Over the years, a few Chinese books have made the international bestseller lists, including Adeline Yen Mah's Falling Leaves and Jung Chang's Wild Swans. Both authors were based in the West, and wrote about their painful memories of China in a style that has been described as "scar literature." Western readers have responded most to this kind of Chinese fiction, written from a single perspective and focused on a narrative of struggle. More recently, Wei Hui's Shanghai Baby novel about hard-partying youth in the 1990s Shanghai enjoyed popularity overseas, a success that has in part been driven by its ban in China; Western editions explicitly advertise the book's verboten status at home.

Chinese fiction's slow start in the Western market has been attributed to differences in perspective and focus among Chinese writers.

Duncan Jepson, a founding member of the Asia Literary Review, believes that Wang Shuo's Playing for Thrills never caught on in the West because the author's writing style meandered, and focused less on individual characters. Western readers prefer a more specific perspective, and a linear narrative.

Western literature has also often taken for granted the reader's default view of the importance of personal freedom. The most popular Chinese novels are written in a style that reflects a significant difference in the way Chinese culture views story-telling, personal narrative and the role of the individual. For many Western readers, that gap can be hard to overcome.

Books about China from a Western perspective (written by English-speaking writers for an English-reading audience) have been popular over the last decade. But the focus on Western perspectives on China - as opposed to Chinese perspectives on their own country - is limiting, Jepson believes.

A number of publishing companies and publications are doing their best to translate the best of what Chinese literature has to offer. Penguin China has published around four Chinese titles in English each year since its founding in 2005.