At the moment, one of the biggest selling books in China is written under a pen name. The 650-page WOLF TOTEM is written by someone calling himself Jiang Rong, and since 2004, the pseudonymous author has won many prizes for what Der Spiegel calls "his crude combination of autobiography, animal stories and ethnological observations of the Mongolian plains." The book has spawned several imitators which are more favorable to the Chinese government, who may not like the book's success but can't do much to stop it.

So is he real, or a hoax a la John Twelve Hawks? The paper managed to track down the 60-year old author who shuns marketing and refuses to divulge his true identity. Part of it's due to his 2-year jail stint in the wake of Tianamen Square, and he is still prohibited from teaching or leaving the country.

No wonder he balked at any publicity for the article. "Photos?" -- No, not for publication, just for memories, he says. "I hate all the hype. I almost had a heart attack just writing the thing."