[3][4][5] His novels have been translated into English, Dutch, French,[6] German,[7] Italian,[8] Japanese, Korean,[9] and Serbian.

[3][11] He entered into the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University in 1974 and started to publish novels in 1983.

[13] The International Board on Books for Young People's jury, announcing the award, said Cao "writes beautifully about the complex lives of children facing great challenges.

[16] Cao's Dingding and Dangdang (2012) (Illustrated by Zhenjun Liu) series follows the life of two brothers with Down syndrome living in a small rural Chinese village.

This series was selected as one of IBBY’s Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities 2015.