Kids from Nanchang, Jiangxi province, dress up in traditional costumes during an event of reciting works of Confucius. Zhou Chao

According to a survey by the Chengdu Commercial Daily, the top-selling Chinese writer of 2007 was Guo Jingming, a post-1980-born pulp fiction writer, while the second went to Yu Dan, a woman professor from Beijing Normal University whose Notes on The Analects of Confucius has sold millions of copies.

Yu Dan, professor from Beijing Normal University, gains great popularity for her Notes on The Analects of Confucius. Dai Wenxue

Yu's book was based on her lectures, The Analects of Confucius on CCTV, a great TV hit of 2006. While Yu contributed to the ongoing Confucius craze, she also benefits financially from it. The Chengdu Commercial Daily estimated her royalty from Notes on The Analects of Confucius to be nearly 7 million yuan ($980,000).

Aside from Yu's book, Confucius, the Chinese philosopher and educator who lived from 551 BC to 479 BC, is being revived in many other aspects of Chinese society.