It was a happy moment for the Chinese public when author Mo Yan, winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, received the award from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony for 2012 started at 4.30 p.m. Monday local time in the Stockholm Concert Hall. At the event, Mo was given the the Nobel diploma, medal and a document confirming the prize amount.

In his speech at the ceremony, Mo said receiving the prize "feels like a fairy tale, but of course it is true."

Liu Shabai, vice chairman of Hunan TV and Broadcast Intermediary Corporation, hailed the event as "an historic moment for Chinese literature."

Mo's award fills the blank left by Chinese literature in the world literary history, said Huang Jiren, honorary president of the Chongqing Municipality branch of the China Writers Association.

"Congratulations to Mo Yan, for he is a great author who persists with his efforts to restore the honor of the novel, depicts the struggle and love of 'nobodies' facing brutality and cherishes immense sympathy and tenderness for man's destiny," netizen "Kongxingjushi" wrote in an entry on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging service.

Meanwhile, Monday's Nobel awards ceremony set off another buying rush on Mo's works among Chinese readers.

According to Dangdang.com, China's leading online book retailer, Mo's latest novel, "Frog," has topped bestseller lists for the past 24 hours and the past 30 days.

Two versions of his famous novel "Big Breasts and Wide Hips" were released by different publishers, and both versions are also holding steady on top ten lists.