Famine turns to feast for Chinese readers

"Writers like Hessler, Dunlop and Michael Meyer, who wrote The Last Days of Old Beijing, observe Chinese society, people, cities and culture through foreign eyes, providing very different but interesting perspectives for us to understand China in a broader sense," Zhang said.

When Zhang, a philosophy graduate, joined the Shanghai Translation Publishing House in 2003, he started editing books on 20th century Western philosophy for the Black Cover Series.

In 2006, the company changed its strategy and decided to target a wider market.

Zhang had always been interested in Hessler's writing for The New Yorker magazine, and when the author finally decided to publish his books in Chinese, Zhang approached him, and the books have sold well.

"I love River Town the most because it is well written. Its style is unique. Through the descriptions of details in Chinese people's daily lives, you can see the changes that have taken place in China in the past three decades, which I think is also why Chinese people like him," he said.

In the company's Nonfiction Series, Zhang and his colleagues later published more books, not only about China, but also on topics such as public health systems, loneliness in modern society, and aging problems "in which we can learn from Japan", Zhang said.

Unlike Zhang, 30-year-old Gu Zhen is a newcomer to the Shanghai Translation Publishing House, working in the literature office. Gu joined the company in 2013, and apart from editing books, he writes a column for the Shanghai Book Review, and also translates books.