Tales of successful women reveal a plotline of advancement

When it was published in English early last year, Roseann Lake's Leftover in China: The Women Shaping the World's Next Superpower, drew much attention in China and around the world. Last month, it was finally published in a Chinese version and quickly shot to the No 1 bestseller slot on Dangdang's list of social studies books.

Leftover in China wasn't the first book in English to examine the subject of the rising cohort of educated and independent-minded mainland Chinese women, but the other books tend toward academic explorations.

It is a more popular account, inspired by the friendships and experiences that Roseann acquired during her five years in Beijing working for a TV production company.