Feng Tang
Feng Tang whose real name is Zhang Haipeng, is a Chinese contemporary novelist, poet, and private equity investor.
Life and career
Feng Tang was born on May 13, 1971, in Beijing. He spent his childhood and teenage years in Chuiyangliu, a place frequently referenced in his works. The young Feng Tang studied in Beijing No.80 High School from 1984 until 1990. After high school, he attended Peking Union Medical College, where he earned a doctoral degree in clinical medicine with a specialization in gynecological oncology in 1998. Two years later, he graduated from Emory University's Goizueta Business school with an MBA, earning a scholarship, and subsequently joined McKinsey & Company.In 2001, when Feng Tang was 30 years old and freshly graduated from his MBA program, his first book "Everything Grows 萬物生長" was published in China. Over the next few years, he continued working and publishing various novels, short stories, poems, and essays, included his first trilogy "The Beijing Trilogy 北京三部曲", which became one of his most famous works. In 2005, he received the third People's Literature Award, established by People's Literature Magazine, the most iconic literature magazine in China.
In 2011, his novel "Oneness 不二" was published in Hong Kong and garnered wider recognition for his literary talents. The book broke sales record in Hong Kong at the time, and the media humorously proclaimed that "from now on, Hong Kong's publishing industry relies on Feng Tang". In 2012, Feng Tang was listed at the top of the "Top 20 under 40 future literature masters in China", a one-time list issued by People's Literature magazine.
While working full-time as a business professional, Feng Tang continued to write in his spare time. In 2014, his novel "No Woman, No Cry 女神一號/素女經" was published in Hong Kong and mainland China.
In July 2014, feeling the need to slow down and find quietness, he resigned from China Resources Healthcare Group Limited and took a short residence in California. During this time, he was approached by Zhejiang Literature and Arts Publishing House to re-translate Tagore's Stray Birds in Chinese. He rented a house near the Napa Valley, shabby, but with a large yard, and spent three months on translating Stray Birds. The book received significant controversy and criticism when published in 2015 and finally has been taken down from the shelves a few months later. Nonetheless, Feng Tang believed his translation better reflects contemporary Chinese language, and he trusted that history and literature would make their judgments.
In early 2015, Feng Tang returned to Hong Kong and joined CITIC Capital Partners Management Limited as a senior management director. Despite his professional commitments, he keeps on writing as a serious hobby. In 2017, Guomai Publishing House and Motie Publishing House held autograph seminars for Feng Tang throughout China, attracting crowds of fans. He also began attending online programs and collaborating with others on calligraphy exhibitions.
In 2019, Feng Tang was named by the GQ magazine as one of the most influential authors in the past ten years, and he was rated as the author with the best-selling record of all time by Dangdang, the most famous online book selling website in China. In 2020, Feng Tang has been nominated and selected as the recipient of Emory University's Sheth Distinguished International Alumni Award.
In January 2021, Feng Tang left Citic Capital and founded Oneness Consulting Company. He continued to write on literature and general management, and provide online audio lectures.
Written works
Novels
Feng Tang is best known for his novels "Beijing Trilogy" and "Oneness". In his works, Feng Tang persistently explores the dynamics of libido and the anima image, using them as guiding tools in his examination of the human experience. These themes, although explored by earlier Chinese writers, have been to a certain degree unheeded in the modern era. These recurrent themes shape his unique writing style, which ranges from exaggerated, rebellious, and even at times obscene, elegant and poetic. Despite the contrast, he maintains a tasteful balance and commands a singular artistic vision throughout his books. His distinctive style is so recognizable and often imitated that it has been dubbed by the public as the "Feng Tang Ti".His "Beijing Trilogy" is a series of autobiographical novels dealing with his childhood, teenage years, early adulthood and beyond. The first book of the trilogy "Everything Grows" was published in 2001. The book was later adapted into a film in 2015, starring some of China's top actors such as Fan Bingbing and Han Geng. In 2007, the book was translated and published in French. The next book, "Give Me a Girl at Age Eighteen 十八歲給我一個姑娘" was published in 2005 and was later adapted into a 21-episode drama by Youku, China's largest video steaming provider. It was translated and published in French and Italian in 2009 and 2020 respectively. The last book of the trilogy " Beijing, Beijing 北京, 北京" was published in 2007, and translated in English in 2015. In 2017 the book was adapted into a 40-episode drama series Shall I Compare You to a Spring Day and aired in July. The drama won the "29th China TV Golden Eagle Award" in Outstanding Television Series category in 2018.
"Oneness" was published in 2011 and subverted the stories of historical figures from the Tang dynasty in a tale of sexually adventurous monks, nuns, and poets. It is Feng Tang's most famous work and be the best-selling novel in HK publishing history.
The other novels included "Happiness 歡喜", and "No Woman, No Cry", which was published in 2007 and 2014 respectively. "Happiness" was written when Feng Tang was seventeen. It is a school life story set in Beijing in the late eighties and talking about various adolescent behaviours in the high school. "No Woman, No Cry" describes the complicated life of a biotech start up company CEO, and his efforts to write a unique book entitled On Everything.
Poems
Feng Tang considers himself primarily a poet, even though he is often hailed as one of the finest novelists of his generation. He has written nearly 800 poems, most of which are relatively short. Feng Tang created a new style of poetry, advocating for expression through very concise and refined wordings.His first poetry collection, "One Hundred Poems of Feng Tang 馮唐詩百首", was published in 2011 and collected 116 poems, included the highly acclaimed poem "Spring ". His best-known poems likely deal with themes of nature and love. In 2018, he published "All Three Lines 不三" in Hong Kong, a collection of 305 poems, each comprised just three lines. Six years later, "All Three Lines" was re-published in mainland China named as "Let's Meet見一面吧".
In 2015, Feng Tang collaborated with his DJ friend YangCheng to produce a book and CD titled "Reciting Poems 吟詩", which included almost fifty passages from his novels, poems, and essays, along with four new poems.
In August 2014, Feng Tang was invited to translate the Tagore's "Stray Birds" in Chinese. The book, published in 2015, was widely criticized, with critics claiming that Feng Tang had overstepped as a translator by sexing up Tagore's soft-toned poems and strayed too far from the original text. Feng Tang defended his translation, insisting that the spirit of translation lies in breaking the rigidity of habit and continuously innovating. He believes the most important role for artists is to destroy the old world and create a new one. Four years later, "Stray Birds 飛鳥集" was re-published by Cosmos Books in Hong Kong.
In 2024, Feng Tang's mother passed away. A year later, he created a poetry collection titled "I, the Unfading Flower作為花我從來沒敗過" as a tribute to her. The poetry collection includes 102 newly written poems and essays, alongside 101 photographs of his mother's personal belongings. Through this, Feng Tang reconstructs the vivid trajectory of his mother's life and pays tribute to her resilient vitality.
Short stories
Feng Tang's best-known collections of short stories include "Of All The Balls 天下卵" and "So Insane 搜神記". "Of All The Balls" published in 2012 and retitled "安陽" when re-published in 2017. The book includes eight short stories, drawing from history, fairy tales, and reality. In 2020, the book was translated by Lavinia Benedetti and published in Italian. "Of All The Balls", "So Insane" and "Oneness" have been formed as a new trilogy named "supernatural trilogy"."So Insane" assembles eight short stories: " In Your Twenties", "On Masturbation is One Type of Sport", "Perfect Enlightenment", "The Duck Man", "Fifty One Spotlights", "The Clitoris Yoga Master", "The Twilight Chef", and "All Kinds of Plants in This World are Beautiful". In November 2015, Feng Tang hosted a TV show "Sou Shen Ji" and interviewed 13 distinctive figures in China from different industries. In 2017, "So Insane" was published based on the show. The book resembles a collection of supernatural stories, but the characters are real people, troubled by their own emotions or facing various dilemmas in life. Their "insanity" or superpowers, as described in the book, stem from their bodies and sensual instincts. Feng Tang believes the sensual instinct of a human being has unlimited potentials, which will never be replaced by artificial intelligence.
Essays
In 2005, Feng Tang published his first collection of essays, "Pig and Butterfly 豬和蝴蝶", which earned him an award from People's Literature Magazine. Over the next few years, he continued to publish other collections, includes "Aging 活著活著就老了", "How to Become a Monster 如何成為一個怪物", "36 Biggies in Life 三十六大", "Hanging on there in the Universe 在宇宙間不易被風吹散", "Fearlessness / How to fight middle age 無所畏 / 如何避免成為一個油膩的中年猥瑣男 ", "Shall I Compare You to a Spring Day 春風十里不如你", "Being Capable有本事" and "Winning with Confidence 穩赢".Feng Tang has a deep passion for literature and an admirable fluency in imparting this passion. His essays often strike a sympathetic resonance in readers' hearts and minds, influencing trends. One such example is his acclaimed essay "How to fight middle age", which created a sensation when it was published in 2017.