There is an old Chinese saying that you can find golden treasures in books. Teachers and parents love to tell this to their children to convince them that studying is the best ticket to a rich and prosperous career.
I always thought this was a symbolic expression. But my recent shopping experience at some mainland bookstores showed the idiom is probably true in the literal sense.
Perching high on the shelves, there are volumes of glittering classics with solid gold bindings and covers, and gold-leaf pages. Adverts for them are everywhere.
Only a handful of titles are deemed suitable for such extravagant publication, including The Thoughts of Chairman Mao and The PLA Marshals on the Art of War.
If you ever doubt that anyone would pay up to 22,600 yuan for these unwieldy tomes, cast your suspicions aside. They sold like hot cakes, so to speak, during the Lunar New Year holiday.
So who are these free-spending bookworms? I found the answer to that question in the footnotes of the advertisement: 'A suitable gift for your friend working in politics.'