To many, the market has few openings for serious creative writing.

It is therefore a riddle how a lengthy novel that "talks obsessively about an animal, with no spicing-up whatsoever of love or sex, and is written by an unknown author," as one of its reviewers put it, could have worked such wonders in the market.

According to its publisher, the Yangtze Literature and Art publishing House, Wolf Totem (Lang Tuteng), the first novel by an author bearing the pseudonym Jiang Rong, has sold 500,000 copies since April.

Few would doubt that the book's popularity can partly be ascribed to successful marketing by Jin Lihong and Li Bo, who are considered the most valuable in the publishing market in today's China.

Chinese readers are becoming accustomed to the fact that any book may suddenly become big, and it seems Wolf Totem could be just one of these routine miracles.

But in this case, instead of digging into the lives of media-heroes, or savoring light anecdotes by best-selling writers, they have chosen to delve into a book that seriously philosophizes and moralizes on "wolf spirit."

Wolf spirit

"When I first got the manuscript, I did not feel particularly optimistic for the book's sales," admitted Jin. "It was different from any books we have published, indeed; it is different from any books published at all in recent years.

"But the economy of the publishing industry is such that sometimes it takes singularity to win," added Jin.

To promote the book, they launched a heated debate over the main idea: there is a need for contemporary Chinese people to learn from the spirit of the wolf.

To fuel the debate, they enlisted a team of celebrities, including influential critics, star TV hosts and successful businessmen, to contribute their opinions.

A search in Google under the Chinese words "Wolf Totem" and "Jiang Rong" provides 90,000 results -- something that has never happened to any contemporary literary books in China.

The narrator

But the publisher admits: "It is true promotion that has helped, but it also has itself. With good promotion you can sell 50,000 copies, but definitely not 500,000."

Wolf Totem is narrated by Chen Zhen, a young man in his 20s. During the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), Chen leaves his birthplace Beijing and settles in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. There he becomes intrigued by the dramatically different ethos of the steppe.

As he quickly finds out, "in the Mongolian steppe, wolves hold a strange relationship with human beings. Only after one understands can he possibly know the mysterious steppe and the local people."

The animal has made the steppe its home since primeval times. Unfolding under Chen's first-hand, vivid and sympathetic documentation, readers get a profound insight into the animal's uninterrupted existence on the steppe and its near-extinction at the hands of man. Well-known writer Zhang Kangkang said: "The book is a feast of rich, engaging literary details."

There are dozens of dramatic stories about survival, loyalty and sacrifice of wolves. Jiang interweaves a lot of scholarly research on ancient steppe nomadic peoples and their wolf totem worship. He reveals many historical facts to the public for the first time.

He tells why local Mongolian herdsmen see the wolves as the chosen sons of Tengger, or the sky -- the supreme power in the cosmos.

He describes how they are considered the embodiment of all the features that any creatures, including man, should possess in order to earn a dignified survival in the harsh environment.

Superior in wit, grit and patience, they are aggressive, relentless, and intractable. On the other hand, they always play by the rules of the game, killing only when hungry, as the maintenance of a wholesome steppe society mandates, and preparing at any time to sacrifice for its team.

As Chen says, "they arouse both awe and respect in their rivals."

Wolf Totem affects different groups of readers in different ways. Some are deeply touched because it is a sad eulogy in memory of the disappeared primitive steppe and its noble inhabitant, which has been the spiritual totem for the nomadic Mongolians since time immemorial.

Local herdsmen believe the animal helped maintain a balanced ecosystem.

"Tengger sends the wolf to guard the grassland from being overgrazed by small animals," old herdsman Bilige repeatedly tells Chen.

But nobody involved in a large-scale wolf-killing campaign knows how true the warning is. In fact, once the species disappeared, the steppe's deterioration was fast.

In the book, the author constantly draws parallels between the wolf and the Mongolian herdsmen, who are the descendants of Genghis Khan -- the military chief whose empire is still the largest in world history.

"Wolf Band (Canglang Yuedui) thanks Wolf Totem for evoking those lonely, weeping cries from the depths of lost memory," says Tengger, a famous Mongolian singer and head of a band of Mongolian musicians.

Jiang's tales and research have appealed to many young readers. "Jiang's portrait of wolves and the nomadic Mongolian people seems most appealing to me," said Fu Jun, a young IT employee.

"They are die-hard soldiers, always fighting to the last drop of blood.

"Really we should transplant some of their intractable quality to us, so that in some fields, such as football, we can beat others instead of being beaten."

But other readers may become frustrated with Jiang's persistent preaching.

Jiang argues that agriculture has made people adopt what he calls a "sheep-like temperament."

"They are tame, meek and passive, doomed to be beaten and bullied. On the other hand, the nomadic steppe people have guts and bones just like the wolf."

Not surprisingly, Jiang's preaching has drawn all kinds of counter arguments.

Zhang Qianyi, a Hong Kong-based critic, said: "I think the author's view on history is too simplified."

In business circles, where so much of today's fiercest hunting takes place, the book has been embraced.

Like the Mongolian herdsmen in the book who call the wolf their teacher, modern business executives say the animal's hunting technique is very instructive.

"Through the book we know that wolves are excellent military directors," said Zhang Ruimin, CEO of Haier Group, the Shandong-based electric company.

"They never fight an unprepared battle and they know how to stalk, ambush, besiege, and intercept.

"They always choose the best time to attack. They wait patiently and preserve energy. When its prey would have the most difficulty escaping, they would attack suddenly and catch them off-guard.

"But the most praiseworthy quality is that they always fight together as a team."

Since Wolf Totem was published, four books have emerged teaching people how to win business competition with a wolf-like strategy.

Passionate writer

So far Jiang has shunned all media interviews except one. In this, with Beijing Youth Daily, the anonymous 58-year-old author admitted he is a political economy professor working at a university in Beijing.

From 1967 to 1978, he lived on the Inner Mongolian steppe for 11 years.

He also admits he is the archetype of the hero in Wolf Totem.

Jiang said he prepared for the book for 25 years, then spent six years writing it.

"It was a huge, onerous project," he said. Many critics praised his scholarly endeavor. "The book is both a fiction and a brilliant anthropological monograph," said the active critic Meng Fanhua, among similar acclamations from other critics.

But some critics argue that sometimes the book's literary and scholarly value is marred by the author's inclination to sermonize. "Sometimes the book seems less like a fully-fledged novel than a didactic thesis. The hero seems less like a real person than a mouthpiece for the author's own opinions," said columnist Zhang Ruixi.

(China Daily December 14, 2004)