Since TV dramas from South Korea enjoy a large fanbase in China, the clothing and hobbies of the characters portrayed in these shows often become trends. That's why I started to look for it,' Xu recalled. 'About a month ago, when I was watching Producer, the book showed up in frame. While Huang learned about the book from a friend, the 26-year-old Xu Chunyan numbers among those who discovered the book by accident. 'The book was so popular that I had to wait for half a month before it could be delivered to me,' Huang, who purchased the book on online shopping site Taobao, told the Global Times.Īt the moment, the top seller on Taobao has sold over 220,000 copies of the Chinese version of Secret Garden in a single month. Soon the book became a highly sought after item by people trying to make their way in today's rapidly developing and fiercely competitive society. The Secret Garden craze in China started about a month ago when people who had bought the book began posting that coloring in the book's illustrations was a great way to relieve stress. In fact the book is so addicting that some people have dedicated so much time to coloring that they have come close to exhaustion because they couldn't put it down. 'Although I was physically tired, I felt very satisfied when I finished,' said 34-year-old Huang Wei describing how she felt upon coloring all the pages of Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book, a hot new book that has caused the game of coloring to spread beyond children to adults in China.Ĭreated by Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford in 2013, the book of black-and-white illustrations has become an extreme hit in China this summer. Illustrations from Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book Photos: Li Hao/GT

Mystery garden coloring book