[citation needed] The Maoist government sent him to a re-education camp in rural Sichuan from 1971 to 1974 during the Cultural Revolution.

In 1984, Dai left China for France on a scholarship to study at the Instituted des haunts études cinématographiques.

Before turning to writing, he made three critically acclaimed feature-length films: China, My Sorrow (1989) (original title: Chine, ma douleur), Le mangier de lune (Moon Eater) and Tang, le onzième (The Eleventh Child).

Dai's novel, Par une nuit où la lune ne s'est pas levée (Once on a Moonless Night), was published in 2007.

They steal a suitcase filled with illegal Western classical novels from another man being re-educated and decide to enrich the seamstress's life by exposing her to great literature.