A graduate of Hebei University's school of law and political science, Zhang Wei started writing in February 2004: his first novel, Child of Light (光之子), appeared on the Duxie site, then on Huanjian Shumeng. Three months later he signed with Qidian, the platform that would make his fortune.

In December 2008 he launched Douluo Dalu, Soul Land. Success was immediate: a year later he was invited to the Frankfurt Book Fair, and the saga continued with Soul Land II, III, IV and V, each set thousands of years after the last.

Honours followed: member of the China Writers Association's national committee in 2011, professor of online literature at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts in 2013, he topped the ranking of the best-paid online writers in 2012, 2013 and 2014, then again in 2016. In 2014 he set up his own company to manage his rights.

His most personal story is a love story. Around 1999 he met Li Mo in an online chat room; he would write her more than a hundred love letters, and on their wedding day she showed the 137 letters she had received. In 2016, as he was starting an autobiographical novel about them, Li Mo learned she had breast cancer. He stayed by her side for nearly three years. She died on 11 September 2018; that evening he simply posted on Weibo: "My Mu is gone." The message moved millions of readers.

Tang Jia San writes to be read every day. His novels rest on clear progression (soul rings, ranks, tournaments), academies, group friendships and a central romance. The style is simple, sometimes naive, but formidably effective: every chapter makes you want to read the next. His regularity is legendary, with daily updates for years.