The year in books

Surely, 2014 has marked a new chapter in China's literary scene

New pages were added to the story of Chinese literary development this year.

Beijing's Sanlian Bookstore became the first 24-hour establishment of its kind on April 23, the 19th World Book Day, prompting Premier Li Keqiang to call it a "spiritual landmark" in a letter to its staff. About a dozen stores followed suit in such cities as Guangdong's provincial capital Guangzhou, Shaanxi's provincial capital Xi'an and Chongqing municipality.

Bookstores also began reconfiguring their marketing to go beyond merely selling books to becoming spaces for lectures and events.

Nature writing and sci-fi surged from obscurity to popularity.

Chinese have become infatuated with nature writing through naturalist Cheng Hong, who's also the premier's wife. Her book Return to the Wilderness became a hit after she presented it as a gift to Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome in May.

Subsequently, Commercial Press released a series of translated works belonging to the genre, such as The Forest Unseen and One Square Inch of Silence.

The first installment of Liu Cixin's sci-fi trilogy The Three-Body Problem became the first book from the genre by a Chinese author to enter the US market and a bestseller at home. The work has sparked interest in the previously overlooked genre in China as have plans to adapt it into a film.

Beijing Normal University recently announced it will offer the country's first sci-fi literature doctoral program next year.

Chinese literature is winning more international attention.

More than half the 4,000 agreements signed at the Beijing International Book Fair, the country's biggest copyright-trading event in August, were to export Chinese books. The total number of deals represents a 18.5 percent increase over last year.

Since 2014 marks the centenary of World War I and the 120th anniversary of the first Sino-Japanese War, known as the Jiawu War in China, many works this year reflect upon these conflicts.

Most examine history through new perspectives.

Paris Peace Conference and China's Diplomacy by Tang Qihua evaluates China's diplomatic failures. The fall of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) is examined through comparisons between Chinese and Japanese warships while other books archive Western media reports of the Jiawu War.

Chinese novelist Yan Lianke won the Franz Kafka Prize in Prague.

But it was a tough year for domestic awards. Some promising works did not receive any votes for the Lu Xun Literary Prize, calling the criteria into question. And due to a funding shortage, Lao She Literary Award winners took home trophies but no prize money.

While new literary icons emerged this year, others passed away.

Sun Zhongxu, the translator of works by JD Salinger and George Orwell, committed suicide on Aug 28, provoking discussions about translators' low pay.

Philosopher, Sinologist and professor Tang Yijie died on the eve of Teacher's Day on Sept 9, leaving unfinished his ambitious Confucian Canon a comprehensive collection of the Confucian classics, estimated to have about 1 billion words.

Zhang Xianliang, who's known for breaking the Chinese taboo on sex in literature with his works after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), died at 78 on Sept 27.

Some old names have come out with new titles this year. Jia Pingwa published his novel Lao Sheng, which literally translates as Old Man, after the 62-year-old's novel Dai Deng, literally translated as To Bring a Light, hit bookshelves last year.

And 103-year-old Yang Jiang's After Baptism, the sequel to her 1988 novel Baptism, about Chinese intellectuals' "ideological reform" after New China's founding, exceeded expectations.

Wang Quan contributed to this story.

xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 12/12/2014 page28)