OPINION

Don't speak: the art of toeing the line in China

Life, Anchalee Kongrut, Published on 19/10/2012

» The most-heard line across China in the past week was ''Have you ever read a Mo Yan book?'' The question echoed in walkways, elevators and my office canteen. In Beijing, his books have been sold out since last Friday, shortly after he was announced the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Wall Street Journal immediately ran an excerpt of his new book which will be launched in January, while the share price of Xinhua Media, a partner of Shanghai Literature & Art, one of Mo's publishers, rose 10% in a single day's trade.