“Liu Zhenyun’s works have achieved great success with the Chinese people. They have been translated into over 20 languages and enthusiastically received by audiences the world over. A pioneer in magical realism, Liu is also considered by many to be China’s greatest humorist.”
— Award ceremony, Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (France)

"Liu Zhenyun establishes a narrative form that is complicated yet concise, and his works are endowed with cultural and philosophical significance. Traversing the rise and fall of all living things in this vast world of ours, he offers an exquisite analysis of the spiritual conditions of the Chinese people. In his tireless examination of Chinese style and the Chinese heart, he carries on the spirit of critical reflection from the May Fourth era, while at the same time echoing the traditions of classical literature. The results are original and remarkable.”
— on Someone to Talk To, 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize

“Liu Zhenyun’s works chatter on pleasantly, yet they also carry a powerful force, writing about anything from national affairs to folk customs and handling complicated matters with ease. Everything is vivid and lifelike, from the grandest temple to the pettiest squabble, with rich layers of meaning lying beneath the surface. His pen is ruthless, but his heart is kind.”
— on I am Not Madame Bovary, 8th China Film Directors’ Guild Awards

“His works are literary and philosophical, while at the same time very readable--a rare combination.”
— Sabina Knight, professor and author of Chinese Literature: A Very Short Introduction

“Liu Zhenyun uses humor to reach the absurdity at the heart of the matter.”
— Michael Kahn-Ackermann, German translator

“Liu Zhenyun’s humor is just a mask; behind it is serious thought.”
— Anna Gustafsson Chen, Swedish translator

“Liu Zhenyun provides incredibly piercing, insightful descriptions of the awkward circumstances of life and humanity.”
— Liljana Arsovska, Mexican translator

If someone asked me to recommend a Chinese novel, I would definitely suggest one of Liu Zhenyun’s. After reading his works, I gained an understanding of the complicated inner world of the Chinese people, while at the same time laughing more than I have reading any other Chinese author’s writing.
— Ahmed El-Saeed, Egyptian translator

★ Author Liu Zhenyun is one of China's most internationally influential contemporary writers, hailed as 'China's Kafka'!
His works have been translated into over 30 languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Arabic, Japanese, and Korean. To date, his books have sold over 15 million copies in China. He won the Mao Dun Literature Prize (China's highest literary honor) in 2011 for Someone to Talk To and was awarded France's Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (one of France's highest cultural honors) in 2018!

★ Multiple Film Adaptations with Global Festival Reach.
Many of his novels have been adapted into films, premiering at major international festivals including the San Sebastián, Toronto, and Berlin International Film Festivals. Films based on his works have won over 50 awards. Screenings of Back to 1942, I Am Not Madame Bovary, and Someone to Talk To toured 7 European countries, sparking enthusiastic reactions from local readers and audiences!

★ The Latest Major Novel from a Master of Chinese Literature.
This is Liu Zhenyun's first new novel in 4 years, a significant work that immediately became a heavyweight title in the Chinese literary market upon release - A No.1 Bestseller on Dangdang (China's Amazon)! It continues his classic style of 'writing about ordinary people', using sharp, humorous prose to dissect the truth of common survival.

★ Capturing a Universal Anxieties.
The novel precisely captures the collective anxiety of modern people facing professional upheaval, sudden fateful changes, and spiritual dilemmas. Oscillating between "joke" and "seriousness", "bustle" and "loneliness", it questions how an individual copes with abrupt turns of fate, exploring wisdom for living in an age of uncertainty. It highly resonates with global social pain points like precarity, stalled social mobility, and psychological pressure.

★ For Readers Who Loved...
If you or your readers were moved by the entanglements of fate in The Kite Runner, smiled at the mundane affairs in Miguel Street, or savored the restrained emotion in Kazuo Ishiguro's works, then Liu Zhenyun's new masterpiece Salty Jokes will deliver an equally sophisticated and unique reading experience.

Are things in the world born naturally? No, things in the world happen suddenly."
This is Du Taibai's inner monologue.

In middle age, three seemingly accidental upheavals strike in succession, twisting the trajectory of his life.
From middle school teacher to master of ceremonies for weddings and funerals, to a street vendor—these jokes life plays transform Du Taibai from one person into another, and then into a third.

He wants to say, "This is all a huge misunderstanding," but life keeps serving him "salty jokes": his explanations drown in public opinion, his efforts are mocked by reality, his life seems tied with one unsolvable Gordian knot after another. Yet he isn't crushed by these ordeals—seeing the absurdity of the rules without being bound by them, tasting life's bitterness yet still engaging with passion, he hones the survival wisdom to navigate fate through laughter, anger, and satire.

At the novel's end, Du Taibai's tears flow into his mouth. He savors the taste and finds it salty.
He thinks: "Many jokes in this world are destined to be finished with tears".

Liu Zhenyun writes in the closing: On streets all over the world, everyone walking carries wounds inside. We've all worked hard. He dedicates Salty Jokes to everyone living earnestly amidst fate's "jokes".

Liu Zhenyun

Born in 1958 in Henan, China, Liu Zhenyun graduated from the Chinese Department of Peking University and is currently a professor at Renmin University of China's School of Liberal Arts. He is a foundational figure and representative writer of the "Neo-realism" movement in contemporary Chinese literary history, renowned for his profound insight into real life, unique satirical humor, and deep connection to his native soil.

Liu Zhenyun is a writer of world renown, often called "China's Kafka." He won the 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2011 for his novel Someone to Talk To and was awarded France's Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2018. His works have been systematically translated and introduced globally, published in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Czech, Dutch, Russian, Hungarian, Serbian, Turkish, Romanian, Polish, Macedonian, Hebrew, Persian, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Mongolian, Kazakh, Nepali, Uyghur, and many other languages. To date, his books have sold over 15 million copies in China.

English translations of his major works—including Cell Phone, I Did Not Kill My Husband, The Cook, the Crook, and the Real Estate Tycoon, Remembering 1942, and Someone to Talk To—have been published by the renowned translator duo Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin. His works have also been adapted into several highly influential films, such as Back to 1942 and I Am Not Madame Bovary, which have won numerous international awards.

His writing consistently focuses on the spiritual history of ordinary Chinese people. With a sharp literary eye, he extracts eternal philosophical contemplations on existence, loneliness, and human connection from the "messy daily trivialities." Salty Jokes is the latest chapter in his literary universe, distilling a lifetime of observation and wisdom.