Time was, Chinese novels were printed on toilet-paper with B-grade water-colour paintings for a cover. Everyone from the "Bak-Chang" uncle at the pasar-malam to the taxi-drivers along Jalan Hugh Low could read them. Time now, you had large-print hardcovers with variant covers depicting pugilistic heroes drawn to look like Taiwanese boy-bands. Problem was, people stopped reading. The books no longer fed the imagination of the masses or inspired them to greater things. The books are now collector's items. Bought but hardly read. Used to be you could rent these things (or sometimes steal them) from 2nd-hand bookshops. Me? I'm looking for a weekend buried under tons of Chinese pulp. Maybe find my Oriental soul again..... ?!?
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