Chinese writer Gao Xingjian won the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2000, the Swedish Academy announced Thursday.

Canadian writers Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood had also been in the running for the prize.

Gao won the prize for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity, which has opened new paths for the Chinese novel and drama, the academy said in its citation.

Gao, 60, is the first Chinese writer to receive the award. He is a political refugee and playwright whose works have not been performed in China since his work The Other Shore was banned in 1986, the Swedish Academy said.

Gao left China the next year and now lives in Paris.

He is also a playwright, a translator and director, and paints in ink, providing the cover illustrations for his own books.

The Nobel prize is not awarded for one particular work, but rather is given to those who, āduring the preceding year, conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The prize is worth about $1.3 million.