BEIJING, March 25 -- Translated books are flying off the shelves of Chinese bookstores, a sign that converted reading material is becoming a booming market in the nation.

    Chinese readers are opting to cosy up with titles like "Harry Potter" and "The Half-Blood Prince," "The Da Vinci Code" and "My Life" by Bill Clinton, which are among the country's bestsellers. Those in the industry say it means the Chinese are searching for more mature literature and those with Western ideas like never before.

    The translated version of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series swept the sales records of its Chinese publisher, the Beijing-based People's Literature Publishing House, since being first introduced to China in 2000.

    When Chen Min, director of the rights department of the People's Literature Publishing House, first got the rights for "Harry Porter," there was mixed feelings over how it would be received in China.

    "But we are certain we've never read such a great children book with so much imagination before. It was going to have an strong impact," Chen said.

    It has sold more than 7 million copies so far in the country where students are barraged with mounds of homework, and fewer and fewer people can afford the leisure of literary enjoyment.

    The sales figure signifies the popularity of this type of tale among Chinese bookworms, said Chen, adding that a translated foreign book that sells 50,000 copies is a blockbuster in China.

    "My Life," Bill Clinton's memoir about his days in the US Oval Office, was published by Yilin Press. Its name translated in Chinese means "the forest of translated works," and the publisher specializes in copyright imports. The autobiography has already had a strong showing, selling 210,000 copies by the end of 2005.

    "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown has surprised domestic publishers with its strong sales of more than 630,000 copies after it was published by the Shanghai Century Publishing Group in 2004.

    Its success in the Chinese market has led to a wave of the publishing Brown's other books, including "Angels & Demons," which has also performed well.

    "We didn't expect 'The Da Vinci Code' would be so well-received by Chinese readers," said Zhao Wei, director of the rights department of the Nanjing-based Yilin Press.

    The suspense thriller's complexity involving religion, mystery and western culture background is one reason for the good reception, Zhao said.

    But the performance of "The Da Vinci Code" in the domestic market has demonstrated that Chinese readers have matured and are now leaning toward complicated Western literature like never before, Zhao added.

    From 2000 to 2004, China introduced 41,000 foreign books. Meanwhile, it exported 6,038 rights of Chinese-language books, according to statistics from the National Copyright Administration.

    Contemporary literature, memoirs, and books with social science topics are among the most popular choices for Chinese readers these days.

    Because of this, Chinese publishers who used to prefer foreign classic literature are broadening their scope, Zhao said.

    "We still produce classic literature. But it doesn't sell well in recent years. So we follow the reader's choice and introduce more bestsellers to China," Zhao said.

    The first time the industry starting to shift its focus to translated English-language top sellers was in the 1990s with the introduction of James Waller's book, "The Bridges of Madison County."

    Also introduced by the People's Literature Publishing House, Waller's book sold 700,000 copies in China, and the number soared even more after the book was made into a movie.

    "The book was published at a time when the country had undergone a lot of changes - a confrontation of traditional value and liberalization ideas brought by the opening policies," Chen explained. "People wondered what Westerners would do when facing such choices."

    Followed the hit of "The Bridges of Madison County," domestic publishing houses extended their businesses to include more foreign reading materials.

    But not all bestselling books from overseas will make profits in China, mostly due to culture differences.

    Sometimes foreign books can not fit in or they simply have a different way that can not be translated across cultures, Chen added.

    For example, US thriller author Stephen King's series, popular in the West, sold poorly in China.

    "In traditional Chinese culture, China's scary books are more about ghost and myth. But King's emphasis on description of psychology and environment hardly appeal to readers in China," Chen said.

    IPR issue

    Regardless of the readers' receptions, the expanded presence of translated foreign books in Chinese market has made the industry more aware of copyright issues from a decade ago.

    "I don't think any publisher in China would translate a book without getting the consent from its native publisher," said Chen.

    When it comes to successfully transplanting a foreign best-selling book into Chinese bookstores, Chen said a publisher must be well read and highly experienced with "a six sense."

    "It is a risky business. No one can actually predict whether a book will become a hit or not."

    Yet, at the basic level, the quality of the book what's behind the book's cover and behind its success in its native market is the best insurance of a market hit, Chen stressed.

    (Source: China Daily)