Chinese-version covers of six winners of the 21st Century Best Foreign Novel of the Year 2014. [Photo/China Daily]

Other winners of the Chinese award include Russian writer Andrei Volos' Return to Panjrud; French author Christophe Ono-dit-Biot's Plonger (To Dive); Canadian Dennis Bock's Going Home Again; Romanian Florin Lazarescu's Amortire (Numbness); and Spaniard Rafael Chirbes' En la orilla (On the Shore).

Winning works use different languages to discuss a universal theme - life.

Return to Panjrud, for instance, recounts the return of blind Persian poet Rudaki to his birthplace Panjrud under the guidance of an illiterate boy, with whom the poet shares his wisdom.

En la orilla reveals the grim realities of contemporary life in Spain through the protagonist's struggles after the country's economic crisis.

Amortire tells of the hardships of an obscure writer and the writer's host, who has Alzheimer's disease. Both characters face an increasing feeling of numbness.

Over the past 13 years, 74 novels from 22 countries have won the award, which is bestowed by a panel of acclaimed Chinese scholars and translators. The jury in 2007 gave the honor to J.M.G. Le Clezio, who won the Nobel Prize the following year, and this year's Nobel winner Patrick Modiano also won the Chinese prize in 2004.

Yu Zhongxian, a judge of French novels, says that, although the selection is based on Chinese aesthetics, "great minds think alike".

"What's most important is a serious attitude toward literature that reflects authors' concerns and reflections upon life and the world," Nie says.

"Winning works should carry forward human ideals."