Born in
Tianjin in 1942 to a family originally from
Ningbo,
Zhejiang province, Feng rose to prominence as a pioneer of the
Scar Literature movement that emerged after the
Cultural Revolution.[1][2][3] He has published close to one hundred literary works that span a number of different topics, styles and genres. His major works include Ah!, The Carved Pipe, The Tall Woman andHer Short Husband, The Miraculous Pigtail, Three Inch Golden Lotus, Zebra Finches, Ten Years of Madness: Oral Histories of China's Cultural Revolution, and Extraordinary People in Our Ordinary World.[1] His work has been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Dutch, Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese; internationally, more than forty of his literary works have been published.[1]
Feng is also a cultural scholar. He proposed and directed the Project to Save Chinese Folk Cultural Heritages, and over the last two decades he has campaigned to preserve urban culture and traditional villages.[1][3]
Feng is currently an honorary member of the Literature and Arts Association, honorary president of the China Folk Literature and Art Association, and an adviser to the
State Council. He is also dean, professor and PhD supervisor at the Feng Jicai Institute of Literature and Art, Tianjin University, vice chair of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Evaluation Group, and director of the China Traditional Village Protection Expert Committee. He used to be vice chairman of the China Association for Promoting Democracy Central Committee, vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, chairman of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association, member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee, and chairman of Tianjin Federation of Literary and Art Circles.[1]
In 2013, Feng won the 22nd Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award.[4]
In 2018, the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles honoured Feng and
Wu Bing'an with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Folk Art and Literature.[5]
^Jicai, Feng (1985). Chrysanthemums and other stories. Wilf, Susan ([1st ed.] ed.). San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
ISBN0-15-117878-X.
OCLC11783009.
^Jicai, Feng (1991). Voices from the whirlwind : an oral history of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1st ed.). New York, N.Y.: Pantheon Books.
ISBN0-394-58645-X.
OCLC22626527.
^Jicai, Feng (1994). The three-inch golden lotus. Wakefield, David, 1950-, Goldblatt, Howard, 1939-. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
ISBN0-585-25005-7.
OCLC44955241.
^Jicai, Feng (1995). Let one hundred flowers bloom. Smith, Christopher. London: Viking.
ISBN0-670-85805-6.
OCLC34203857.
^Jicai, Feng (1996). Ten years of madness : oral histories of China's Cultural Revolution (1st ed.). San Francisco: China Books & Periodicals.
ISBN0-8351-2584-X.
OCLC36169370.
^Jicai, Feng; 冯骥才. (1999). Feng Jicai xiao shuo xuan = Selected stories by Feng Jicai (Di 1 ban ed.). Beijing: Zhongguo wen xue chu ban she, Wai yu jiao xue yu yan jiu chu ban she.
ISBN7-5600-1669-3.
OCLC44871143.
^Jicai, Feng (2019). Faces in the Crowd: 36 Extraordinary Tales of Tianjin. Translated by Milburn, Olivia. London: Sinoist Books.
ISBN978-1838905019.
^Jicai, Feng (2021). A Looking-Glass World. Translated by Milburn, Olivia. Horsham: Sinoist Books.
ISBN9781838905149.
^Jicai, Feng (2023). From Purgatory to Paradise: An Oral History of Artist Han Meilin from the Cultural Revolution to the Present Day. Translated by Milburn, Olivia; Kumar, Yukteshwar. Horsham: Sinoist Books.
ISBN9781838905385.
^Jicai, Feng (2024). The Enemies of Art. Translated by Milburn, Olivia. Horsham: Sinoist Books.
ISBN9781838905521.