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 meant a lot to Guo as well as his family. Career New Concept Writing Competition With his mother's encouragement, Guo attended the third and fourth New Concept Writing Competition, a national writing game sponsored by Mengya Magazine. The "Script" and "Our Last Song on Campus" eventually won the first prize for both of the contests in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Guo's success rapidly spread throughout the nation. The "New Concept" contest transported Guo 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. Writer A year later, in 2003, Guo published his first novel—Huan Cheng(幻城). The novel sold 800,000 copies in the first couple months, which won him accolades as "one of the most popular writers" in China. Huan Cheng(幻城) has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the past years, which made Guo well-known and popular throughout the country. 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". On Christmas Day in 2003, Guo gathered five of his close friends in the newest McDonald's in Shanghai, decided to establish a writing studio called "island". Since then, Guo has started his writing and business career in a apartment studio. Plagiarism In the year of 2004, Guo published his second book named Never Flowers in Never Dream while he studied 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