China: Book fans plan mountain trek for fictional event

Fans will be searching the mountains for a bronze door which probably doesn't exist

Fans of a Chinese novel series are planning to trek into the mountains in search of a fictional character, it's reported.

They're heading into the Changbai mountain range, on China's border with North Korea, because of an event described in the hugely popular nine-book series The Grave Robbers' Chronicles, the Xinhua news agency reports. In one book, a key character goes through a bronze door in the mountains on 17 August 2005, apparently to protect a family secret, and tells his friend to come and take his place exactly 10 years later.

Local travel agents say they're seeing a spike in tourist numbers, with one tour manager telling Xinhua that more than 300 fans have signed up for trips into the area. That's causing alarm for the books' author, Xu Lei, who is imploring fans to stay put for their own safety, and for the sake of the local environment.

But the fan base remains determined. "I am still going, my tickets are all booked," writes one person on the Sina Weibo social network, where a million comments have been posted about the fictional event. "Travel is already arranged, fear will not call me back, there's no time," says another. But many comments side with the author, with one user telling fans: "You cannot go for your own selfish desires and let Changbai face environmental ruin. I'm not an unimaginative person, I just want you all to be safe." Plenty of others are just baffled by the goings on. "We all like this book, rational behaviour is OK," says one woman. "But it's like a lot of people have joined a cult."

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