A HONG KONG boy has published an English novel of some 50,000 words.

The novel was included in Hong Kong’s book exhibition, Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday.

Xinhua said the boy, Li Yupeng, 11, finished the science fiction, The Four Phoenixes, in one year.

Some 1,000 copies of the book were printed and 200 copies had been sold — to the boy’s schoolmates.

The boy’s father published the book at a cost of HK$30,000 (US$3,846), as a gift for the boy’s graduation from primary school.

The book was about a hero’s adventure in the “Dark Age.” The hero, Koba, took four “Phoenix swords” in the “Dark Age” to assassinate a warlord named Scaren, Li said.

Li began reading English cartoons at the age of six and had read nearly 500 English books, said his mother. He took only five hours to finish reading a Harry Potter novel which had more than 600 pages