Mo Yan's acceptance speech in Stockholm speech is as follows:
"As a rural boy from a distant county in China, Gaomi Northeast Township, to be able to stand in a world-renowned hall and be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature today is nothing short of a mythical story, but of course, it's all true.
I am well aware that there are many other writers in the world more deserving of this award than I am. I firmly believe that as long as they continue to write, as long as they still believe in the glorification of literature as a human and God-given right, 'she shall put a crown of flowers on thy head and give thee a crown of glory.'
I likewise realize that literature has done little for political controversies and economic crises, but its impact on humanity is ancient. We don't realize the importance of literature when it exists, but when it doesn't exist anymore, our lives become crass and barbaric. Because of this reason, I am proud of my profession.
Lastly, I would like to thank my folks in the northeast township of Gaomi, I will always be one of you." (Translated excerpt)
Expanded:
Mo Yan's award ceremony opened slowly with Sweden's national anthem, "The King's Song," and the entire hall, accompanied by flowers and music, looked solemn and warm. The orchestra began to play the opening song, and to the music of Mozart's D major, Chinese writer Mo Yan, along with the other winners, stepped into the venue dressed in black tuxedos.
The costumes were not brought from China, but were custom-made for the winners by the Nobel Prize jury locally in Sweden, according to Pipe Xiaoxiao.
Mo Yan took out the white card from his pocket, on which the acceptance speech was supposed to be written, as he took his seat with a group of winners. Mo Yan looked calm, wearing a plain white shirt inside a tuxedo and a plain white bow tie. Mo Yan's seat was the seventh from the left in the front row, next to Shinya Yamanaka, this year's winner of the medicine prize.
After the laureates were seated, Marcus Stoll, chairman of the board of trustees of the Nobel Foundation, delivered a speech, followed by presentations on the laureates' achievements by representatives of each Nobel Prize selection committee.
Introducing Mo Yan was Per Westerberg, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature. He said, "Mo Yan is a poet who rips off programmed propaganda posters and makes the individual stand out from the vast nameless masses ...... He reveals the darkest face of human existence in a playful way, inadvertently endowing symbols with images."
References:
People's Daily Online - Mo Yan delivers acceptance speech: it's a mythological story