Full coverage: Writer Chen Zhongshi Passes Away

Chinese literature legend Chen Zhongshi, best known for his signature epic novel, "White Deer Plain", passed away this morning at age 74 in  his hometown Xi'an.

XI'AN, April 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- File photo taken on Sept. 8, 2011 shows writer Chen Zhongshi speaking on the opening ceremony of the First Shaanxi Xi'an International Drama Festival in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Noted Chinese writer Chen Zhongshi, author of award-winning novel "Bailuyuan (White Deer Plain)", died at the age of 74 on Friday in Xi'an. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

Chen was born into a peasant family on the Weihe Plain of Shaanxi Province in 1942. His father was one of  the few peasants in the village who could read and write. That plain was the setting for Chen's 1993 novel dealing with time, catastrophe,  fate, and change.

"White Deer Plain" traces the fates of the Bai and Lu clans from the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911 to the founding of  the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The novel was an immediate critical and popular success, leading to the award of China's most  coveted literature prize, the Mao Dun AWARD, in 1997, and two million BOOK SALES by 2000. The novel has been adapted and retold in various  art forms from theatres to big screens.