Finding a new secret to success

After an eight-year hiatus, master author Mai Jia has dropped the spy genre entirely to focus on his vision of propelling Chinese literature to the top of the global stage, Wang Kaihao reports.

Despite having his books translated into 30 languages worldwide, China's best-known spy writer Mai Jia has not published a new work in eight years. Yet his latest novel, Ren Sheng Hai Hai (Life is Like a Vast Ocean), which is due to be released in mid-April, has nothing to do with espionage.

But for his new novel, Mai says he wanted to stretch himself, he tells the audience attending the Neo-Cultural Creativity Conference organized by internet giant Tencent in Beijing on March 24.