A CHINESE publisher Thursday said it has received orders amounting to over 1 million copies of Stephen Hawking’s works following the death of the legendary British physicist.

Hawking’s death has put the spotlight on his books, leading to a surge in orders for new copies, said Sun Guijun, an editor at Hunan Science and Technology Press, the sole publisher of simplified Chinese versions of Hawking’s works in China.

Many of Hawking’s books are sold out on major Chinese online book retailers JD.com and Dangdang.com, leaving customers with only the option to place pre-orders.

The publishing house introduced Hawking’s best-seller “A Brief History of Time” to China in 1992 and went on to publish nearly 10 more of his books in the following 26 years.

“‘A Brief History of Time’ has been printed over 30 times and is very popular among Chinese readers,” said Sun, who has been in charge of editing Hawking’s books since 1999.

Hawking’s books have long been popular in China, and many readers fell in love with science after reading his books. The publisher also plans to publish more of Hawking’s works in the future.

Hawking died at the age of 76 March 14. (Xinhua)