Students in Shandong province’s seaside Qingdao arrive with their parents for last June’s 2019 university entrance exams. Image – iStockphoto: Haiqing Zhong
Difficult Days
Needless to say, a great deal of distressing news has become the recent norm from China. It’s astonishing, in fact, how much has changed since our December 2019 publication of our China bestseller charts on January 20.
Tara Westover’s ‘Educated’ holds the No. 1 spot in nonfiction in January, in its Chinese edition from the Nan Hai Publishing Company
At that point, we were watching the lunar new year come in, as the year of the rat lit lanterns and sent families into the streets and parks for happy annual festivities.
It wouldn’t be until January 30 that the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations Emergency Committee would name the outbreak centered in Wuhan “a public health emergency of international concern.” And it wasn’t until February 11, eight days ago, that WHO dubbed the contagion the Coronavirus Disease 2019, or COVID-19.
Should you need updated, dependable information on the virus at this point, we’d like to recommend to you the US Centers for Disease Control’s dedicated page of resources with regular situation updates.
Here at Publishing Perspectives, we know of one Beijing-based employee at a company familiar to us who went to Wuhan to celebrate the spring festival with her family, only to find herself in a city under lockdown. We send our most compassionate wishes to our many associates and colleagues in that vast market, now undergoing such stress.
Also of concern: The Washington Post’s Anna Fifeld is reporting this morning (February 19) that Beijing has ordered the expulsion of three Wall Street Journal correspondents “in retaliation for a column headline that Beijing deemed racist, a dramatic escalation in the Communist Party’s efforts to silence criticism abroad as well as at home.” The piece in question is an opinion column critical of Beijing’s handling of COVID19, and written by another journalist–not one of the three expelled and not a journalist in China.
As the freedom to publish is critical to the world community of book publishing in lock step with journalism, we read with alarm this latest incident, which Fifeld at the Post is describing as “a clear signal from China, whose government has tightened censorship and repression in recent years.”
The Comfort of School Reading Lists
Curiously, at times like this, the institutional elements of a market’s governmental structure can provide a soothing factor of perceived normality. And we see this in our January bestsellers charts, as our associates at Beijing OpenBook point out that each year starts with the ministry of education’s recommendations for reading, relayed in curriculum materials distributed to every classroom in China.
‘Foundation’
Our colleague Rainy Liu at OpenBook says, “Along with every winter and summer vacation and the beginning of the school season, sales of recommended fiction and nonfiction books increase significantly.
“In the last two years, it has become particularly obvious that the recommended reading goes straight to the Top 5.”
So it is that in fiction we find 13 of these recommended titles in the Top 30 for January, five of them returnees to the charts, including Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series and Liu Qang’s Pioneering.
‘Joy of Life,’ volume 2
And also in the fiction category, we call your attention to two volumes of Mao Ni’s Joy of Life, a novel that originally was produced as “online literature” in 2007 and published in print in 2008. The 2019 edition is a tie-in with a television series adaptation and sales are being driven across three editions from the People’s Literature Publishing House by what’s reported to be avid viewership for the work on TV.
We’re told that China’s television-guided readership is especially fleeting, so the standing of the title can be expected to retreat quickly once the series ends its airings.
And in nonfiction, we see eight books returning to the list, including the family-fortifying Fu Lei’s Letters for Home–a title you’ll find entering the list both at No. 2 and No. 12. That happens because it’s selling in both paperback and hardback at a volume to propel it onto the list in both formats. Fu’s book is considered to be a model guide to strong family values in education and loving commitment.
‘Letters for Home’
Other titles returning to the list as a result of the ministerial recommendations:
- The Poignant Culture of Traveling by Yu Qiuyu, ranked No. 20
- Seeing Off by Long Yingtai, ranked No. 24
- We Three (third edition) by Yang Jiang, ranked No. 26
- Gag Reel by Li Dan, ranked No. 27
- Two volumes of A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century by L. S. Stavrianos, ranked No. 28 and No. 29
Below, then, are OpenBook’s overall lists from (month) of bestsellers in fiction and nonfiction, followed by its lists of bestselling fiction and nonfiction in China by authors from outside the country.
At the end of our article, as always, you’ll find notes on how the lists are constructed.
OpenBook’s Fiction Bestsellers, January 2020
| December 2019 Ranking | January 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 11 | 1 | 9787500601593 | 2005-08 | Red Crag | Luo Guangbin,Yang Yiyan | China Youth Press |
| 1 | 2 | 9787506365437 | 2010-06 | To Live | Yu hua | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 3 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 9 | 4 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 3 | 5 | 9787530216781 | 2017-06 | Ordinary Word (3 Volumns) | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 6 | 9787500680239 | 2009-01 | Pioneering | Liu Qing | China Youth Press |
| 8 | 7 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 4 | 8 | 9787536692930 | 2008-01 | The Three-Body Problem | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 21 | 9 | 9787530216774 | 2017-07 | Ordinary Word | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 5 | 10 | 9787536693968 | 2008-05 | The Dark Forest | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 6 | 11 | 9787229030933 | 2010-11 | Death’s End | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 27 | 12 | 9787020002207 | 1998-07 | Dream of the Red Chamber | Cao Xueqin | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 13 | 13 | 9787208061644 | 2006-04 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 19 | 14 | 9787530219218 | 2019-02 | Life is Like Ocean | Mai Jia | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 15 | 9787544774635 | 2019-01 | How the Steel Was Tempered (New Edition) | Nikolai Alexeevich Ostrovsky | Yilin Press |
| 18 | 16 | 9787020090006 | 2012-07 | Fortress Besieged | Qian Zhongshu | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 17 | 9787020154586 | 2019-11 | Joy of Life (2) | Mao Ni | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 18 | 9787020159055 | 2019-12 | Joy of Life (3) | Mao Ni | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 17 | 19 | 9787020153541 | 2019-11 | Joy of Life (1) | Mao Ni | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 20 | 9787506344791 | 2008-12 | Street Wizards | Feng Jicai | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 28 | 21 | 9787559620187 | 2018-10 | Ran Freely | Wu Zhe | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 10 | 22 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 7 | 23 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 26 | 24 | 9787020008735 | 1998-07 | Journey to the West | Wu Cheng’en | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 16 | 25 | 9787530215593 | 2017-06 | To Live | Yu hua | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 26 | 9787544246279 | 2010-04 | Rickshaw Boy | Lao She | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 2 | 27 | 9787559637949 | 2019-11 | Short Stories from Notebook of a Grave Robber Chronicles | Nanpai Sanshu | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| Not Ranked | 28 | 9787020008728 | 1998-07 | Romance of the Three Kingdoms | Luo Guanzhong | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 12 | 29 | 9787540487645 | 2018-06 | Moments We Shared | Zhang Jiajia | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 14 | 30 | 9787530211564 | 2012-03 | Life | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, January 2019
| December 2019 Ranking | January 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 2 | 1 | 9787544276986 | 2019-10 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 2 | 9787544771627 | 2018-03 | Fu Lei’s Letters for Home (2018 Edition) | Fu Lei, Fu Min | Yilin Press |
| 3 | 3 | 9787544387866 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (4) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 6 | 4 | 9787539999883 | 2017-03 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 1 | 5 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 8 | 6 | 9787544382052 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (3) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 10 | 7 | 9787544382045 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 12 | 8 | 9787559418111 | 2018-04 | 30 Minutes of World History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 9 | 9 | 9787540493691 | 2019-11 | Because This is Your Life | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 5 | 10 | 9787508689586 | 2018-07 | Economics Lecture Notes | Xue Zhaofeng | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 28 | 11 | 9787540484880 | 2018-01 | The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo (Commemorative Edition) | Lin Yutang | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 12 | 9787544771610 | 201803 | Fu Lei’s Letters for Home (2018 Edition) | Fu Lei, Fu Min | Yilin Press |
| 30 | 13 | 9787544389372 | 2019-11 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon: Traditional Chinese Festivals | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 4 | 14 | 9787508095226 | 2018-09 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 7 | 15 | 9787540481551 | 2018-11 | The Emotional Quotient Lesson of Kevin Tsai: Live for Yourself for One Time | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 16 | 16 | 9787559435552 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Tang Poetry in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 18 | 17 | 9787559436184 | 2019-05 | 30 Minutes of Tang Poetry in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 23 | 18 | 9787559620125 | 2018-05 | Genius on the Left, Lunatic on the Right (Full Version)(New Edition) | Gao Ming | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 14 | 19 | 9787201088945 | 2014-12 | No More Than Skins | Cai Chongda | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 20 | 9787535447340 | 2014-02 | The Poignant Culture Traveling | Yu Qiuyu | Changjiang Literature & Art Press Co.,Ltd. |
| 24 | 21 | 9787544387873 | 2019-08 | 30 Minutes of Economics in Cartoon: Common Sense of Life | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 26 | 22 | 9787544388672 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Economics in Cartoon: Financial Crisis | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 20 | 23 | 9787201094014 | 2015-09 | Six Records of a Floating Life | Shen Fu | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 24 | 9787549550173 | 2014-01 | Seeing Off | Long Yingtai | Guangxi Normal University Press |
| 22 | 25 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 26 | 9787108063106 | 2018-06 | We Three (Third Edition) | Yang Jiang | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| Not Ranked | 27 | 9787540481827 | 2017-08 | Gag Reel | Li Dan | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 28 | 9787301109489 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.1) | L. S. Stavrianos | Peking University Press |
| Not Ranked | 29 | 9787301110522 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.2) | L. S. Stavrianos | Peking University Press |
| 15 | 30 | 9787521701579 | 2019-09 | Hi I’m China | Institute for Planets, The China Society on Tibet Plateau | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, January 2020
| December 2019 Ranking | January 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 20 | 1 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 3 | 2 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | Norway | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 2 | 3 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 5 | 4 | 9787208061644 | 2018-02 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | United States of America | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 5 | 9787544774635 | 2019-01 | How the Steel Was Tempered (New Edition) | Nikolai Alexeevich Ostrovsky | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics | Yilin Press |
| 4 | 6 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 1 | 7 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 8 | 9787544760874 | 2016-10 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (New Edition) | Jules Verne | France | Yilin Press |
| 7 | 9 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 8 | 10 | 9787544277617 | 2015-06 | Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 6 | 11 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 12 | 9787544774666 | 2018-12 | Jane Eyre | Charlotte Bronte | Britain | Yilin Press |
| 18 | 13 | 9787530217054 | 2017-12 | The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho | Brazil | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 9 | 14 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Japan | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 15 | 9787506390903 | 2017-11 | Sophie’s World (Hardcover) | Jostein Gaarder | Norway | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 16 | 9787544775717 | 2019-06 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (New Edition) | Jules Verne | France | Yilin Press |
| 12 | 17 | 9787550013247 | 2015-05 | Ferryman | Claire McFall | Britain | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 16 | 18 | 9787559427434 | 2019-02 | The Outsider | Albert Camus | France | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 10 | 19 | 9787221153159 | 2019-08 | Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 | Cho Nam-Joo | Korea | Guizhou People’s Publishing House |
| 13 | 20 | 9787550033566 | 2019-09 | Weathering with You | Shinkai Makoto | Japan | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers in China, January 2020
| December 2019 Ranking | January 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 2 | 1 | 9787544276986 | 201910 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | United States of America | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 1 | 2 | 9787550268517 | 201607 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | United States of America | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 3 | 3 | 9787508095226 | 201809 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | United States of America | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 5 | 4 | 9787508660752 | 201702 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 4 | 5 | 9787108009821 | 201403 | 1587, a Year of No Significance | Ray Huang | United States of America | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| 11 | 6 | 9787301109489 | 200610 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.1) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 12 | 7 | 9787301110522 | 200610 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.2) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 8 | 8 | 9787535732309 | 200111 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | Britain | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 6 | 9 | 9787508684031 | 201712 | Principles | Ray Dalio | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 7 | 10 | 9787201088822 | 201409 | How to Win Friends & Influence People | Dale Carnegie | United States of America | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 9 | 11 | 9787540489304 | 201901 | Danshari | Yamashita Eiko | Japan | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 10 | 12 | 9787514219203 | 201709 | The Willpower Instinct (New Edition) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 13 | 9787201151304 | 201909 | One Two Three . . . Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science | George Gamow | United States of America | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 16 | 14 | 9787020116133 | 201706 | Red Star Over China | Edgar Snow | United States of America | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 19 | 15 | 9787514208788 | 201307 | The Willpower Instinct (Hardcover) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 16 | 9787544774673 | 201901 | Michelangelo / Tolstoy / Beethoven | Romain Rolland | France | Yilin Press |
| Not Ranked | 17 | 9787544760850 | 201701 | Michelangelo / Tolstoy / Beethoven | Romain Rolland | France | Yilin Press |
| 14 | 18 | 9787521702415 | 201902 | The American Trap | Frederic Pierucci, Matthieu Aron | France | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 13 | 19 | 9787508672069 | 201701 | Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 18 | 20 | 9787508650890 | 201505 | Who Moved My Cheese? | Spencer Johnson | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
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. With authoritative data and information resources, OpenBook is able to deliver consulting service to partners who would like to explore the Chinese book market and identify suitable partners.
As of July 1, this data is estimated by OpenBook to represent some 60 percent of the total sales activity in China. OpenBook draws point-of-sale data from more than 7,000 bookstores in China, including a total 4,151 physical bookstores representative of all the provinces in China except Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
Retail outlets include:
- Traditional bookstores
- Supermarkets
- Campus bookstores
- “Professional” stores, said to be small stores with a specific industrial or trade focus
- Airport stores
In addition, OpenBook is drawing data from online bookstores of three main types:
- The “Tmall” stores of Alibaba (Tmall is described as a marketplace of companies that create storefronts online to sell products including books)
- The “JingDong” Stores of JD.com (similar to Tmall as a marketplace of both individual companies and bookstores operated by JD.com)
- Ten independent online bookselling retailers
China has 500 or more publishers in operation today. Most of them, Trajectory CEO James Bryant clarifies, are government-owned. Private publishers are required to generate 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.
More China bestseller reports from Publishing Perspectives are here.