Feature: Fresh face of Obama attracts many Chinese fans

Over the past three decades, Sino-U.S. relations have made significant progress. The Law Press bought the copyright of Obama's autobiography, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, with "a small amount of money" at the end of 2007 when not many people in China thought optimistically about Obama's future in the campaign.

"His autobiography is beautiful," said Han Manchun, an editor with the Press, "and it demonstrates Obama's ability to take greater responsibilities. But to be frank, even I myself did not think he would win when we were working on his book."

However, it has proved to be a wise choice. Some 35,000 copies of the first edition of its Chinese version were sold out as soon as they hit the shelves and the book has been reprinted five times and more than 100,000 copies have been sold to date, said Han.

Obama, known as an Internet president, also gained popularity among Chinese Internet users. His victory speech has been translated not only into modern Chinese but also into graceful ancient Chinese prose, which has been widely read and spread on the Internet.

His Chinese fans have been discussing on the Internet how he would dress for the inauguration, how the White House would be redecorated, as well as his China policy.

Zhang Kai, professor of the Communication University of China, said quite a few of her students love Obama simply because of his smile. "It has nothing to do with politics," she said, "I also think he is charming."

Zhang said that personal charisma helps Obama to gain many supporters, who might be first attracted by his appearance, and then started to learn his policies.