BEIJING - Mary Renault’s “The Persian Boy” is filled with scenes of pederasty and homosexual passion and has been raising eyebrows for nearly four decades. In China, where censors regularly smother sensitive content and portrayals of sexuality are illegal, one would think a book like this would never make it to the bookstore shelf.
But when Zheng Yuantao, a 30-year-old translator, came upon the novel in 2005, he set out to bring this tale to the Chinese readership .
“My goal was to translate a positive gay love story for Chinese people to see as a role model,” he said.
Two years after he first approached a Chinese publisher, Horizon Media, he celebrated his success at the book’s introductory party this past August.
Mr. Zheng’s triumph marks a stunning shift in Chinese society as the country’s economic development has brought new liberalization and ideas to its shores. While film, radio and television remain under the thumb of the Chinese government, the book industry has become more open.
Although certain subjects like the Dalai Lama, Taiwan independence and overtly religious themes remain verboten, the hunger for literature, business advice and selfhelp books has fueled a scramble among Chinese publishers and their international counterparts to translate classics and best sellers into Chinese.
According to official figures, more than 15,700 foreign titles were bought by Chinese publishers in 2008 . In 2005, fewer than 10,000 such titles were bought.
Wang Ling, Horizon’s chief literature editor, cites as a turning point for her company its publishing of “The Da Vinci Code” in 2003, of which two million copies have been printed here, followed by the huge success of “The Kite Runner,” with 800,000 in print - astronomical numbers in a country where, Ms. Wang says, only “super-best sellers” reach half a million copies.
Horizon often turns to Li Jihong, a 30-year-old from Shanghai translated “The Kite Runner.”
Sometimes, an authentic translation runs afoul of the Chinese government. In “The Kite Runner,” references to the Soviets’ meddling in Afghanistan were removed, as it was deemed to tarnish the Communist brand. Mr. Li loved the “Conversations With God” series so much that he bought the Chinese rights. The first book stayed on the Amazon China top-100 best-seller list for a year . These are books, he said, that “awaken the conscience of the powerful and bring consolation to the powerless.”
The Big Apple, a Chinese literary agency that represents publishers from around the world, said it sealed more than 2,000 contracts in 2009 and expected that number to increase in 2010.
Big Apple and other agencies also make sure publishers’ intellectual property does not fall into the wrong hands in China, which has a notorious record for ignoring copyright laws.
However, the legal environment in China has improved, said Wendy King, vice president of Big Apple. “Following the copyright laws is now the norm .”
Western publishers are opening offices in Beijing and Shanghai. HarperCollins says the number of its deals and the revenue from those sales have more than doubled in the last three years. Donald Trump’s “Think Big in Business and Life” was one of the most successful titles.
That books like “The Persian Boy” and “The Da Vinci Code” caused some jitters over their controversial themes yet were published and then became popular, says Ms. Wang, reveals a government growing more at ease with foreign ideas .
By DAN LEVIN
