Wei Hoi's semi-autobiographical novel "Shanghai Baby", published in early 1999, caused a sensation in China - before the book was banned in April of that year for "decadence and subservience to Western culture", it sold 110,000 books. Official propaganda placed the novel between Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Hollander's The Happy Whore, also banned in China. The 40,000 books that had not yet been sold were burned and the publishing house was closed. The book continued to be distributed throughout the country in pirated copies. The twenty-seven-year-old writer gained worldwide fame. The novel "Baby from Shanghai" has been translated into 21 languages and published in many countries around the world.