Just to add a little biographical information:
Gao Xingjian was born on January 4th, 1940 in Ganzhou. Gao's father was a banker and his mother was an actress. In 1962, he received his bachelors of French from the University Of Beijing. During the height of the Cultural Revolution he was sent to a Reeducation camp. To protect himself from undue persecution, he burned a suitcase full of his manuscripts. He was not allowed to publish until 1979, nor could he travel abroad. During the early to mid 80's he published a number of short stories and plays. His play, Signal Alarm was an unqualified succes in Beijing, but its follow on Bus Stop was condemmed as being Intellectual pollution and banned. Wild Man also gave rise to heated local and international debate. His next play The Other Shore was banned in 1986, and none of his plays have been performed since. In 1987 he emigrated to France where he has been a prolific writer in both Chinese and French. In addition, his watercolor caligraphy has gained much recgonition.
He was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 1992; Prix Communauté française de Belgique 1994 (for Le somnambule), and the Prix du Nouvel An chinois 1997 (for Soul Mountain).
Source: Australian Literary Management, bibliographical reference.