``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' appears likely to bewitch Chinese audiences as well. All 1,118 tickets for the film's Saturday evening premiere in Shanghai sold out a week in advance.

Interest is so keen that the theater, the Shanghai Film Center, said it is even considering the unprecedented step of holding a simultaneous showing in a second hall.

Harry Potter -- or ``Ha-li Bo-te'' as he's known in China -- has already won the hearts of many Chinese children and adults as well.

Translated versions of J.K. Rowling's four original volumes have become the best-selling children's books in Chinese history, said Wang Ruiqin, chief editor at the People's Literature Publishing House, the Chinese publisher.

More than 3 million copies have sold since they appeared in October. They are now in their 11th printing, the first children's books in China ever to reach that mark, Wang said.

She attributed the popularity to the books' ability to inspire the imagination without the sweet, patronizing tone of most Chinese children's literature.

``It's all so fresh and new. Chinese children have never seen anything like this before,'' Wang said.

She said most sales have been in coastal cities like Shanghai, where rising incomes are closing the gap with the global consumer culture.

Hollywood hopes the film will replicate the books' success -- and expand a growing beachhead in the world's largest potential film market.

But Chinese distributors cautioned the film may fall short of breaking any records here.

Audiences might find Potter's make-believe world too unfamiliar, with its sorcerers and warlocks of Western tradition. This can be a bigger problem for film than books because it leaves less to the imagination.

To boost sales, the film's release was timed before the Feb. 12-15 break for lunar New Year, one of China's longest national holidays.

That's the time of year when parents and grandparents traditionally give children red envelopes full of money. Chinese distributors are hoping they'll also slip in tickets to the global blockbuster.

``They want the best for their children or grandchildren, and a best seller from the United States fits that bill,'' said Wu Hehu, deputy manager of distributor Shanghai Yongle Film.

The other target audience will be adults under 35, who are more likely to get excited by the film's big-budget special effects.

This age-group also has a taste for fantasy, say distributors, pointing to the popularity of an endless stream of Hong Kong movies about ghosts and magical warriors.

After the premiere, ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' will be shown in 20 Chinese cities, said Wang Li, a spokesman for another distributor, China Film. He said there are no plans to show it in the impoverished countryside, where two-thirds of China's 1.3 billion people live.

In the United States, the film destroyed box-office records, grossing US$90.3 million in its first three days.

(China Daily January 26, 2002)