Sha was born in 1939 into a Hui family in
Nanjing, China. In 1961, he was recommended for admission to the
Shanghai Theatre Academy. He joined the China Writers Association in 1985. From 1985 onward, he served as director of the Shanghai People's Art Theatre, and in 1993 he voluntarily stepped down to break the lifetime tenure system. Later works include his plays
Diligent Study,
Jesus, Confucius and John Lennon,
Secret History of Marx,
Looking For a Man and his short story titled
Untitled dialogue. Another play
If I Were for Real was written by him together with fellow playwrights Li Shoucheng and Yao Mingde and later made into a movie directed by Wang Tong. In 1985, Sha became the head of the Shanghai People's Art Theatre, In 2007, Sha met with
German chancellor Angela Merkel regarding
freedom of the press in
China. ==Works==