A hit with Western readers

Mai Jia says he writes because of loneliness and feels better when he writes the loneliness out.[Photo by Li Xiaoliang/China Daily]

Mai Jia's first novel, Decoded, which was included by The Economist in its top 10 fiction list in 2014, has been translated into more than 30 languages. Here, the author reveals where he draws his inspiration from. Yang Yang reports.

The Mao Dun Literature Prize winner Mai Jia is one of the most popular contemporary Chinese writers among foreign readers. The first contemporary Chinese writer included in Penguin Classics after Lu Xun, Qian Zhongshu and Eileen Chang, he is regarded as China's Dan Brown or John Le Carre.

His first novel, Decoded, which was included by The Economist in its top 10 fiction list in 2014, has been translated into more than 30 languages.

This month, Mai Jia is going to Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Austria for the publication of the Danish and German versions of Decoded. He will then go to London for the publication by Penguin of the English version of his second novel, In the Dark. That work won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2008.

In May, the Hebrew version of Decoded will come out in Israel.

In Decoded, protagonist Rong Jinzhen is an autistic math prodigy, recruited by the national secret service 701 to crack two highly advanced codes－Purple and Black.