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Guo Jingming (Chinese: 郭敬明; Pinyin: Guo Jing Ming) was born on June 6, 1983. Guo is one of the most popular writers, novelists, editors, businessmen, and pop idols as a youthful celebrity figure who is controversial and hardly beloved universally. Guo Jingming is the president of Ke Ai Entertainment Company, which established in 2004. Ke Ai is a company that mainly produces teenager’s magazines such as “Top Novel” and “Island" . In 2008, Guo Jingming had signed the contract with TianYu Entertainment Company and became an official star in the entertainment business circle . Soon after, Guo was hired by Changjiang Publishing House in 2009 as a vice editor . Guo Jingming is also the youngest member in China’s Writers Association when he was just 23 years old . Meanwhile, Guo also writes movie scripts and makes advertisements, preparing to heading into the movie industry.

Early experience as a student
Guo Jingming was born in a middle-class family in Zigong, Sichuan Province, located in the southwest of China. Guo’s father, Cheng Jianwei, is an engineer who works in a state-owned enterprise; his mother, named Zou Huilan, works in a local bank as a clerk. Guo was very clever when he was a child. He showed strong interest in reading during his early years. Therefore, Guo’s mother bought many books to inspire him in reading, explaining everything till Guo was able to understand. Another specialty of youthful Guo was that he had an amazing ability to memorize what he read or heard, such as the story that people read for him, Guo was able to recite after listened to it only once. By the interest in reading that he showed, Guo’s mother strongly supported him, and let him pick any books he liked in the store.

In 1988, Guo went to elementary school in his hometown, Zigong. Guo’s reading ability has been improved a lot through studying in school. He expanded his reading volumes, which built up his foundational ability to write. Consequently, Guo became the best student in writing class.

Guo’s writing talent emerged in his middle school years. Guo continually to read books including most famous Chinese literatures and KongFu fictions, especially written by Jin Yong and Gu Long. Large amount of readings taught and inspired him more in writing, so that Guo started writing for magazines. In 1997, Guo published his first poem, “Loneliness”, in a national magazine named Rensheng ShiLiuQi. “Loneliness” is a contemporary poem, expressing Guo’s personal feelings of melancholy during school times. Guo received 10 RMB (approximately 1.5 US Dollars) as the remuneration from Rengsheng Shiliuqi magazine, and it did means a lot to Guo as well as his family though 10 RMB is a small amount of money.

With his mother’s encouragement in writing, Guo attended the third and forth ‘New Concept’ competition, a national writing game sponsored by MengYa Magazine. As a high school student who faced the pressure of college entrance examination, Guo spared no effort to write. The “Script” and “Our Last Song on Campus” that Guo wrote eventually won the first prize for both of the games in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Guo’s little success rapidly spread throughout the nation. He suddenly became a little famous, and started attracting people’s attention at that time.

The “New Concept” contest transported Guo Jingming from Zigong to Shanghai, "a bustling and prosperous metropolis", where “I could easily find a lot more books to read than in my hometown,” said Guo.

A year later, in 2003, Guo published his first novel—Imaginary City. The novel sold 800,000 copies in the first couple months, which made him nominated as “one of the most popular writers” in China. Imaginary City has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the past years, which made Guo become incredibly well known and popular throughout the whole nation.

While Guo finished his high school, he attended college in Shanghai, and determined to stay there after graduation ; but Guo gradually realized that “he was caught up by the abundance of the city”. However, Guo still decided to develop in Shanghai “with nothing and no one to help me except for the limited fame I gained through the writing contest”. However, on the Christmas Day of 2003, Guo gathered five of his closed friends in the newest McDonald’s in Shanghai, decided to establish a writing studio called “i5land”. Since then, Guo has started his writing and business career in a 140m2 apartment studio.

The plagiarism controversy
In the year of 2004, Guo Jingming published his second book named Never Flowers In Never Dream while he studied film in Shanghai University. The book portrayed a triangle love “featuring harmless forays into the Beijing underworld”. Never Flowers In Never Dream has sold 600,000 copies in the first month after releasing. However, soon after, a court found that the book has “shared 12 major plot elements and 57 similarities with another author”. The novel that Guo was accused to plagiarize is named “In and Out of the Circle” written by Zhuang Yu. In 2006, the court made the final judgment, which announced that Guo Jingming has violated Zhuang Yu’s copyright, and ordered him to pay Zhuang Yu 200,000 RMB (approximate $25,000) as compensation and apologize Zhuang. Guo Jingming has paid the damage fee; however, he refused to apologize or admit the plagiarism, or talk about this case.

Guo’s success was muted by the controversy of plagiarism. After the affair of plagiarism, Guo has been called “Super Plagiarism Boy”, “out-and-out thief”, and “no sense of decency” by outraged people; however, it did not affect the supports of his fans. Guo’s next musical album and novel still sold very well, so that Guo responded that “I felt upset but soon realized that selling well was where strength lay" . Guo Jingming’s attitude to plagiarism was positive, he said people criticize him because they never read his book, so he would not pay any attentions to their false judgments, though he hates to be misunderstood . Guo also announced that he would prove to people they were wrong even if it would take ten years to clarify.