Pres. Park`s book becomes most popular biography in China

South Korean President Park Geun-hye`s autobiography is very popular in China, with 150,000 copies of its Chinese version sold in about seven months after its release. Now, the autobiography is at the top of the list of best-selling biographies of foreign political figures in China. Six books on President Park have been published in the Chinese language over the past one year.

According to the Korean Cultural Center in China and the Chinese publishing sector, President Park`s 2007 "The Exercise of My Despair: Park Geun-hye Autobiography" was released in May in China. According to the publisher, Yilin Press, 150,000 copies have been sold by November 21.

The popularity of the autobiography can be easily spotted on the Internet in China. The book is the No. 1 best seller among 1,893 biographies of foreign political figures sold on Dangdang, the country`s largest online bookstore.

The book has some 12,000 reader comments. Among them, 84.8 percent gave five stars, the highest recommendation grade. "I had not been interested in Korean politics in the past," one reader said in a comment. "But after I read this book, I came to admire President Park. She is a strong and great woman as well as an outstanding politician." It seems that the book was so popular that there were not enough inventories, considering that there were inquiries between late June and early July about when the book would become available.

The second most popular in the foreign politicians` biography section is the Chinese translation of "Living History," the autobiography of Hillary Clinton," former U.S. State Secretary and a potential U.S. presidential candidate. Just 21 days after its release, the book is rapidly catching up with Park`s autobiography.