The fifth "Golden Phoenix" medal winners were announced at the fifth Phoenix Writer Annual Conference, which was held in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, on Oct 25.

The previous four editions have awarded a combined 19 authors. This year, the medals were given to four distinguished authors: Zhang Haipeng, Ding Fan, Liu Liangcheng, and Gu Jianjun.

Zhang Haipeng.

Zhang Haipeng is a leading figure in Chinese historiography and a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He served as the deputy editor-in-chief of the Renaissance Library, with over 400 research papers on modern Chinese history, leaving a profound mark on contemporary Chinese academic history. He is the chief expert for the key Marxist theoretical research and construction project Modern Chinese History.

His two most representative works in historiography, A General History of Modern China and Draft History of Taiwan, published by Phoenix Publishing and Media Group, are foundational works in modern Chinese and Taiwan history.

Zhang has been awarded the "Golden Phoenix" Medal in recognition of his dedication to daily scholarly work in his advanced age, making significant contributions to the study of modern Chinese history.

Ding Fan.

Ding Fan is a renowned scholar, critic, writer, and senior professor in the humanities and social sciences at Nanjing University. As a leading figure in contemporary literary studies, he focuses on literature's core spirit and aesthetic value, actively participating in the popularization of literary education. Over the past 30 years, Ding has collaborated with various publishing houses under PPMG to publish over 100 books.

His editing of the 70-volume History of New Literature in Jiangsu is a significant project that traces and studies the literary heritage of Jiangsu over a century.

Ding has been awarded the "Golden Phoenix" Medal for advancing and promoting the progress of Jiangsu and Chinese literature.

Liu Liangcheng.

Liu Liangcheng emerged on the literary scene with his essay collection A Village of One's Own, earning him the title of the "last essayist of the 20th century in China". Starting from his debut work, The Message Deliverer, in 2018, to entrusting all his important works' copyrights to PPMG and culminating in winning the prestigious Mao Dun Literature Award for Bomba in 2023, he achieved a breakthrough that had been unprecedented in Jiangsu's publishing history of 40 years.

In recognition of Liu and his works published overseas, he has been awarded the "Golden Phoenix" Medal.

Gu Jianjun.

Gu Jianjun is a professor at the School of Education Science of Nanjing Normal University and director of the key research base for constructing general technology textbooks for primary and secondary schools in China. Collaborating with Phoenix Education Publishing, he has developed the first set of general technology textbooks for ordinary high schools in China, which have been used nationwide for 20 years.

In addition, Gu has engaged in various cooperation with subsidiaries of PPMG, such as Jiangsu People's Publishing House, Phoenix Science Press, Phoenix Media Publishing & Phoenix Digital Media, Phoenix Vocational Education Books, and Phoenix Education Development.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the high-quality development of basic education textbooks, Gu has been awarded the "Golden Phoenix" Medal.