Directing with wolves

BY THE BOOK

Wolf Totem was an immediate sensation after it was first published in 2004, selling more than 4 million copies. Writing under the pseudonym of Jiang Rong, author Lu Jiamin depicts two young men over 11 years in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region during the "cultural revolution" (196676).

Living with the nomads, the young men learn from their struggle for survival in the harsh land and attribute their success to the imitation of the nature of the wolves, including their strategies, mercilessness and flexibility.

The book won the first Man Asian Literary Prize, a prize intended to bring emerging Asian writers to global attention, in 2007.

Penguin Books bought the worldwide English rights for $100,000 in 2005, setting a record for a Chinese novel's translation rights.

Jean Jacques Annaud says he insisted on using real wolves in his film adaption of Chinese bestseller Wolf Totem. Photo provided to China Ddaily

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