If Jane Austen's work is perceived as quintessentially British, it has found resonance across the world. In The Genius of Jane Austen, Paula Byrne writes that Austen is seen as having a particular affinity with Chinese culture, where "manners matter" as they did in Georgian England. There have been more than 50 written versions of Pride and Prejudice in China alone. This may be because the term "marriage market" in China is more than a turn of phrase. In Shanghai, parents of unmarried children flock to a weekly event described as "match.com meets farmers' market" where they scout for prospective in-laws. Chinese women still seek to marry property-owning men more educated than themselves. Ms. Byrne notes that Ang Lee, a Taiwanese director, was considered a perfect fit for Sense and Sensibility (1995) because his previous films had explored "family conflicts in the context of traditional Chinese values." It is the subcontinent, however, that has embraced her books most enthusiastically, with Austen societies established in both India and Pakistan. The economic and social position of women, their reputation and eligibility are all themes that are easy to adapt to different cultural contexts, but there are also specifics that resonate in Indian and Pakistani society, such as the importance of familial bonds, the preference given to male inheritance, the dowry system and the "marrying off" of young women by overzealous mothers and aunts. Laaleen Khan, the founder of the Pakistani branch, has noted that South Asian society has its share of "disapproving Lady Catherine de Bourgh-esque society aunties, rakish Wickhams and Willoughbys, pretentious Mrs. Eltons and holier-than thou Mr. Collins types." This is the key to Austen's transformation from little known spinster-scribbler to literary superstar. Western readers may no longer empathize with the urgency that surrounds marriage or the idea that a relationship can be stopped in its tracks by monetary circumstance. But everyone has encountered a flirty, shallow Isabella Thorpe or a suave but seedy Henry Crawford. Two hundred years on, Austen's sniping observations of human vanity and folly still hit the mark.