Stores offer refund for book in question

• Source: Global Times
• [09:15 June 01 2010]
• Comments

A man reads about food nutrition, a popular subject amongst Chinese, at the Shanghai Bookstore Monday on Fuzhou Road. Photo: Cai Xianmin

By Zhang Cao

With shops nationwide pulling Zhang Wuben's book off store shelves, one of the top bookstores in the city is trying to make amends with disappointed customers by offering them a refund on their purchase that was last week said by the government to be full of nothing more than hot air.

The Shanghai Bookstore is following the suit of the Shanghai Bookuu Bookstore, which started on the weekend reimbursing customers who bought Eat Out the Diseases You Have Eaten. The move comes after Zhang, the author, has been found guilty of falsely doctoring his identity as both a nutritionist and an expert in traditional Chinese medicine.

"If you still have your receipt and the DVD that came with it, we will happily give you a full refund at any of our stores," a manager surnamed Jiang from the Shanghai Bookstore told the Global Times Monday.

The Shanghai Bookstore on Fuzhou Road in Huangpu district, one of the chain store's most popular of 10 stores, has sold some 3,000 copies of the best-seller since last year, according to Jiang.

The company decided to remove the 35-yuan ($5) book from shelves as a precautionary measure after the government heavily criticized its contents, she added.

"But it will come at a great cost to us as the publisher has not agreed to compensate us for any of the losses," she said. "They still defend Zhang, saying that it is a good book."

Meanwhile, as the Press and Publications Administration, the government body overseeing the matter, continues to remain silent about whether bookstores should stop selling the book altogether, the Shanghai Bookuu Bookstore has already refunded some 30 customers over the past three days.

"Actually I heard that a lot of readers still want to keep the book even though Zhang has been called a liar," Zhu Bing from the Shanghai Bookuu Bookstore, which has two stores in the city, told the Global Times Monday. "I don't think many more plan on returning the book, so we probably won't lose that much money."

Other bookstores around the city contacted by the Global Times Monday also said that few customers had come looking to return the book since the news of Zhang surfaced.

"I think the book is pretty good because it explains the profound theories of traditional Chinese medicine in everyday language." Hang Fangfang, a 56-year-old Shanghai reader, told the Global Times Monday. "The treatment method Zhang mentions in his book could also have some scientific validity."

Zhang rose to fame overnight at the end of last year following the release of his book that claimed many of the world's most widespread chronic illnesses including high blood pressure and diabetes could be cured by eating copious amounts of mung beans and eggplant.

It was last Friday when the Ministry of Health called Zhang out, saying that his claims are without support from traditional Chinese experts or medical professionals.

Zhang, however, currently faces no penalty from the government for his actions.