Writer blasted over Nobel bribe claims
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Zhang Yiyi [file photo] |
A controversial Chinese writer claims he tried to bribe a member of the Committee for the Nobel Prize in Literature through an unidentified broker in order to give himself a better chance of winning this year's award.
Zhang Yiyi told the Global Times in an online interview Wednesday that he transferred $600,000 to the bank account of a German sinologist, whose identity Zhang refused to disclose, in December 2010 during an academic tour of China by the scholar.
Zhang said the money was then meant to be paid to Professor Göran Malmqvist, a Swedish sinologist, to translate three of Zhang's works, as part of an attempt to bribe the scholar to influence the committee over the selection of this year's winner, reports say.
Zhang told the Global Times that the renowned German sinologist promised to direct the money to Malmqvist and later introduce them to each other.
"But this German sinologist fooled me. He took away the money but told me that Malmqvist had agreed to translate my works … The German claimed Malmqvist suggested that lobbying the committee would cost another $3 million," Zhang told the Global Times.
"I guess it would have been a whole different story if I had offered much more than that," Zhang said.
Zhang is noted for making outrageous comments and writing books that went against commonly accepted concepts of classical Chinese literature.
In April, he said he planned to pay $150,000 to undergo a facelift and become a "second Shakespeare." He has also claimed that Cao Xueqin, the author of The Dream of Red Mansions, was a woman. He completely reinterpreted the characters and the storyline of the Chinese classic in one of his latest books.
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