Pirated best seller ‘Paradise Lost’ popular in China
BEIJING, Aug. 4 Kyodo
Two pirated editions of the Japanese best-selling book ”Paradise Lost” have become popular in China as they include the sexual descriptions of the original book, according to the China Law Daily.
The novel’s author, Junichi Watanabe, authorized two Chinese publishers to distribute translations of his book, but these do not include the sexual descriptions. Versions in Hong Kong, however, are complete translations.
The authorized publishers emphasized their needs to remove some parts of the original to ”adjust to readers in mainland China,” even though they published complete versions for the Hong Kong market, the daily reported Monday.
The pirated versions are based on the Hong Kong books.
”Paradise Lost,” first published in February 1997, has sold more than 2.6 million copies in Japan and has been later made into a movie and TV drama. The novel describes an extramarital love affair which leads to two lovers committing suicide.
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