, emotional recitations of women living in oriental Shanghai from the 1940s to 1980s.

However, immoral content including violence and pornography ought to be banned from literature in every society, she pointed out.

The writer, who has just been elected president of the Shanghai Writers Association, urged writers to improve their literary development by depicting genuine people and unmasking the artificial way of life.

It is commonly thought among Chinese artists that the country needs to develop variety and diversity in the fields of culture and the arts, the writer said.

But shallow literature aiming to gain popularity in limited circles and to earn only commercial benefits from publication should be banned, she added.

(Xinhua News Agency December 22, 2001)