Western pop culture has been a global phenomenon ever since the 1960s. But while posters of the Beatles dominated the bedroom walls of European and American teenagers then, they were barely heard of in China. China was left out of the pop culture scene, but that is all beginning to change with a new British idol who has proved overwhelmingly popular with the Chinese youth.

Forget Lennon and McCartney, and Beatlemania, in China it is time for Pottermania. Harry Potter books have proven incredibly popular among China's youth and the craze looks like continuing.

"I have the whole series of Harry Potter books. I treasure them so much that I wash my hands thoroughly every time before I open them," said Yue Yan, a six-grade student in a primary school from Fujian Province.

Yue is an avid fan of Harry Potter novels, written by the Scottish author J.K. Rowling. For those yet to hear about the global phenomenon that is Harry Potter, her books tell stories about the magical adventures of a boy wizard who attends a wonderful school for wizards.

"I have read every Porter book so attentively because I'm afraid to miss a single word of it," said the primary student, adding that she becomes totally immersed in the story and forgets about everything in the real world as she reads them.

The first Harry Potter book, published in 1997, paved the way for Pottermania around the globe once it was translated into 60 different languages including Hindi and Greek, and continued to sell tens of millions of copies as well as being made into a box office smash.

Big welcome

The enchanting Harry stories fascinated Chinese readers too the moment they made their way to the country's bookshelves in October 2000, courtesy of the People's Literature Publishing House.

"Children's literature in China is too earnest. Things that inspire the imagination are too few. Bringing Harry Potter to China is a kind of breakthrough,'' said Ma Ainong, one of four translators, all women, who worked on the first three Harry Potter books--Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Eight months after the books were published, statistics showed that about 1.5 million copies had been sold across the country. The fourth, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, broke records in 2001 selling 160,000 copies throughout China within its first week. The fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix brought in sales worth 5.9 million yuan in 2004.

"I very much like his strong character [Harry Potter], his persistence and passion. I wish I could have as much courage as he does so that I would not be afraid of confronting the challenges in my life," said Yue, explaining why she enjoys the stories.

Some experts have attributed the success of the Harry Potter stories to several reasons. Above all, fantasy appears the most striking factor, they say. From oddly shaped jellybeans to dragon's eggs hatched on the hearth, J. K. Rowling exerts her fascinating imagination to create a realistic world of wizards.

"It is more than a book about magic," said Liu Yushan, President of the People's Literature Publishing House. "The human elements of the story have touched many Chinese readers."

Suspense has also helped to make the Harry Potter series a bestseller. Secrets emerge, followed by revelations that actually produce new secrets. The books are also written in a humorous way, which is another selling point that has helped them achieve such unprecedented success.

Surprisingly, although the Harry Potter series was originally written for children, it has attracted fans from a wide age range including children, teenagers and even adults.

"I think the stories are quite imaginative, and have exciting plots. What's more important, they remind me of the dreams of my childhood-having the ability to fly freely in the sky," said Zhao Hejia, 24, an arts editor who works in a Beijing company.

According to a survey on Douban.com, a popular Chinese website that is devoted to sharing books, music and movies, the majority of readers fall between the ages of 14 and 24.

"Though I'm about to turn 30 I'm not afraid to say that I'm a true Harry Potter fan, because I don't think there's an age limitation for being a fan of him," said a post on a Harry Potter featured Internet forum.

This adult fascination with the books, according to Zheng Richang, a psychologist at Beijing Normal University, is compensation for things that they have not achieved in their childhood, which is the same reason why some adults like to watch cartoons or buy toys for themselves.

An open mind

The popularity of Harry Potter is just a small part of a globalization trend that has been exerting an ever-greater influence on the material and spiritual life of the Chinese people, especially the younger generation, as the country's economy has gone into overdrive.

Today in China's Internet sphere, one can easily find fan groups focused on global culture, including Hollywood movies, American television dramas, Japanese cartoons and comic books, and Korean food and clothing. In fact China has in every respect caught the global pop culture bug.

Last year, a China youth development report by the China Youth and Children Research Center (CYCRC) said that globalization holds considerable influence over China's youth culture and consumption. Half of China's youth would pick Western television shows as their first choice for entertainment, the report said.

"It's a good thing that the forms of leisure and entertainment for China's youth are becoming more diversified thanks to the deepening of globalization," said Sun Yunxiao, Director of the CYCRC.

Apart from the enriched leisure and entertainment products brought by the progress of globalization, Chinese youth also are interested in serious subjects like philosophy. Big names such as Edward Said, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault and Susan Sontag are gaining more recognition with them.

"I'm pondering on how we should see the cruel and disturbing truth hidden in the past and to be presented in the future," said a netizen under the Internet ID Knight in a Susan Sontag fan club, after reading her classic work Regarding the Pain of Others.

Deepening globalization has stirred worry that Chinese traditional culture may be marginalized. Chinese youth are gradually being "Westernized," and their cultural roots are being "alienated," some experts have warned.

However others contend that it is unnecessary to be concerned. They cited a survey in 2006 on young people's attitudes toward Chinese traditional culture and globalization. The respondents, who were selected from Peking University, Tsinghua University and Renmin University of China, showed support for their traditions and 54 percent said they agreed that globalization did not necessarily conflict with Chinese traditional culture, but could in fact coexist with it. Only 10 percent said they believed globalization would lead to the death of Chinese traditions.