BUCHAREST, Sept. 10 -- Renowned Chinese novelist Su Tong's novel, Rice, was launched here on Wednesday in one of the most popular bookshops in downtown Bucharest, capital of Romania.

Audiences with all ages and professional categories, who were interested in Chinese contemporary literature, accommodated the shop and were eager to see in person the author of two very successful books, Rice and Wives and Concubines, both of which have been translated into Romanian.

The event was organized by the Confucius Institute in Bucharest and the Oriental Languages Department of the University of Bucharest.

Luminita Balan, the Romanian co-director of the Confucius Institute in Bucharest, also the head of the Oriental Languages Department of the University of Bucharest, expressed her hope that more Chinese contemporary literature would be found on shelves in Romania.

Rice is "half history, half moral allegory, in a neo-realist style," explained Florentina Visan, a retired professor at the University of Bucharest.

The novel is "half the way between traditions and modernity, between village and town," he said, adding that it is a drama itself of the book.

Although a painter of a sad world, Su turned out to be extremely funny and warm, and the audiences enjoyed greatly from his speech.

Su told the audience that he was particularly happy to be in Romania, a country he had imagined for a long time because of the Romanian film entitled the Waves of the Danube, which he watched when he was young.

Su's deep sensibility was revealed to the audiences by his stories: "After I published the first book, I was sleeping with it under my pillow.I still remembered the smell of the ink which seemed to me the most amazing one in the world."

Su explained that some readers did not feel happy when they read his novels, "but I do not think that a writer is supposed to make readers feel well, this is the role of a tailor or a nutritionist."

At the end of the event, with Rice in their hands, the audiences queued up for Su's autographs.

Mihai, a university teacher who studied Chinese 20 years ago, confessed he came to the launching because of his lifelong passion for the Chinese culture. "I like the writer's skillfulness in describing atmospheres...and feelings...and the experience lived by people," he said.

Amedeo, a journalist, declared himself a "fan" of Su. He had all the Romanian translations of Su's books and wanted autographs on both Rice and the Wives and Concubines.