W. FAULKNER AND MO YAN Zhu Shida（144） The paper makes an extensive study of William Faulkner's impacts on Mo Yan, one of the leading Chinese contemporary writers on the legends and mystics of Chinese rural life. Based on an analytical study of Mo Yan's fictions, it takes note of Mo's modernistic efforts by way of mysticism, imagism, symbolism and metamorphosis. The author believes that by assimilating the heritage of W. Faulkner and other modernist writers and combining Chinese scene with modernist approaches, Mo has taken on a unique creative career.