Richest Chinese writers of 2012 released

We've seen two of the authors on the Richest Writers List, but who are the other ones? The List of Richest Chinese Writers was first released in 2006. And every year it has caused quite a stir in the country, especially on the Internet. This year, after the latest list was released last Thursday, it aroused an even more heated discussion as the Nobel Laureate Mo Yan reappeared on the list for the first time since 2006.

Less than two months after winning the Nobel Prize for literature, Mo Yan claimed another distinction last week: China's second-richest writer.

A surge of interest in his work at home and abroad brought the 57-year-old novelist an estimated annual royalties of 21.5 million yuan, or 3.5 million US dollars.

But the surge in book sales was not enough to beat renowned children's author, Zheng Yuanjie, who returned to the top spot with 26 million yuan in annual income, equal to about 4.3 million US dollars.

Zheng is regarded as China's answer to Hans Christian Andersen. He has created many popular fairy tale characters such as Pipilu and Shuke which has enchanted generations of teenage readers for 25 years. He has regularly featured in the top 10 since the list debuted in 2006.

Yang Hongying, who is also a well-known children's author, placed third, with 20 million yuan.

The list ranked the 30 richest Chinese writers of 2012. And it was largely dominated by authors who wrote books for teenagers.

Teenage icon Guo Jingming, who topped the 2011's list, made fourth place this year. And Han Han ranked 7th. The 29-year-old was placed second on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010.

Movie star Chen Kun ranked 30th for his book on journeys to the Tibet Autonomous Region. Chen is the first person from the showbiz to make the list.