Author Gao Mantang topped the list of China's richest scriptwriters with earnings estimated at 22.5 million yuan ($3.6 million) in 2014.

The list was released on Tuesday, as a sub-list of the China's Richest Writers List.

Chen Tong took second with 16 million yuan. Lin Heping came in third with 15.8 million yuan.

This is Gao's second time in the top spot during the two years the screenwriter list has been published. The 59-year-old mostly writes for TV series. One of his most popular works is Chuang Guan Dong (Exploring the Northeast), which tells the story of a large family's journey as refugees to northeastern China in the early 1900s.

Chen is an unexpected winner who didn't make last year's list. The 46-year-old author's hit TV series Lihun Lyushi (Divorce Lawyer) lifted her into the second place.

Thirty scriptwriters made this year's list - double 2013's number. But the threshold wasn't lowered. Lu Wei, who took last place on this year's list, earned 3.5 million yuan - 500,000 yuan more than Li Qiang, when Li took the bottom slot in 2013.

Only three of the list's scriptwriters write for movies. The rest mostly work in TV.

Zou Jingzhi, the screenwriter for Zhang Yimou's film Coming Home, came in ninth this year with 10 million yuan. Yu Baimei, the screenwriter for Fen Shou Da Shi (The Breakup Guru), ranked 19th.

More than a third of the writers on this year's list are older than 60.

Zhang Jia is the youngest at 28. She mostly writes family dramas and took 15th place.

The list reveals the popularity of TV series about war and family dramas.

Liu Heping, scriptwriter of Bei-ping Wu Zhanshi (All Quiet in Peking) - a 53-episode spy serial about espionage between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party before New China's 1949 founding - earned 13 million yuan and ranked sixth.

The China's Richest Writers List has been released annually since 2006. Last year was the first time it included the scriptwriter sub-list. The list is the brainchild of 30-year-old former journalist Wu Huaiyao, who founded his own company to promote reading and writing.

xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 12/17/2014 page8)