Longest novel in China focuses on 4.5 million people

A Chinese man has written the country's longest novel that encompasses an astounding 4.5 million people, runs into 10 volumes and took 22 years to finish.

Novelist Zhang Wei's "You Are on the Highland" has sold 500,000 copies, Xinhua reported.

The novel, which won the Mao Dun Literature Prize in 2011, deals with social changes China has experienced in the last century through stories centred around characters born in the 1950s.

"This is my most complicated work," Zhang said.

"The novel's strong sales are not accidental and should be attributed to its quality," said He Jianming, head of the Writers Publishing House that published the novel.