By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

Classics and a Japanese Star

The Chinese market can be surprisingly busy with international classics. Last month, for example—when 10 of the 30 top bestsellers were classics—the 1932 Russian novel, Nikolai Ostrovksy’s How the Steel Was Tempered. was at 15 on the overall fiction bestseller list and 10 on the foreign fiction list.

And in fact, in our very first round of these lists last June, some readers were surprised to find Henry David Thoerau’s Walden, Francis Bacon’s Essays, and works by Gabriel García Márquez being avidly read in the Chinese market. In July, Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea surfaced, as did Ernest Hemingways The Old Man and the Sea. In August, here was Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the next month, we found Ivan Turgenev’s A Sportsman’s Sketches and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels on the lists, and in November, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express made an appearance.

Both in fiction and nonfiction, this has been a theme, and the researchers who gather the data for us on these lists tell us that two things are at play here.

For one, there’s a curiosity among China readers about Western literature—seemingly the American and and Russian, in particular. And as a more affluent middle class forms in that vast country, some readers are catching up on titles considered to hold keys to Western thinking.

Second, as we find Verne’s 20,000 Leagues going the distance again—this time at No. 2 in both the overall and foreign-author fiction lists—primary and secondary school reading assignments and recommendations can propel such rankings. On the foreign-author list, Hemingway, Bronte, and Swift are also finding favor with the readers of China in our look-back at February.

An even more dependable trend borne out again last month is Chinese readers’ fondness for Japanese author Kiego Higashino. This month, his Miracles of the Namiya General Store is again at No. 1 in overall fiction, as are three other titles. In the foreign-author fiction list, he turns up no fewer than seven times.

And when we ran our full-year 2017 lists, we wrote, “One of the most reliable fixtures on the monthly fiction bestseller lists from China’s OpenBook has been Japanese author Higashino Keigo, best known for his mystery novels. In 2017, his Miracles of the Namiya General Store had its second year at the overall top of OpenBook’s China’s charts. In both 2016 and 2017, this was the biggest seller. Keigo’s dominance doesn’t stop there. Three of his works are in the Top 5 on the annual charts, with Journey Under the Midnight Sun and The Devotion of Suspect X at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.”

What’s more, we have stories at Publishing Perspectives going back to 2014 on the author’s popularity. And a bit over a year ago, we had a story on how his Mysterious Night had become Peking University Library’s third most-borrowed book, whie his Miracles and Journey Under the Midnight Sun had been named “the two most reserved books” on the campus.

As each month, our rankings here are provided by Beijing’s OpenBook and the US-based distribution and import specialists Trajectory. OpenBook in China is similar to Nielsen in the UK or NPD in the United States, providing research and analysis on the evolving Chinese publishing industry.

Our colleague Rainy Liu points out this month that Chinese educational priorities can sway the focus on classics.

“With two editions of each, all listed in the Top 30 chart,” Liu says, “classics in February include Lu Yao’s Ordinary World, Lao She’s Rickshaw Boy, Yu Hua’s To Live, and Red Crag, along with Pioneering by Liu Qing, Jane Eyre, and Street Wizards by Feng Jicai—most of those titles recommended by the ministry of education.”

A certain emphasis on science fiction can also be picked up February’s charts, she points out, including—in addition to the seagoing Verne—an appearance at No. 13 of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, which is part of a seventh-grade curriculum in some Chinese schools. And in Chinese science fiction, there’s Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem, which has been featured before in the charts.

In nonfiction, there’s Fu Lei’s Letters for Home, in which the author describes his and his wife’s letters to their children between 1954 and 1966. The book is considered to depict a model of family education, and is said to be studied during winter holidays by many students together with their families.

Below are OpenBook’s overall lists from February of bestsellers in fiction and nonfiction, followed by its lists of bestselling fiction and nonfiction in China by authors from outside the country, which are of interest, of course, to those who are looking to sell rights into the huge Chinese market. At the end of our article, as always, you’ll find notes on how the lists are constructed.

OpenBook’s Fiction Bestsellers in China, February 2018

Jan 2018 Ranking	Feb 2918 Ranking	ISBN	Release Date	Title (Translated)	Author	Chinese Publisher
1	1	9787544270878	Apr 2014	Miracles of the Namiya General Store	Higashino Keigo	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
6	2	9787544760874	Oct 2016	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Jules Verne	Yilin Press
7	3	9787544246279	Apr 2010	Rickshaw Boy	Lao She	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
15	4	9787544762519	Dec 2016	How the Steel Was Tempered	Nikolai Ostrovsky	Yilin Press
Not Ranked	5	9787500601593	Aug 2005	Red Crag	Luo Guangbin, Yang Yiyan	China Youth Press
4	6	9787208061644	Apr 2006	The Kite Runner	Khaled Hosseini	Shanghai People’s Publishing House
8	7	9787544291163	Aug 2017	Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Version)	Higashino Keigo	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
23	8	9787544764254	Jan 2017	Rickshaw Boy	Lao She	Yilin Press
5	9	9787550024212	Sep 2017	Trespassers	Claire McFall	Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House
10	10	9787544267618	Jun 2014	The Devotion of Suspect X	Higashino Keigo	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
16	11	9787530216781	Jun 2017	Ordinary World (3 Volumns)	Lu Yao	Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House
Not Ranked	12	9787539983295	Oct 2015	Foundation	Isaac Asimov	Jiangsu Literature & Art Press
Not Ranked	13	9787500680239	Jan 2009	Pioneering	Liu Qing	China Youth Press
14	14	9787530215593	Jun 2017	To Live	Yu hua	Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House
13	15	9787550013247	May 2015	Ferryman	Claire McFall	Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House
2	16	9787020123728	Apr 2017	Fang Hua	Yan Geling	People’s Literature Publishing House
21	17	9787530216774	Jul 2017	Ordinary World	Lu Yao	Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House
3	18	9787505742338	Dec 2017	The Cat Emperor and His Friends (3)	Bai Cha	China Friendship Publishing Company
Not Ranked	19		Aug 2016	Jane Eyre	Charlotte Bronte	Yilin Press
Not Ranked	20	9787559611567	Dec 2017	Platinum Data	Higashino Keigo	Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd.

OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers in China, February 2018

Jan 2018 Ranking	Feb 2018 Ranking	ISBN	Release Date	Title (Translated)	Author	Chinese Publisher
8	1	9787544765176	Aug 2016	Fu Lei’s Letters for Home	Fu Lei	Yilin Press
1	2	9787503561634	Aug 2017	Xi Jinping’s Seven Years as an Educated Youth	Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C	Central Party School Press
7	3	9787544763981	Jun 2016	Fu Lei’s Letters for Home (Revised Edition)	Fu Lei	Yilin Press
3	4	9787549550173	Jan 2014	Seeing Off	Long Yingtai	Guangxi Normal University Press
5	5	9787550263932	Nov 2015	Genius on the Left, Lunatic on the Right (Full Version)	Gao Ming	Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd.
2	6	9787540482190	Aug 2017	I Won’t	Da Bing	Hunan Literature & Art Press
Not Ranked	7	9787508684031	Dec 2017	Principles	Ray Dalio	CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd
4	8	9787508660752	Feb 2017	Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind	Yuval Noah Harari	CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd
9	9	9787108042453	Sep 2012	We Three	Yang Jiang	SDX Joint Publishing Company
6	10	9787508672069	Jan 2017	Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow	Yuval Noah Harari	CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd
10	11	9787539999883	Mar 2017	30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon	Er Hunzi	Jiangsu Literature & Art Press
Not Ranked	12	9787544760850	Jan 207	Michelangelo / Tolstoy / Beethoven	Romain Rolland	Yilin Press
12	13	9787530214787	Apr 2017	The Stories of the Sahara	Echo Chan	Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House
18	14	9787535447340	Feb 2014	The Poignant Culture Traveling	Yu Qiuyu	Changjiang Literature & Art Press Co.,Ltd.
15	15	9787549564125	Apr 2015	Dear Andrea	Long Yingtai	Guangxi Normal University Press
20	16	9787533951092	Dec 2017	What is EQ?	Li Xiaoyi	Zhejiang Literature & Art Press
16	17	9787549550159	Jan 2014	My Child, Just Take Your Time	Long Yingtai	Guangxi Normal University Press
24	18	9787540476250	Jul 2016	The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo	Lin Yutang	Hunan Literature & Art Press
11	19	9787530217856	Dec 2017	Encounter of Chen Luyu	Chen Luyu	Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House
22	20	9787201088945	Ded 2014	No More Than Skins	Cai Chongda	Tianjin People’s Publishing House

Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers in China, February 2018

Jan 2018 Ranking	Feb 2018 Ranking	ISBN	Release Date	Title (Translated)	Author	Author nationality	Chinese Publisher
1	1	9787544270878	Apr 2014	Miracles of the Namiya General Store	Higashino Keigo	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
5	2	9787544760874	Oct 2016	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Jules Verne	France	Yilin Press
10	3	9787544762519	Dec 2016	How the Steel Was Tempered	Nikolai Ostrovsky	Russia	Yilin Press
3	4	9787208061644	Apr 2006	The Kite Runner	Khaled Hosseini	United States of America	Shanghai People’s Publishing House
6	5	9787544291163	Aug 2017	Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Version)	Higashino Keigo	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
4	6	9787550024212	Sep 2017	Trespassers	Claire McFall	United Kingdom	Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House
8	7	9787544267618	Jun 2014	The Devotion of Suspect X	Higashino Keigo	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
Not Ranked	8	9787539983295	Oct 2015	Foundation	Isaac Asimov	United States of America	Jiangsu Literature & Art Press
9	9	9787550013247	May 2015	Ferryman	Claire McFall	United Kingdom	Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House
2	10	9787020123728	Apr 2017	Fang Hua	Yan Geling	United States of America	People’s Literature Publishing House
19	11	9787544760843	Aug 2016	Jane Eyre	Charlotte Bronte	United Kingdom	Yilin Press
Not Ranked	12	9787559611567	Dec 2017	Platinum Data	Higashino Keigo	Japan	Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd.
11	13	9787544285148	Oct 2016	Malice	Higashino Keigo	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
7	14	9787530217559	Nov 2017	The Murder in Mansion Masquerade	Higashino Keigo	Japan	Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House
13	15	9787544291170	Aug 2017	One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition)	Gabriel García Márquez	Colombia	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
Not Ranked	16	9787544760782	Aug 2016	Gulliver’s Travels	Jonathan Swift	United Kingdom	Yilin Press
Not Ranked	17	9787544761680	Dec 2016	The Old Man and the Sea	Ernest Hemingway	United States of America	Yilin Press
12	18	9787540455958	Jun 2012	The Shadow Thief	Marc Levy	France	Hunan Literature & Art Press
15	19	9787544291224	Aug 2017	After School (2017 Version)	Higashino Keigo	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
Not Ranked	20	9787544764469	Jul 2017	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Jules Verne	France	Yilin Press

Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers in China, February 2018

Jan 2018 Ranking	Feb 2018 Ranking	ISBN	Release Date	Title (Translated)	Author	Author nationality	Chinese Publisher
Not Ranked	1	9787508684031	Dec 2017	Principles	Ray Dalio	United States of America	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd
1	2	9787508660752	Feb 2017	Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind	Yuval Noah Harari	Israel	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd
2	3	9787508672069	Jan 2017	Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow	Yuval Noah Harari	Israel	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd
5	4	9787544760850	Jan 2017	Michelangelo / Tolstoy / Beethoven	Romain Rolland	France	Yilin Press
4	5	9787514208788	Jul 2013	The Willpower Instinct (Hardcover)	Kelly McGonigal	United States of America	Cultural Development Publishing House
3	6	9787020116133	Jun 2016	Red Star Over China	Edgar Snow	United States of America	People’s Literature Publishing House
6	7	9787301109489	Oct 2006	A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.1)	L.S.Stavrianos	United States of America	Peking University Press
7	8	9787535732309	Nov 2001	A Brief History of Time	Stephen William Hawking	United Kingdom	Hunan Science & Technology Press
8	9	9787301110522	Oct 2006	A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.2)	L.S.Stavrianos	United States of America	Peking University Press
17	10	9787544768511	Jun 2017	Three Days to See (New Edition)	Helen Keller	United States of America	Yilin Press
11	11	9787544768559	Jul 2017	Souvenirs Entomologiques	Jean Henri Fabre	France	Yilin Press
10	12	9787544762885	Apr 2016	84, Charing Cross Road	Helene Hanff	United States of America	Yilin Press
Not Ranked	13	9787544761031	Dec 2016	Stray Birds	Rabindranath Tagore	India	Yilin Press
16	14	9787510855832	Sept 2017	100 Basics of Work & Life	Matsuura Yataro	Japan	Jiuzhou Press
20	15	9787514219203	Sept 2017	The Willpower Instinct (New Edition)	Kelly McGonigal	United States of America	Cultural Development Publishing House
13	16	9787508650890	May 2015	Who Moved My Cheese?	Spencer Johnson	United States of America	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd
15	17	9787300126210	Sep 2010	Mao: A Biography	Ross Terrill	United States of America	China Renmin University Press
14	18	9787513903509	Nov 2014	Jerusalem: The Biography	Simon Sebag Montefiore	United Kingdom	Democracy and Construction Press
18	19	9787220102912	Sept 2017	Rich Dad, Poor Dad	Robert T. Kiyosaki	United States of America	Sichuan People’s Publishing House
12	20	9787308161459	Aug 2016	The Silk Roads: A New History of the World	Peter Frankopan	United Kingdom	Zhejiang Eniversity Press Co.,Ltd

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Notes on the Charts

OpenBook is a privately owned industry-data research firm based in Beijing. It functions somewhat as Nielsen and NDP do from the West, and Nielsen Book Research International has worked with OpenBook in Asian operations.

Trajectory, based near Boston, is an importer of Western-language ebooks and audiobooks into China. Trajectory is also helping China’s largest publishers export their books and audiobooks through a proprietary global ebook distribution network that includes hundreds of retailers as well as library and school distributors.

This data is estimated by OpenBook to represent some 30 to 40 percent of the total sales activity in China. OpenBooks draws point-of-sale data from a total 3,115 stores located in 1,247 cities. These stores include:

• • Traditional bookstores
  • Supermarkets
  • Campus bookstores
  • “Professional” stores, which are said to be small stores with a specific industrial or trade focus
  • Airport stores

In addition, OpenBook is drawing data from online bookstores of two main types:

• The “Tmall” stores of Alibaba (Tmall is described as a marketplace of companies that create storefronts online to sell products including books)
• Ten independent online bookselling retailers

China has some 500 or more publishers in operation today. Most of them, Trajectory CEO James Bryant clarifies, are government-owned. Private publishers are required to purchase ISBNs for their titles from a publishing company that is government-owned—which, in other words, creates a system in which all ISBNs are in one way or another registered through government channels. The government approves each book published in China.

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More charts and rankings from Publishing Perspectives’ China bestsellers can be found here.