Soul Mountain (靈山 / Língshān)

The true first edition is the original-language Chinese 靈山, Taipei: Lianjing/Linking Publishing Company, December 1990 (ISBN 957-08-0519-6) — that is the copy serious Gao collectors pursue. The first ENGLISH translation is Soul Mountain, by Australian sinologist Mabel Lee: the genuine world-first English printing is the Flamingo/HarperCollins Australia trade paperback (Sydney, 2000; ISBN 9780732266516), issued in a tiny run — fewer than ~500 copies had sold worldwide before Gao won the 2000 Nobel. It PRECEDES the HarperCollins/Harper US hardcover (New York, 2000) and the UK Flamingo edition. US dealers frequently list the American hardcover as "first edition in English," but the Australian trade paperback is the priority English issue; verify the Flamingo/HarperCollins Australia imprint, the Sydney 2000 date, and ISBN 9780732266516 to distinguish it. (Note: some sources cite "December 5, 2000" — that is the US release date, not the Australian priority issue.)