Though it's been a while since Danwei looked at Beijing's bestselling books, there have been few drastic changes. Regular readers of this feature will probably not be surprised to learn that this week's overall bestseller list is populated primarily by novels, with management and celebrity-related books making an appearance as well.

This week we look at Narnia novels and movie tie-ins, Lei Feng and his champion, and how Brokeback Mountain is sneaking into the libraries of mainland readers.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe opened 8 March on the Chinese mainland, but Narnia fever has been going on for several months. The seven novels appeared in December in a 99-yuan set (a relative bargain next to the 166 yuan the five Harry Potter novels would run you), which tops the children's list this week. The books occupied a high position on the children's bestseller list in an environment where C.S. Lewis is little-known. Put out by Yilin Press in 2001, they sold fewer than 10,000 complete sets in five years. The new editions have sold 20,000 sets in just two months. Yilin should probably be commended on its astute judgment of the demand created by the market for pirate DVDs.

But Yilin's version is not the only one out there. Disney, in association with Lijiang Publishing House, released a novelization of the film as well as a series of episode-specific movie photo-books. The tie-ins are notable in that the text is accompanied by pinyin transcription for younger readers. Disney has published such books before; its classic fairy-tales have been annotated much in the same way that its classic cartoons are repurposed as English instructional materials. But it is still fairly rare for pinyin to accompany something more up-to-date than Sima Guang Breaks the Jar or Cao Chong Weighs the Elephant.

New this week is a biography of Lei Feng. At #6 on the list, Lei Feng Spirit (the title translates as Lei Feng 1940-1962) benefits from last week's observance of Lei Feng Day as well as a promised cache of 200 previously unpublished photos of the hero. Text on the cover reads, "Everyone is searching for their own Lei Feng. The country is searching for its own Lei Feng."

In non-bestseller news, a series of translations concerning Mao and Chinese Communist Party history have appeared on shelves in academic bookstores of late. Headed by Mao: A Biography by Ross Terrill, the "International Mao Zedong Studies in Translation" series commemorates the 30th anniversary of the death of the Chairman, and includes such names as Maurice Meisner, Frederic Wakeman, Jr., and John Bryan Starr. These are reissues of earlier publications in illustrated editions, brought together by Renmin University Press under uniform red covers emblazoned with famous Mao head shots.

The cover also reassures readers that although these texts have been translated in full, they have also been "examined and approved by the documents office of the Central Committee."

What has not been examined and approved is the Chinese translation of E. Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain. The film won't be screened on the mainland, and it was reported this week that the book is not coming out in Chinese "for the time being."

People's Literature Press, which published Proulx's novel That Old Ace in the Hole as part of a series of 21st Century foreign literature, bought up the mainland Chinese rights to the short story collection containing Brokeback Mountain. According to Beijing Daily Messenger, PLP first intended to take advantage of the growing attention to the film version and bring out the collection sooner than expected. However, it soon reconsidered, and said that it would "publish an expurgated version." Later, reports said that it "at present had not decided not to publish," with the reason assumed to be that the subject matter was to sensitive.

Since "for the time being" has not been explained in further detail, fans of the book have taken it on themselves to translate the story, just as fans of Harry Potter translated volume 6 while People's Literature Press took its time. PLP is not overly concerned at the moment, probably because it is busy preparing Proulx's The Shipping News for release at the end of May. The translation is being done by Ma Ainong, who also did Harry Potter #6.

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The overall bestseller list for the week of 03/03--03/09:

1. (1) Impression by Fu Biao and Zhang Qiufang. A memoir by beloved actor Fu Biao and his wife. Fu passed away last year after a long illness; this book came out on Valentine's Day and was snapped up by fans. (傅彪,张秋芳, 《印记》)
2. (3) Tibetan Mastiff by Yang Zhijun. Another "Way of the Animal" book. See brief note here. (杨 志军, 《藏獒》)
3. (2) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. (丹·布郎,《达·芬奇密码》)
4. (5) Detail is the Key of Success by Wang Zhongqui. Business-related self-help book which has expanded into a lecture series available on VCD. The English title on the most common pirated version, ironically, is misspelled. (汪中求,《细节决定成败》)
5. (4) Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong: The long-running bestseller, set to be made into a movie. English translation forthcoming. (姜戎,《狼图腾》)
6. (-) Lei Feng Spirit (aka Lei Feng 1940-1962) by Shi Yonggang et. al. (师永刚等, 《雷锋1940-1962》)
7. (-) Be Your Personal Best by Li Kaifu: motivational book and DVD by Google's new China head. (李开复, 《做最好有自己》)
8. (8) Qiao Family Compound by Zhu Xiuhai. A look at one of the biggest mercantile families in Beijing during the late Qing dynasty. There's a period drama running on TV; this is the tie-in novelization. (朱秀海, 《乔家大院》)
9. (-) A City by Han Han. New novel by the post-80s writer. (韩寒, 《一座城池》)
10. (-) The Practice of Management by Peter F. Drucker. (德鲁克, 《管理的实践》)

Bestseller rankings are taken from the Friday Book Review section in The Beijing News, which compiles its data from the city's major online and brick & mortar bookstores.