Online events have been held on Thursday to commemorate the 100th birthday of renowned Chinese writer Wang Zengqi (1920-1997).

The People's Literature Publishing House, one of the leading publishing houses in China, invited his son and other famous writers to share their thoughts and memories of Wang's works and his life through an online live stream.

Hailed as as a master of using Chinese colloquial language to finish literature works, Wang was famous for his simple and straightforward writing style. "The Love Story of a Young Monk" and "Chicken and Duck Masters" are among his most well-known novels.

Wang wrote many books during the late 1970s and the early 1980s, when the "Scar Literature" dominated the Chinese literature arena. "Scar literature or "literature of the wounded" refers to a genre of Chinese literature portraying the suffering of intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). Many writers at that time wrote tragic stories to depict what was going on.

However, unlike many of his peers, Wang wrote many warm stories of ordinary people as he believed the power of love and warmth could always overcome difficulties.

He was not only good at writing but also painting under the influence of his father, who was a good calligrapher and painter. To commemorate his 100th birthday, a book with selections of his paintings will be published soon. All the paintings in the book have never been made public before.

Wang died of illness in 1997, at age 77.