In this hypnotic epic novel, Mo Yan, the most critically acclaimed Chinese writer of this generation, takes us on a journey to a conjured province of contemporary China known as the Republic of Wine a corrupt and hallucinatory world filled with superstitions, gargantuan appetites, and surrealistic events. When rumors reach the authorities that strange and excessive gourmandise is being practiced in the city of Liquorland (so named for the staggering amount of alcohol produced and consumed there), veteran special investigator Ding Gou'er is dispatched from the capital to discover the truth. His mission begins at the Mount Lou Coal Mine, where he encounters the prime suspect Deputy Head Diamond Jin, legendary for his capacity to hold his liquor. During the ensuing drinking duel at a banquet served in Ding's honor, the investigator loses all sense of reality, and can no longer tell whether the roast suckling served is of the animal or human variety. When he finally wakes up from his stupor, he has still found no answers to his rapidly mounting questions. Worse yet, he soon finds that his trusty gun is missing. Interspersed throughout the narrative and Ding's faltering investigation are letters sent to Mo Yan by one Li Yidou, a doctoral candidate in Liquor Studies and an aspiring writer. Each letter contains a story that Li would like the renowned author's help in getting published. However, Li's tales, each more fantastic and malevolent than the last, soon begin alarmingly to resemble the story of Ding's continuing travails in Liquorland. Peopled by extraordinary characters a dwarf, a scaly demon, a troupe of plump, delectable boys raised in captivity, a cookery teacher who primes her students with monstrous recipes Mo Yan's revolutionary tour de force reaffirms his reputation as a writer of world standing. Wild, bawdy, politically explosive, and subversive, The Republic of Wine is both mesmerizing and exhilarating, proving that no repressive regime can stifle true creative imagination.

莫言，山東高密人。齣身於農民傢庭，小學未畢業即輟學，在農村勞動多年，期間曾經到棉花加工廠做過臨時工。一九七六年二月應徵入伍，在部隊曆任戰土、班長、教員、乾事、創作員等職。一九九七年十月轉業到報社工作。先後畢業於解放軍藝術學院文學係和北京師範大學研究生班，獲文藝學碩士學位。一九八○年開始創作。著有長篇小說《紅高粱傢族》《天堂蒜薹之歌》《十三步》《酒國》《豐孔肥臀》《檀香刑》等八部，還有中篇小說《透明的紅蘿蔔》《爆炸》《野騾子》《歡樂》等二十四部，短篇小說《枯河》《白狗鞦韆架》《拇指銬》等六十餘篇，另有劇本、散文等多部。