Prominent Chinese writer and Nobel laureate Mo Yan opened a new social media account Monday, with the aim of "talking to young people."

He recorded a short video on the WeChat social media platform, introducing himself and explaining his expectations for the account. The WeChat public accounts platform, which is extremely popular in China, provides individuals, businesses and organizations with a space to publish blog posts, news and information.

"I want to learn from young people and communicate with them more," Mo Yan said as to why he opened the personal account. When replying to a reader's comment, he later called himself a "66-year-old young man."

The prolific novelist is known for works including "Red Sorghum," "Frog" and "Big Breasts and Wide Hips." Several of his books have been translated into foreign languages to reach a wider audience, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 2012.

In the video, the writer described himself as someone who "eats a lot, sleeps little and has a lot of energy." In response to what he most wants to do with his time, he said: "To write novels of course."

He added that he didn't have any retirement plans when it comes to writing, and shared that he used to smoke while writing, but now prefers to enjoy a tipple.

In his debut post, Mo Yan announced he would publish two articles every Monday at 10 p.m., one featuring his writing and the other as an audio blog.

Within hours of announcing the launch of his WeChat account, his articles had been viewed more than 100,000 times. In other articles — including two uploaded on Aug. 2 without announcement — he stated his belief that literature's most significant functions are that it "refines people's emotions and enriches their emotional lives" and "makes people noble, interesting and able to get along better with others."

The writer, whose real name is Guan Moye, born in 1955 in Gaomi, Shandong province, also shared why he chose the pen name "Mo Yan," which means "don't speak." He stated that it was because he talked too much when he was young, even talking to animals and trees, which upset his parents. "But I still couldn't help talking, and later I offended many people in literature circles, because what I loved most was to speak the truth."

"But as I've grown older, I talk less and less," he wrote. "My mother must be relieved up in heaven."

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