Di An's latest novel on a woman from the Ming Dynasty era is winning the young author legions of fans. Liu Zhihua reports.

As she tours the country to promote her latest novel, Ling Yang in the South, Di An is getting used to seeing lines of fans waiting for her to sign their copies of her book. It wasn't long ago that the Beijing-based author, 31, was nervous on such occasions.

According to the publisher, Changjiang Literature and Art Publishing House, the book has already sold about 500,000 copies since it was launched on Nov 1.

As one of China's best-selling writers from the post-1980 generation, "Di the pretty", as she is fondly described by her admirers, made it on the Chinese Writers Rich List in 2010, 2011 and 2013. The annual ranking, compiled largely by a former journalist, features the country's top earning writers.

Ling Yang in the South is the story of a young woman from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) era, who fights social conventions following her marriage to a much older man.

The novel's teenage protagonist, Ling Yang, is married to a man in his 40s, but her husband dies soon after the wedding, leaving her to deal with conservative clan elders, many of whom want her to commit suicide so that the clan may benefit from Ling's show of loyalty to her dead husband and the declaration of her chastity.

As Ling struggles to ward off pressure from society, the late husband's concubines save her life by falsely claiming that she's pregnant. But to stay alive, she really needs to have a baby, and gets pregnant by her stepson. In order to protect her reputation as a "virtuous" woman, as dictated by societal norms at the time, she gets trapped in a web of lies.

Her circumstances then lead her to lobby the government for a stone arch be built to honor all chaste women who were widowed young.

"In 2011, I saw stone chastity arches in Anhui province, and the idea occurred to me that I should write about a woman from such a time when chastity was not only a moral standard imposed on women but was also tied to the economic interests of families and clans," Di An tells China Daily.

"I wrote a novel that's set in a historical background in a bid to explore the impact of social systems on people's lives," she says. "I love Ling Yang for her strong will and perseverance."

In the book, she tries to imitate the dialogue style from A Dream of Red Mansions, a Chinese classic written by Cao Xueqin more than 200 years ago, she adds.

Di An was born in Taiyuan, in northern China's Shanxi province, to established writers Li Rui and Jiang Yun. Her parents had named her Li Di'an.

In 2003, the young author published her debut novella, The Sisters' Jungle, in China's prestigious Harvest literary magazine, using her pen name Di An.

Her debut novel, Farewell to the Heaven, which is about the love stories and experiences of five young people, was published in 2005. It sold more than 700,000 copies, Chinese media report.

From 2009 to 2012, her Memory in the City of Dragon trilogy on the bittersweet lives of four cousins in the fictional city of Long Cheng in Northwest China firmly established her as one of China's most promising young authors. The trilogy sold more than 3 million copies, according to the publishing house that also published her latest book.

When Di An started to publish her books, other young Chinese writers, such as Han Han and Guo Jingming, had been doing well by writing on youth romance and related issues.

Di An has also charmed critics with her writing and was nominated for this year's Lu Xun Literary Award, one of China's top literary honors.

In the foreword to Ling Yang in the South, established writer Su Tong praises Di An's writing as skillful and experienced, and says that reading her book was enjoyable.

Under the influence of her intellectual parents, Di An developed a love for reading at a young age. Her favorite author, she says, is Eileen Chang (1920-95), who's among the country's most influential modern female literary voices.

In 2003, Di An enrolled in Paris' Sorbonne University, where she felt the craving to write, because of language barriers and the loneliness that often comes with living in a foreign country.

"I was alone in a place thousands miles away from home. ... I had never been so independent before and it was like I grew up overnight," she says.

"I was so lonely that I felt eager to express myself through writing."

The technique by which she learned French also helped her understand certain Chinese expressions better, she adds.

As she signs the multiple copies of her new book in different Chinese cities, Di An is happy that readers love her writing.

Contact the writer at liuzhihua@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/31/2014 page20)