Three high times

But except for low points in Sino-Russian relations, Russian and Soviet literature was top choice in the Chinese literary scene in the early 1900s, the 1950s and the 1980s.

"It's more like a natural option for Chinese readers," said researcher Liu, "because they feel they can sympathize with Russian literature that is educational, understandable and is about 'us' people but not 'them' higher classes."

Liu added that Chinese read French literature for the plot, while reading Russian works for guidance in life.

Since Alexander Pushkin's novel The Captain's Daughter was published in China in 1903, Russian literature has proven popular in the country.

Writer Lu Xun described Russian literature as "weapons for the rising slaves". He even borrowed a Nikolai Gogol book title for his celebrated novel Diary of A Madman.

Lu, together with other literary masters of China - Guo Moruo, Ba Jin and Mao Dun - were also translators and fans of the powerful literature.

"Russian literature played the role of one of the three thoughts that shaped China's enlightening May Fourth Movement in 1919, which shaped contemporary Chinese culture," Liu said.

Following the founding of the People's Republic of China, Sino-Soviet relations enjoyed a honeymoon in the 1950s.

At the time, Russian was the top foreign language in schools. Many Chinese people read Soviet literature, and gained knowledge of other culture and literature via the Russian language.

According to Chen Jianhua, with East China Normal University, 3,526 titles of more than 1,000 Russian and Soviet writers were published from 1949 to 1958. The 82 million copies amounted to three-quarters of all published translated works.

Zhang, of the People's Literature Publishing House, said that half of the editors at the time worked in the Russian section.

Chen Fumin, veteran critic of Chinese contemporary literature with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, views the close ties of the two countries' literature in the context of their shared paths of development.

"Chinese writers always find that the most efficient ways of expressing their observation and values is through Russian ways, instead of Western post-modernist approaches," Chen said.

By Russian ways, Chen means the realistic approaches and the focus on the country's basic missions: national awareness, liberation and social transformation.

Returning to literature

While 3,000 Chinese are studying Russian literature, and more than 20 publishing houses are presenting 100 titles of new translations into Chinese, people feel that the enthusiasm for Russian literature is ebbing, Liu said.

But Russian literature researcher Liu argued that the apparent decline in interest is actually a return to normal.

"We see Russian literature is developing, in a sense that it appeals to no national political propaganda, nor appeals to Western taste," Liu said.

With that, the Chinese view Russian literature with a less ideological bent and more on its aesthetic value, he added.

Editor Zhang, who published several works of Russia's younger writers, hopes to see more concern for national fate in Chinese young writers, as the Russians do.

The enduring charm of Russian literature on Chinese minds is the reason that many Chinese lamented Boris Vasilyev's death in mid-March.

Chinese publishers are planning this year to print more of the writer's The Dawns Here Are Quiet.

Chen Jianhua with East China Normal University, and Zhang Xiaoqiang with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences contributed to this story.

meijia@chinadaily.com.cn