Chinese writing rates

       In China Daily Yang Guang reports on how much (or rather little) Chinese writers get paid, in Writing for their suppers.
       Apparently:

According to Regulations of Remuneration for Published Written Works, promulgated by the National Copyright Administration in 1999, the basic remuneration standard for "original works" is set at 30-100 yuan ($4.80-15.90) per 1,000 words.

       So, for example:

Mao Dun Literature Prize winner Bi Feiyu recalls he was paid 1,700 yuan ($270) for his debut novella, The Lonely Island, in 1991, which was equivalent then to what he would draw as three years' salary.

"The amount I am paid has increased, but it only equals one month's salary," he says.

       (Ah, the good old days, when $270 was equal to ... three years' salary ??!?)
       But apparently there is money to be made online -- a lot, in fact:

"Some are able to earn 10 million yuan a year," he says. "If it were not for the pirated books, they could afford helicopters."

       Since every author needs a helicopter, of course .....