With things unpleasant, can't we be unhappy?

The ongoing debate over China is Unhappy is as amusing and controversial as the book itself. Contrary to the claims of a section of the media that it is a market failure, the book is already in its eighth edition. Jiangsu People's Publishing House first published the book in March. And in just about a month it has sold about half a million copies, says Huang Jisu, one of the book's five authors who have since been dubbed "grassroots intellectuals".

The book's sales figure has not been verified but that would hardly make a difference. What is really intriguing is that commentaries published in some influential Chinese newspapers seem to dismiss the book as "too extreme and nationalistic", but netizens and scholars not associated with those publications have openly supported the authors' views. Many netizens have even criticized the critics of the book on online BBS or in their blogs.

That means people who try to gauge public opinion on an issue by reading those newspapers, or people who assume that they mirror society's view in totality, could be misled.