Popular novelist tries hand at big screen

Guo Jingming, one of China's most popular writers, has adapted his hit novel into a movie that according to insiders will stir debate on social issues such as materialism and the gap between rich and poor.

Guo, 30, is bringing the first book of Tiny Times, a three-volume novel depicting the life and love of four girls in Shanghai, onto the big screen.

The novel, the best-selling fiction of 2008, was criticized for its flamboyant language and obsession with materialism, but Guo is confident about the film's reception.