In 2012, Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) conferred upon Mo Yan the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, in 2005 in recognition of his mastery of the art of storytelling and his courage in detailing life in rural China. Dr Mo Yan delivered a talk at the forum ‘Chinese Literature as World Literature: Writer, translator and Critics’ at the OUHK in December 2005. Prof. Howard Goldblatt, a well-known translator of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, gave a commentary on the talk.