Speculations have been running thicker than the holiday traffic in China about the possibility of a Chinese writer nabbing the upcoming Nobel Prize for Literature.

No, these aren't about the likelihood of Mo Yan winning the prestigious honor - that's being taken care of by professional betting houses - but, rather, they're about the worthiness of bestowing the honor on him.

The British oddsmaker Nicerrods and betting house Ladbrokes have both put Mo Yan in second place, after Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, as the strongest contenders for this year's recipient of the Nobel kudos. Mo's response is: "I have no opinion". It's an appropriate statement, considering his pen name, which means, "Do not speak".