The problem is novel had not been a highly regarded form of art until the turn of twenty century. In the first half of the last century, when the country suffered never ending civil wars and foreign invasion, writers were often urged to come up with patriotic novels instead of romantic ones. Added into this is the less freedom women enjoyed than their counterparts in the west in this period. So it’s no surprise that there was no Jane Austen kind of figure in early Chinese literature.

But if you don’t mind the gender, Lin Yutang’s (林语堂) Moment in Peking (京华烟云), about a big family in early twenty century Peking (Beijing) is a good read, and it was written in English by the author.

For English readers, some of Eileen Chang’s novels have been translated into English, like Lust, Caution (色戒), Love in the Fallen City (倾城之恋), The Rouge of North (怨女), Written on Water (流言). She also wrote in English such as the novel The Rice Sprout Song. I haven’t seen any English translation of Qiong Yao, Yi Shu, and Zhang Xiaoxian’s novels.

Brontë sisters and Jane Austen are equally, if not more, popular in China than in the English speaking world. The most popular Jane Eyre adaption in China, the 1970 version starring Susannah York and George Scott, was dubbed into Chinese and watched by millions people in late 70s, at the time when the country was just starting to recover from the shock of Cultural Revolution. The possibility of passionate love, in the guise of rebellion against social classes, was slipped into the mind of a whole generation.

Last month in Chinese National Day Celebration at Edinburgh Festival Theatre, one programme was an act by two performers who re-enacted the scene when Jane Eyre finally expresses her love to Mr Rochester, not the actual movie scene, but the dubbed dialog in Chinese. It received wild cheers.

Of course the new generations are spoiled with more imports from the US, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and lately Korea, however, English dramas still maintain their attraction, not only for their renowned high quality, but also for the unique settings. I watched Robert Powell’s The Thirty Nine Steps (1978) — it may be less well known in the UK, but in China it’s the most famous adaption, and was forever fascinated by British railway and the Big Ben clock. I still remember my excitment the first time I boarded a ’slam-door’ railway carriage, which appears in many British movies but does not exist in China.

Britain for some Chinese is a place as exotic as China for some British people. In the forseeable future, more and more Chinese people will find it’s affordable to visit the place to ’see where the story happens’. So show them good movies, and they will come.