化 境 神 似

Fortunately, he hasn't. As is readily apparent from the author's introduction on the inside flap, the Wang Shuo who wrote this book is a woman from Jilin who just happens to have the same name as the so-called "bad-boy of Chinese fiction." No harm done, except for the crime of getting your hopes up.

This scene might have occurred last year. Perhaps because of the buzz generated by the "Northeastern Wang Shuo" leading to exposure and sales, the market in fake novels published under the name of famous authors has exploded, with sophisticated promotional techniques fooling more than just casual readers.

According to The Beijing News (12 Nov. 2004, C74), some of these imitations are even being sold in legitimate bookstores. It is in roadside stands and the discount bookstalls that most of them can be found, however. Noted author Chi Li found four new novels this year being market under her name, none of which she wrote herself. Annie Baby has no fewer than ten, Hai Yan seventeen.

Han Han is the leading writer of the "post-80s" generation. His first novel, 2000's breakout The Third Way, spawned a host of imitators, some playing with the concept of identity theft in knowing, clever ways. When his new martial arts novel, Chaos in Chang'an, was published earlier this season, he included a list of his five other genuine books alongside a much longer list of fakes, imploring his readers to buy only genuine copies of his genuine novels. Many other writers are starting to do the same.

Of course, signing a famous writer's name to a counterfeit document has a long, occasionally respectable history in both the East and the West. Who really wrote the later chapters of the Mozi? Was "The Wisdom of Solomon" truly written by Solomon himself? Who exactly is responsible for the final chapters of Dream of the Red Mansions? Moving closer to the present day, one can cite the explosion of anti-corruption crime thrillers in the wake of the banning of Wrath of Heaven in 1997 as a precedent for what is happening this year, as well as the Harry Potter and the Chinese Counterfeit phenomenon.

What is particularly disturbing about the most recent crop of exploitative novels is not that they may damage the reputations of well-known authors, but rather that they are covering up the achievements of other, not-so-well-known writers. Unlike the imitation Harry Potter books or the adolescent fiction modeled after Han Han, the novels masquerading as Wang Shuo's or Chi Li's or Hai Yan's latest work are neither new nor original; they are merely reprints of earlier novels wrapped in new covers and published under new names.

The most brazen example to date is the novel Lies and Inebriation, purportedly authored by Wang Shuo. The title alone gives the book the flavor of a Wang Shuo novel, and the cover also features his picture, as well as promotional text trumpeting it as the most awaited novel of 2004. Inside, the publishing information lists the expected names for the editors, and important detail considering the frequency with which pirated versions are published out of remote houses like the Inner Mongolia Education Press. The trump card, however, is on the back cover, which has blurbs from fellow author Liu Zhenyun (Cell Phone) and director Feng Xiaogang (Cell Phone, Big Shot's Funeral). Feng is quoted as saying:

"After reading Wang Shuo's new book, I couldn't get over it for several days. It's fortunate that I make movies; if I were in the writing business like he is, I wouldn't know where to start. An incredible popular movie I made a few years ago that started the New Year's film trend, Be There or Be Squared, was adapted from his novel The Troubleshooters. If I get the chance, I'd like to film his new book; I'm sure we could sell tickets. Thank God for this new book!"

Now, I'm not too familiar with Feng Xiaogang apart from his movies and his bestseller from a few years back, but apparently this is quite similar to his manner of speech. If you are quick on your feet, however, you'd realize that The Troubleshooters was adapted into Party A, Party B, describing a company that exists to fulfill people's deepest desires (Feng's interpretation is more of the "inspired by" type, especially when compared against the 1988 film adaptation of the same story).

Pretty clever, isn't it? Unfortunately, this book Lies and Inebriation doesn't actually exist. Rather, the novel Daytime Lying and Nighttime Drunkenness by the online author Pan Shaohua has been given a makeover. Not only are others using his work while giving him neither money nor recognition, but his online readers suspect him of plagiarizing Wang Shuo.

Less spectacular but still remarkable in its opportunism has been the series of "Chinese Peasant Reports" issued in the wake of the phenomenal popularity of the banned An Investigation into Chinese Peasants. Using the familiar bright yellow cover with a title in raised black type, pirate publishers have been recycling crime thrillers and police drama shooting scripts into The Tragedy of Chinese Peasants, The Fatigue of Chinese Peasants, and The Discomfort of Chinese Peasants, among others. Most of these copy the introduction verbatim from the original volume, and then jump right in to whatever forgotten novel they've managed to dredge up, whether it is related or not.

It is becoming more and more difficult to determine at a glance whether a book is genuine or not. Paper quality, color images, binding method, and other technical details used to be areas in which pirated books were obviously inferior, but improvements in technology have closed the gap so much that a casual bookstore patron might not be able to tell the difference. With the addition of this kind of savvy branding and marketing, the line between quality and wastepaper becomes much more difficult to distinguish. Changjiang Literary Press publisher Li Bo probably gives the only solution when he told the Beijing News that fake books have a hard time getting in to regulated bookstores, so if readers wish to avoid them, they should stay away from roadside stands and the 5- and 10-yuan storefront bookshops.

(originally posted on 2004.11.30)