Zhong Acheng

Zhong Acheng (; born 1949), often known by his pseudonym Ah Cheng, is a Chinese author and screenwriter. He is often associated with the 1980s “root-seeking” literary movement. His best-known works are a trilogy of novellas – The Chess Master (; 1984), The King of Trees (; 1985), The King of Children (; 1985)– which draw on rural life during the Cultural Revolution.

Life and work Ah Cheng's father, Zhong Dianfei, was in charge of the Chinese Communist Party's Propaganda Bureau. In 1956, as part of the Hundred Flowers campaign, he wrote an article criticizing political interference in films and was sent to the countryside. Ah Cheng had to sell his father's books to support the family, and read these Chinese and western classics before doing so. During the Cultural Revolution, Ah Cheng was also sent to the countryside, working in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Yunnan, where he became a popular storyteller.

In 1976, he returned to Beijing on leave and witnessed the Tiananmen Square protests triggered by Zhou Enlai's death. His sketch of Zhou was published in the first issue of Jintian, an unofficial literary magazine founded by Bei Dao and others.

Chen Kaige, another contributor to Jintian, adapted The King of Children into his third film, King of the Children (1988), and Ah Cheng began working as a screenwriter. The King of Trees (omnibus of "King of Trees", "The King of Chess", and "The King of Children") (trans. by Bonnie McDougall), published by New Directions Publishing in 2010.