In anticipation of the upcoming APEC meeting, biographies of certain nation’s leaders seem to be a hot trend on the Chinese mainland, with books on macho Russian President Vladimir Putin, and South Korean President Park Geun Hye topping the list.
More than a dozen Putin biographies are selling well at Beijing Xi Dan Books Building, one of the biggest book stores in the country, and more than 60 titles of the Russian leader, such as the hilariously titled Putin’s Iron Fist, Putin: Perfect Man in Women’s Eyes, and The Charming King Putin, come up in searches on the country’s biggest online bookstores, such as amazon.cn and dangdang.com, reports China News.
The books are selling like hot cakes, not only due to the judo expert’s stellar political career, but due to his, somewhat comic, strongman image: masculine, decisive, and versatile. The author of the best selling book about Putin, He Is Born for Russia, Zheng Wenyang shares some inside information on why Putin is so popular in China. He didn’t think his book about the Russian leader would become the most popular, but suspects its because his book is more comprehensive and objective than others.
The reasons of Chinese admiration for Putin are complicated, says Zheng Yu, a researcher on Russia at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. But one point stands out: “Many Chinese think our country’s diplomacy is too weak. So Putin’s strong stance against Western countries has made him an idol among Chinese.” Another reason books about Putin sell well in China is that China and Russia share an amicable relationship, and shared communist history.
Image courtesy of China News