Chinese writer Chen Zhongshi died on April 29th, 2016 in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. He was 74. His masterpieces include White Deer Plain, which won him China's top literature prize. Chen was born in June 1942 in Xi'an. He started writing prose in 1965 and finished his magnum opus White Deer Plain in 1992, for which he won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 1997, one of most prestigious literature prizes in China. With the novel's publication in 1993, Chen shot to fame almost overnight. Critics described his works as a "realistic reflection of Chinese contemporary history."