Mai Jia was born in Fuyang district, Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, in 1964. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

The CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee held a conference focusing on sustaining and enhancing the province's cultural strength in the provincial capital of Hangzhou on Aug 31.

A notable attendee at the conference was Mai Jia, the pen name of a famous Zhejiang-born novelist and playwright, as well as vice-chairman of the Zhejiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Mai's most acclaimed and popular novels include Decoded, In the Dark, Sound of the Wind, and A Wavy Life. In the Dark won the 7th Mao Dun Literature Prize, which is the highest award for novels in China.

In an interview with local media outlets, Mai shared his perspectives on the conference and the prospects of Chinese literature.

Mai said that the development of culture is part of Zhejiang's historic mission as a demonstration zone for common prosperity. He added that he felt motivated by how culture was emphasized at the government conference and was particularly impressed by how the trend of vulgarization, as reflected in some modern Chinese literature works, has been criticized at the conference.

"Great literature works should be like diamonds. They should not only possess high quality in raw material, but also endure countless times of cutting and refining so that they can eventually shine with radiance," Mai said.

Mai's novels have been translated into 30 foreign languages. Both Decoded and In the Dark have been included in the Penguin Modern Classics series, its only two Chinese entries to date. In 2017, British newspaper The Daily Telegraph named Decoded one of "the 20 best spy novels of all time."

Mai attributed his overseas popularity to the increasing global influence of China. "As China rises, the influence of Chinese literature grows and so does the possibility for new-generation Chinese authors to go global," he said.