Born in 1948, Mao Shian is not only a literary critic but also a counselor of Shanghai municipal government and a member of Shanghai CPPCC standing committee. He was graduated from the Chinese Department of East China Normal University in 1982 and held successively such posts of research assistant, associate research fellow, Editing Office director, Contemporary Office director and Culture Office director in Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, deputy editor of Shanghai Literary Theory, director of Shanghai Literature and Art Institute, director and research fellow of Shanghai Creative Centre. Mao is currently a member of Shanghai Literary and Art Association, a director and deputy secretary-general of Shanghai Writers' Association. In 1995, he joined the Chinese Writers' Association. Mao is both the author of such books as Where Is The Free Boat For The Man Of Today, Aesthetic Changes And Reflections, Nights Belong To You, Scenery Of Emotions, and Voice Of The City and the editor of the following books, Chinese Novels In 1991, Collection Of Seaborne Writers' Essays （5 volumes）， Vanishing Shanghai Alleys, and Collection Of Seaborne Writers' Book s（6 volumes）。 His critical works have won the 1st Shanghai Literature Prize, the 1st Shanghai Literature and Art Award, National Excellent Achievement Prize in Aesthetics for the Young and Middle-aged, Shanghai Philosophy and Social Sciences Prize and the 1st prize of the 5th Literary Criticism Contest organized by China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.