SUN Wei promised to herself when she first stepped out of college that she would spend the next 10 years on a journey to widen her experience of society, in preparation for her ultimate goal - to become a writer. She fulfilled her promise in 2004, the 11th year after graduation, when she quit her prestigious job as the general manger of a TV production company to become a full-time writer.

Sun's literary talent was soon revealed. Her recent essay entitled "Return" won her the first prize for new writers at the Shanghai Literature Awards.

In fact, this "novice" is not entirely new to the field, since she has been enrolled as a member of the Shanghai Writers' Association since the age of 19, when she was the youngest member, having already published her own works. "It seems that I was born for writing," Sun said.

She chose journalism as her major at Fudan University and became a journalist with Shanghai Television after graduation.

"To me, journalism and literature have something in common - both pay attention to people's lives," she said.

Sun's programmes were investigative news stories, some concerned with the dark side of society.

"It's strange that when I tried to work for justice, I was never scared of any danger," the gentle writer said. Sun once received threatening phone calls to ask her to stop an investigation. "I wanted to let people who were treated unfairly know that there were still nice things happening in the world. That is the same reason I have continued to write."

Sun is especially proud of her report about the inconvenience involved in transferring between Metro Line 1 and 2, which eventually led the Metro company to charge once on either of the lines rather than on both lines.

Passion has propelled Sun along her six-year career life as a journalist. She often worked for two or three days without sleep. She is determined to hold onto that passion as an author.

Her decision to resign from her TV position, the second job she has held, was strongly opposed by her family.

"It's very rare for a young girl like her to rise to such a position and high income," said Shen Quanmei, Sun's mother. "But she made the decision without telling any of us in advance."

For Sun, however, the decision was like a return to purity of soul. She said in the business world everyone seemed to wear a mask and things were untruthful.

"Many people would turn into the kind of people they once hated, under the influence of society. But I am not willing to see that happen to myself, so I quit," she noted.

Her prize-winning essay "Return" tells the story of a friend who insisted in completing a documentary in a remote village by himself even though he was afflicted with deadly urinaemia.

Sun and the friend made an agreement before he left that he would return on a specific day in February. But he did not. Although news came that he was still alive and shooting the documentary, Sun decided to go to look for him in the village where he was isolated from the outside world, without any telecommunication facilities.

"I found another self in him - we are both the kind of people who dare to struggle for our dreams in the darkness," Sun said. Actually, they have only met each other three times, but both saw themselves in the other and shared almost everything in common. "I've been lucky to find my soulmate in the world."

Although the 10-year journey has ended, Sun said she would not isolate herself from society because writers obtained inspiration from it.

"Many celebrated writers run out of ideas because their lives were dedicated solely to writing until they became almost autistic," she said.