Though many critics think the Chinese book market is still immature, there is no shortage of productive writers and their work is everywhere.

Non-fiction

On top of the list of best-selling non-fiction of the past few years are memoirs from television anchors and stars in different entertainment fields, people who have largely won national fame on TV.

"Days," written by Ni Ping, who rose to stardom as a popular TV hostess of a variety of shows, has sold 900,000 copies.

"Painful, but Happy," by Bai Yansong, a TV anchor for special news events, such as the Hong Kong handover ceremony, has sold 480,000 copies.

"Liu Yiting, a Girl from Harvard," a memoir written neither by a TV star nor an entertainment celebrity, has also fared well in the market. With 320,000 copies sold, the book was written by Liu Yiting's parents Liu Weihua and Zhang Xinwu with the Sichuan Foreign Language Institute. In the memoir, they talk about bringing up Liu Yiting, who won a full scholarship to carry out undergraduate studies at Harvard University, in the United States last year.

Liu and Zhang have become role models for hundreds of thousands of Chinese parents who want their own children to follow in the footsteps of Liu Yiting.

Another best-selling memoir was by Lu Youqing, a cancer patient who died in Shanghai last month. In his book "Meeting Death," Lu recorded his battles against the deadly disease. His book has remained on the list of top 10 best sellers at the national bookshop chain Xinhua Bookstore for the past two months.

Top selling non-fiction is not confined to memoirs. Collections of essay-type reflections and criticisms also sell well, as some writers have discovered.

Yu Qiuyu, a well-known scholar, began to attract interest with his collection of prose under the title "Painful Cultural Pilgrimage" several years ago.

Following up on his first success, Yu's second collection "Cold Frost on the Long River" has sold 520,000 copies.

He then turned to TV. Last year he took part in the "Millennium Trip," a programme by Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television, which sent him around the world with a TV crew. He produced his latest work "A Sigh for One Thousand Years" about his travels. It had sold 290,000 copies by the end of last year.

Wang Shuo, a Beijing-based writer, started writing novels in the late 1980s. His work is regarded by many as "blasphemous, irreverent trash by, for and about hooligans."

However, he has moved on and has adapted his own novels into movie and television scripts. In the early 1990s, four of his scripts were made into films and became box-office hits.

At the beginning of last year, Wang Shuo again caught readers' attention not with a novel, but with his essay "Jin Yong in My Eyes."

In the essay, he bitterly satirized Jin Yong, a renowned Hong Kong kungfu novelist, and aroused a nationwide debate about his point of view.

Taking advantage of the debate, Wang promoted his essay collection "The Ignorant Know No Fear."

Meanwhile, Wang's latest fiction "Looks Very Pretty" and "The Beauty Gives Me Sleeping Drugs as a Gift" have again proved popular.

Fiction

Since the mid-1980s, the sale of novels has been sluggish. The lack of public interest in serious literature, outdated themes and obscure language in novels have contributed to this reluctance to buy. And many feel the ever faster pace of life gives people little time to ponder novels and their meaning.

However, writer Zhang Ping has remained popular with novels that touch upon the problems and conflicts arising from the dramatic social and economic changes during the current economic reforms.

Last year, a film based on his latest work "Decision" hit cinemas across the country. It explores the bankruptcy of a State-run textile factory in a provincial capital.

In the novel, Zhang indicates that serious management corruption is the main reason for the collapse of the factory.

Zhang said: "Writers cannot save the world, but writers have no right to distance themselves from the time and the people, and have no right to alienate themselves from reality and responsibility."

A rising popular novelist is Han Han, an 18-year-old high school student from Shanghai. His "Three Layers of Doors" has sold 470,000 copies and had 22 reprints, according to the Writers' Publishing House.

The popularity of Han's novel has been attributed to his criticism of the current education system.

In school, Han is a questionable student who failed in seven of his academic courses. But Han himself does not care about his poor academic performance.

He even declined an offer from Fudan University, since he holds that universities are not the only place to learn.

Rebellion, to some extent, always wins people's favour. It not only provides the publishing house and the media with a good way to promote a book, but also arouses public discussion on the current education system.

When Han published his second novel, "One Degree below Zero," it also hit the best-seller list as expected.

Many publishers have realized they can still earn money from novels during the information age, even if many people learn about the world first through TV and the Internet instead of traditional print media.

"Many people watch TV drama series or movies adapted from novels first. If they are interested in the story, they often turn to the original novel," said Wang Zhe, an editor with the Writers' Publishing House.

The TV series "Emperor Yongzheng"(who reigned from 1723-35) allowed people to get to know Ling Jiefang, who wrote the original novel under the pen name Eryuehe.

At the 2001 Book Order-placing Meeting held at Beijing's International Exhibition Centre from January 8 to 12, the "Collected Works of Eryuehe," including his signature works "Emperor Kangxi" (1662-1722), "Emperor Yongzheng" and "Emperor Qianlong" (1736-95), published by the Yangtze River Culture and Arts Publishing House, received many orders.

"It is our knockout product," said Zhou Baiyi, head of the publishing house.

According to some critics, Chinese novels have finally entered the TV age, which allow some writers to achieve success by adapting their works for TV.

"Perpetuation of Life" by Hai Yan, "Walk To and Fro" by Chi Li and "Longing for Passion" by Pi Pi have become popular, making the three novelists household names.

All of their other works have now appeared in the top of the best-selling fiction list.

TV makers compete for the copyright to film their literary works. Some buy copyrights from the authors even without knowing what their new novels are about.

The Internet is proving to be a new medium to boost literature.

Internet writers such as Cai Zhiheng and Anne Baby are popular at the moment and have been accepted by the younger generation.

People read "The First Intimate Touch," written by Cai Zhiheng from Taiwan, on the Net first. Last year, it was published as a book on the Chinese mainland.

The novel, which uses popular online language humour and wisdom was top of the "best-seller list" published by China Book Trade Journal through April and May last year. Six months later it rose again to the top of the rank.

The success of "The First Intimate Touch" not only gave Cai a good reputation on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, but also helped with sales of his second novel, "The Raincoat."

Not all pleased

Although lists of best-sellers appear in newspapers, magazines and bookstores every week, book editors hold different views over the definition of a good book.

Xiao Fuxing, writer and the deputy-chief editor with People's Literature Journal, said: "Readers of different education levels like different books."

Wang Zhe, with the Writers' Publishing House, said while he likes what he calls "classic works that last for several generations and work that connects with reality," he does not think much of some "faddy" books that are like "cultural fast food."

Yang Mingshu, deputy-manager of the Guolinfeng Book Store in Beijing, is concerned about the monotonous themes and uneven quality of many best-sellers.

Dong Wenxing, a reporter from Life Daily, is disappointed with some best-sellers, "I used to buy so-called best-sellers, yet few of them impressed me. Now I still prefer classic works written by renowned writers such as Lu Xun (1881-1936) and Shen Congwen (1902-1988)."

Though the active book market indicates a flourishing period of literary creation, some critics believe best-sellers are just a passing fad.

Chen Shi, a student from Peking University majoring in sociology said: "Society is becoming so impetuous that it creates an environment in which some writers of new generation overstate their individuality."

Some writers feel reluctant to be called "best-seller writers." They consider "best-sellers" work that plays to the gallery.

Whatever the arguments, the public has certainly embraced best-sellers.

"Some writers tend to imagine themselves to be morally superior to others, so they look down on best-sellers," said Xiao Fuxing. "Actually, good works are those that pass the market test.

(China Daily 01/15/2001)