Cheng Depei, assistant editor of Haishang Wentan, a literary magazine published in Shanghai, points out that although the book My Father Deng Xiaoping was at the top of the bestseller list in the bookstore on Wangfujing Street in Beijing, the book release event was extremely poorly attended. Unless the authorities were deliberately downplaying the event, it seems that people really weren't very interested.
上海＜海上文壇＞雜誌社副主編程德培指出，《我的父親鄧小平》雖然在王府井書市排行第一，但「首發式」（新書發表會）的反應十分冷淡，如果不是當局刻意低調處理，就是大家的興趣實在不大。