Chinese writers should focus on ordinary lives: official

China's publicity chief asked Chinese writers to base their works on the lives of ordinary people and socialist values, as he congratulated winners of the Mao Dun Literature Prize, one of the country's top literature prizes.

Liu Qibao, head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said, "Reflecting the times and telling Chinese stories are important missions of contemporary writers."

Writers should eulogize common people's striving towards their dreams, Liu said.

They should maintain a Chinese style while also learning from excellent foreign works, he urged.

The Mao Dun winners included Su Tong, who was shortlisted along with more than 200 world's renowned writers for the nomination of the 2015 Nobel literature prize. Endi