Chinese literature steps up going abroad while online literature booms

By Lu Qianwen Source:Global Times Published: 2014-12-18 19:18:01

Chinese author Liu Cixin Photo: IC

Chinese author Mai Jia Photo: CFP

While 2013 has been commonly recognized as a harvest year for Chinese literature since many established writers including Su Tong, Li Er and Yu Hua all published new books that year, 2014 has seen few such releases. However, while the year has lacked books by big name authors, a growing trend towards more Chinese writers being acknowledged around the world and the rise of online literature are both encouraging signs of a healthy industry.

David versus Goliath



While this year has seen the publication of Ge Fei's Snow Hidden Egret, Yang Jiang's After Baptism and Jia Pingwa's Laosheng - just published in November - traditional literature experienced an off-year in 2014. Looking at best-seller lists compiled by Openbook, a leading domestic research institute on China's publishing industry, Jia's Laosheng is the only new novel written by a big name domestic writer to appear on the top 10 list of fiction books.

On the other side of the coin, collections of short inspirational stories by popular young authors have established a firm seat on bestseller lists. Openbook's monthly bestseller list shows that I Belonged to You, a collection of bedtime stories by 1980-born Zhang Jiajia published in November of last year, stayed at either the No.1 or No.2 spot for fiction books for eight months out of the year. Meanwhile, according to the list of 2014 best-sellers recently released by amazon.cn, I Belonged to You ranks No.1 for both print and digital (kindle) books.

The Internet and various emerging IM (instant messaging) apps such as WeChat certainly contributed a great deal when it came to spreading the word about these books, especially considering the targeted demographic for these books aligns perfectly with IM app users. The rapid dissemination of hot social and cultural topics on these platforms is an important factor in attracting more people to read these short story collections that discuss similar topics.

The return of old classics has been another trend this year, such as The Kite Runner by Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini, which after I Belonged to You is the second most popular book among Chinese readers. Other classics like Prisoner Lu Yanshi by famous writer Yan Geling, first published in 2011, became a hit again this year after Zhang Yimou's film based on the book, The Return, hit cinemas in May.

Overseas push



While it's not unusual to see foreign books from various countries make appearances on best-seller lists in China, over the years Chinese books overseas mostly had a home in college libraries rather than the bookshelves of most readers. However, since Mo Yan won the Nobel Literature Prize in 2012, it seems that both domestic and foreign publishers have begun pushing to introduce more works by outstanding Chinese writers to the world.

This year has been especially encouraging since some local writers have not just been published overseas, but have also managed to make an impact. When The Economist magazine published its list of recommended books for 2014 on December 6, Chinese writer Mai Jia's Decoded was among the many books on the list. Already a big spy-war hit in China, the book's English edition premiered in 21 foreign countries in March, with Mai sweeping local media headlines. The Economist praised the novel for telling a story that Western readers could easily understand without needing too much knowledge about China. 

Another Chinese writer gradually securing a place for himself in the overseas market is sci-fi writer Liu Cixin. A big idol among domestic sci-fi readers, in 2012 four of Liu's short-stories were published in China's premier literature magazine People's Literature, a sign that sci-fi was started to be accepted in mainstream literature circles as this was the first time the magazine had published a sci-fi story. In the two years since then, while the worth of sci-fi is still just starting to be recognized in China, Liu has already made an impact on the international market.

In November of this year Liu's representative work, the Three Body trilogy was published in the US. More than 200 local libraries bought up the books in the space of a single month. In a book review, The New York Times wrote that the series would be a change of taste for American sci-fi fans. This is a significant breakthrough for contemporary Chinese literature as now overseas readers have yet another author to look to besides Mo Yan and Yu Hua.

Online era



Online authors have become a major force recently. Not only because these energetic and production young writers have attracted huge fanbases with their stories of romances and magical fantasies, but also because they have been attracting the attention of TV series, film and online games companies on the lookout for stories they can adapt into different mediums.

An overlooked medium just a few years ago, online literature has become a sunrise industry attracting a huge amount of investment capital. While writers for traditional publications complain about pitiful remuneration, online writers, professional and amateur, are receiving ample financial support from Internet companies such as Tencent. According to reports, Tencent has spent more than 200 million yuan ($32 million) on a project aimed at cultivating online writers.

According to the 2014 Chinese Online Writer Rich List released on Tuesday by Western China Metropolis Daily, the top 10 writers on the list, whose average age comes to 32, each earned more than 10 million yuan this year. Even more impressive is the fact that these earnings are only a small part of their overall income since they gain much more money from royalties derived from adaptations of their works.

For instance, after online writer Mao Ni's work Ze Tian Ji was adapted into an online game, animated series and other derived products have brought in hundreds of millions of yuan in revenue.

The booming progress of online literature has of course been noticed by the government. A forum on literature and art presided over by President Xi Jinping on October 15 not only invited dozens of established traditional print media writers such as Mo Yan and Jia Pingwa, but also online writers Hua Qianfang and Zhou Xiaoping.

Stealing the thunder from their peers, online writers have definitely become this year's biggest stars. However, more time is needed to see whether they will fundamentally change the face of Chinese literature and traditional print media.


Newspaper headline: Bookend to the year


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