Acclaimed Chinese author Bi Feiyu on Thursday won Asia's top literary prize for his Three Sisters, set during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).
A journalist, poet and screen writer born in Jiangsu Province, Bi edged out four other shortlisted authors from India and Japan to secure the $30,000 Man Asian Literary Prize.
His book tells the story of three women who strive to change the course of their destinies in one of China's most chaotic political periods.
Bi said that he hoped the book would make clear that "we should never forget the Cultural Revolution at any time."
The prize, limited to Asian authors whose books are either written in English or translated into English, was founded in 2007 and shares the same sponsor as the Man Booker Prize, among the world's top literary awards.
Bi's competition on the shortlist included debut Indian novelist Manu Joseph for his Serious Men and Japan's Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature, for The Changeling.
When the shortlist was announced last month, Brick Lane author Monica Ali said she and her fellow prize judges, Harvard academic Homi K. Bhabha and award-winning writer Hsu-Ming Teo, agreed on titles that highlighted Asia's "thriving" literary scene.
All the shortlisted books touched on the human experience "in language that was beautifully honed," Ali said.
The judges were tasked with choosing the shortlist from a 10-strong longlist, announced in December and including books from India, Japan, China and the Philippines, which was in turn whittled down from 54 titles from 14 Asian countries.