Chinese Nobel laureate Mo Yan (L) shows his certificate of honorary doctorate in Lima, Peru, July 30, 2019. Chinese Nobel laureate Mo Yan was awarded an honorary doctorate from Peru's Pontifical Catholic University (PUCP) on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Xin Yuewei)
While China and Latin America are geographically distant, literature can help to bring them closer together, said Mo Yan.
LIMA, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Nobel laureate Mo Yan was awarded an honorary doctorate from Peru's Pontifical Catholic University (PUCP) on Tuesday.
The 2012 Nobel Prize laureate for literature received the honor for his literary contributions and the impact of his works in both China and Latin America, the university said.
The celebrated author of "Red Sorghum" said he was very "thankful" for the recognition, which proved that while China and Latin America are geographically distant, literature can help to bring them closer together.
The Chinese novelist traveled to Lima to take part in the city's 2019 International Book Fair from July 30 to 31.
Aldo Panfichi, vice president of the PUCP, said Mo's visit to Lima offered them an "enormous opportunity" to appreciate his works, and an honorary degree awarded would make him part of Peru's academic community.
"For us Latin Americans ... Mo Yan is an author who seems familiar in many respects, essentially for his use of imagination, fantasy and realism," Panfichi told Xinhua.
An admirer of Latin American novelists Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mo said Latin American literature has influenced his writing.
"Reading the novels of other cultures is one of the best ways for us to exchange and communicate," said the author.
Born in 1955 and grew up in Gaomi in east China's Shandong Province, Mo has published a number of novels and short stories, including "Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out," and "The Republic of Wine."
