Popular parenting author Yin Jianli reflects on her success

Five years ago Yin Jianli released her first book, A Good Mum Is Better Than a Good Teacher, and won over the hearts of millions of Chinese middle-class parents with the message that a child's character mattered more than academic scores. The 50-year-old former Beijing public-school teacher encourages children to challenge authority and urges parents to give them more freedom and trust. Yin's second book, The Best Education Is the Simplest, was published last month. Wearing a dark and understatedly elegant dress, Yin spoke to the Sunday Morning Post in a quiet corner of a Beijing coffee house, where she shared her vision for education.

My first book has sold 5.5 million copies in mainland China alone and was also introduced to Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand, bringing worldwide sales to nearly six million. Normally a book that sells 200,000 copies is regarded as super-popular. My publishers told me that they would need more than 300 five-tonne trucks to carry five million books. The [secret is the] content. My book is more famous than I am. I was little-known when the book was published. But its revolutionary content makes people rethink education.

My first book was mainly based on my own experiences, where I focused on conveying messages about proper parenting techniques. In my second book, I aim to address the pitfalls and misconceptions people face in parenting. Of course, I wasn't just critical about the problems, but sought to give practical solutions. The book was so titled because I found many parents have become too nervous and made parenting an overly complicated matter. I hope my readers can grasp the core messages in my book that promotes the simple ways of education. Writing my second book has been painful. I had to restrict my desire for expression and be very picky about the massive [amount of] information at hand. I wanted my book to be very readable, simple and concise. That took tremendous effort.