Zhang Haiwei

Fang Tian was an important writer in Malaysian Chinese literature. His original name was Zhang Haiwei. His father was Zhang Guotao. In November 1948, his family moved from Shanghai to Taiwan. A year later they moved to Hong Kong. In 1951 he became a teacher. In 1953–1954 he served as editor of China Student Weekly (中国学生周报). In 1955, the fable-drama collection Oriole and the Cuckoo (黄鹂与杜鹃) and the short-story collection A Little Red Flower (一朵小红花) were published by Youlian Publishing (友联出版).

In 1955 he left Hong Kong for Singapore to participate in founding Jiao Feng (蕉风). In Singapore he published the short-story collection Moans of the Muddy River (烂泥河的呜咽). In October 1968, the Zhang Guotao couple moved to Canada, where they both later died.