As Gao said at the Nobel Prize awards ceremony, Communist rule stymied the development of mainland Chinese literature. Not surprisingly, the Chinese Communists were critical of the selection of Gao as a Nobel Laureate, labeling his choice an "imperialist conspiracy" and another "insult to all Chinese" by the West.
正如高行健在諾貝爾頒獎典禮上直陳，共產專制斲喪了大陸文學發展的生機，中共當局也不出所料地批評高行健的得獎，是「帝國主義的陰謀」，是西方另一次「對全體中國人民的侮辱」。