200 years on: Jane Austen still popular in China

A still of "Sense and Sensibility" directed by Ang Lee. [Photo/VCG]

Meng said Austen's stories were filled with critical realism and satirized the seemingly insurmountable social ladder barricades for marriage seekers in the British society at the time. Still, those hurdles could give way to love eventually.

"I feel that the most appealing part of her novel is the emotional depiction of the protagonist – delicate and tender such as Elizabeth in 'Pride and Prejudice'. Austen presents the figure as a character of high self-esteem and unwilling to compromise, which is timeless".