The reopening effort is well underway in Shanghai in this April 20 shot, citizens monitored and color-coded for access to public venues through a phone app. Image – iStockphoto: Robert Wei
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Schools’ Gradual Reopening May Energize the Charts
As in most markets, bookstores in China have struggled to maintain traction as much of the market’s sale activity went into e-commerce channels.At this writing, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, sees China—once the world’s original epicenter—as the 10th market in caseloads, reporting 83,938 cases and 4,637 deaths (4,512 of those in Hubei Province, where Wuhan is set). Those figures are from Johns Hopkins’ 9:31 a.m. ET update (1331 GMT).
Beijing OpenBook, our partner in producing these reports, says that book recommendations with keywords virus and bacteria can be expected to influence the April charts to come, having already boosted enormous interest in Jeremy Diamond’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.
The original was published in 1997 by WW Norton. The publisher Shi Bao Chu Ban (Tsai Fong Books) produced its newly popular Chinese edition in 2015.
And during the crisis, many Chinese bookstores—already watching growing amounts of their business move online—have seen normal sales activity go over a cliff.
In the Shaanxi Province city of Xi’an, Jia Hui Han Tang Book City watched its business drop by a reported 85 percent over the same two-week January period in 2019. Taking a gamble on where the consumers would be going for essential goods and services, the company closed its bookstore on January 27 and set up at least 88 pop-up locations in local supermarkets where food is sold.
The company also worked to engage readers online, asking them to log their reading, even of physical books, and to follow WeChat book sales.
The Beijing Xinhua chain of more than 50 stores in the capital, staying closer to the ground, has provided contactless delivery for customers who place their orders online.
A delivery worker for the Beijing Xinhua chain of bookstores readies his rounds to customers’ homes. Image: Beijing Xinhua, OpenBook
In Shandong Province’s Qingdao, the largest bookstore, So Book, emphasized corporate social responsibility efforts.
On February 9, the company—which has three locations, each designed with its own theme—announced a 20-percent discount for all credentialed medical workers for life at all three stores. So Book also worked the ether, as many stores in many markets have learned to do, to rev a sense of community and engagement among consumers.
One of So Book’s three locations in Qingdao. Image: So Book, OpenBook
And the Jian Tou Shu Ju (JIC) bookstore group—with stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and other first-tier and key second-tier cities—made the astute estimation that it could see a decline of more than 50 percent in physical retail sales in January. So the company went into an aggressive online marketing campaign with a film-savvy slant, on February 3 mounting an online edition of its “Hollywood Art Exhibition.” Each day, the company highlighted a character from film with celebrity performers’ support and related titles at the ready.
Like other booksellers, the JIC group, also has offered live-stream events—theirs branded “The Shop Manager’s Study Room” and timed to 10 p.m. nightly aimed at building an ongoing relationship with reader-consumers.
A screenshot from the JIC bookstore group’s nightly stream, “The Shop Manager’s Study Room” group for reader community. Image: OpenBook
Looking To Move the Charts With Schools Reopening
As has been reported in the Straits Times and other news media, thousands of students returned to classes Monday (April 27) in Shanghai and Beijing, following months of education facility closures in the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Wuhan is expected to reopen its high schools on May 6.
A student returning to classes has her or his temperature checked and must also be showing a green (not yellow or red) smartphone QR code, part of the government’s enforced contact-tracing system that monitors citizens’ proximity to known concentrations of the pathogen.
And these are only partial openings. In Shanghai, only high school students and those in their last year of middle school are entering classrooms with desks spaced at measure distances. And in the heavily protected capital, only graduating seniors are returning because they’re in preparation for university entrance exams, reportedly delayed to July because of the crisis.
The Beijing OpenBook staff, which provides us with data on the vast Chinese market’s dynamics, reports a kind of push and pull in place on the charts, which are always heavily impacted by educational trends and assignments.
On one hand, our associates say, the bestseller rankings in March were almost at a standstill because primary and secondary schools have postponed their normal curricula, digital programming being the norm for students at home. Classics, reflected in their reading lists, hold sway on the charts, as does self-help. Jane Nelsen’s Positive Discipline is at No. 2 in nonfiction for what any of us living through #StayAtHome orders can tell you are obvious reasons.
But on the other hand, adult readers reportedly been reading more as they worked from home–again, however, with a focus on classics, something seen in other world markets. “In these days of staying at home,” one OpenBook associate tells us, “time-tested masterpieces seem to be no longer daunting, as more people actively add them to their own must-read lists.”
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, March 2020
| February 2020 Ranking | March 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787506365437 | 2010-06 | To Live | Yu hua | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 9 | 2 | 9787500601593 | 2005-08 | Red Crag | Luo Guangbin,Yang Yiyan | China Youth Press |
| 2 | 3 | 9787536692930 | 2008-01 | The Three-Body Problem | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 3 | 4 | 9787229030933 | 2010-11 | Death’s End | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 4 | 5 | 9787536693968 | 2008-05 | The Dark Forest | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 7 | 6 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 8 | 7 | 9787540487645 | 2018-06 | Moments We Shared | Zhang Jiajia | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 10 | 8 | 9787208061644 | 2006-04 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 5 | 9 | 9787530216781 | 2017-06 | Ordinary Word (3 Volumns) | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 6 | 10 | 9787530219218 | 2019-02 | Life is Like Ocean | Mai Jia | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 12 | 11 | 9787020002207 | 1998-07 | Dream of the Red Chamber | Cao Xueqin | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 11 | 12 | 9787544277617 | 2015-06 | Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 15 | 13 | 9787020090006 | 2012-07 | Fortress Besieged | Qian Zhongshu | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 16 | 14 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 14 | 15 | 9787559427434 | 2019-02 | The Outsider | Albert Camus | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 17 | 16 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 20 | 17 | 9787020008735 | 1998-07 | Journey to the West | Wu Cheng’en | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 18 | 9787550013247 | 2015-05 | Ferryman | Claire McFall | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 13 | 19 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 23 | 20 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
| 25 | 21 | 9787020008728 | 1998-07 | Romance of the Three Kingdoms | Luo Guanzhong | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 27 | 22 | 9787530215593 | 2017-06 | To Live | Yu hua | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 19 | 23 | 9787500680239 | 2009-01 | Pioneering | Liu Qing | China Youth Press |
| Not Ranked | 24 | 9787506365680 | 2012-12 | Chronicle of a Blood Merchant | Yu hua | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 18 | 25 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 30 | 26 | 9787559620187 | 2018-10 | Ran Freely | Wu Zhe | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 26 | 27 | 9787020008742 | 1998-07 | Water Margin | Shi Nai’an,Luo Guanzhong | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 21 | 28 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 24 | 29 | 9787530216774 | 2017-07 | Ordinary Word | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 30 | 9787020127894 | 2017-07 | Fortress Besieged | Qian Zhongshu | People’s Literature Publishing House |
OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, March 2020
| February 2020 Ranking | March 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787544276986 | 2019-10 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 2 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 2 | 3 | 9787201088945 | 2014-12 | No More Than Skins | Cai Chongda | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 4 | 4 | 9787508095226 | 2018-09 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 3 | 5 | 9787544387866 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (4) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 20 | 6 | 9787540489304 | 201-01 | Danshari | Yamashita Eiko | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 5 | 7 | 9787539999883 | 2017-03 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 6 | 8 | 9787544382052 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (3) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 9 | 9787540481827 | 2017-08 | Gag Reel | Li Dan | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 7 | 10 | 9787544382045 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 11 | 11 | 9787108063106 | 2018-06 | We Three (Third Edition) | Yang Jiang | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| 14 | 12 | 9787559620125 | 2018-05 | Genius on the Left, Lunatic on the Right (Full Version)(New Edition) | Gao Ming | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 18 | 13 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 8 | 14 | 9787508689586 | 201807 | Economics Lecture Notes | Xue Zhaofeng | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 9 | 15 | 9787559418111 | 2018-04 | 30 Minutes of World History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 13 | 16 | 9787540481551 | 2018-11 | The Emotional Quotient Lesson of Kevin Tsai: Live for Yourself for One Time | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 10 | 17 | 9787540493691 | 2019-11 | Because This is Your Life | Kevin Tsai | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 12 | 18 | 9787540484880 | 2018-01 | The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo (Commemorative Edition) | Lin Yutang | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 23 | 19 | 9787508684031 | 2017-12 | Principles | Ray Dalio | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 22 | 20 | 9787544389372 | 2019-11 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon: Traditional Chinese Festivals | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 28 | 21 | 9787521708554 | 2019-09 | Style | Wu Jun | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 15 | 22 | 9787559435552 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Tang Poetry in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 17 | 23 | 9787559436184 | 2019-05 | 30 Minutes of Tang Poetry in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 19 | 24 | 9787544387873 | 2019-08 | 30 Minutes of Economics in Cartoon: Common Sense of Life | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 21 | 25 | 9787544388672 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Economics in Cartoon: Financial Crisis | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 27 | 26 | 9787530214787 | 2017-04 | The Stories of the Sahara | Echo | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 29 | 27 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 16 | 28 | 9787544771627 | 2018-03 | Fu Lei’s Letters for Home (2018 Edition) | Fu Lei, Fu Min | Yilin Press |
| 26 | 29 | 9787530216590 | 2017-04 | Silent Majority | Wang Xiaobo | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 24 | 30 | 9787549529322 | 2012-12 | Insight | Chai Jing | Guangxi Normal University Press |
Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, March 2020
| February 2020 Ranking | March 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 2 | 2 | 9787208061644 | 2018-02 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | United States of America | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 3 | 3 | 9787544277617 | 2015-06 | Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 11 | 4 | 9787544280020 | 2019-08 | What Life You Want to Have | Yoshino Genzaburo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 6 | 5 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 5 | 6 | 9787559427434 | 2019-02 | The Outsider | Albert Camus | France | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 7 | 7 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 13 | 8 | 9787550013247 | 2015-05 | Ferryman | Claire McFall | Britain | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 4 | 9 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 10 | 10 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Japan | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
| 8 | 11 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | Norway | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 9 | 12 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 13 | 9787544384636 | 2018-09 | The Long Goodbye | Raymond Chandler | United States of America | Hainan Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 14 | 9787539982830 | 2015-06 | Everything I Never Told You | Celeste Ng | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 12 | 15 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 14 | 16 | 9787539971810 | 2015-04 | The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry | Gabrielle Zevin | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 16 | 17 | 9787544766500 | 2017-01 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | United States of America | Yilin Press |
| 20 | 18 | 9787550032125 | 2019-02 | Outcasts | Claire McFall | Britain | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787201116693 | 2017-05 | My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry | Fredrik Backman | Sweden | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 20 | 9787550024212 | 2017-09 | Trespassers | Claire McFall | Britain | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, March 2020
| February 2020 Ranking | March 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787544276986 | 2019-10 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | United States of America | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 2 | 2 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | United States of America | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 5 | 3 | 9787508095226 | 2018-09 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | United States of America | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 4 | 4 | 9787540471194 | 2019-02 | Relationship: Bridge to the Soul | Christoper Moon | Canada | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 13 | 5 | 9787540489304 | 2019-01 | Danshari | Yamashita Eiko | Japan | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 11 | 6 | 9787201088822 | 2014-09 | How to Win Friends & Influence People | Dale Carnegie | United States of America | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 9 | 7 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 7 | 8 | 9787508687216 | 2018-08 | Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty | Abhijit V.Banerjee,Esther Duflo | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 12 | 9 | 9787514219203 | 2017-09 | The Willpower Instinct (New Edition) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 14 | 10 | 9787508684031 | 2017-12 | Principles | Ray Dalio | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 17 | 11 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | Britain | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 15 | 12 | 9787301109489 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.1) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 16 | 13 | 9787301110522 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.2) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 10 | 14 | 9787108009821 | 2014-03 | 1587, a Year of No Significance | Ray Huang | United States of America | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| 18 | 15 | 9787514208788 | 2013-07 | The Willpower Instinct (Hardcover) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 20 | 16 | 9787508672069 | 2017-01 | Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 17 | 9787515350622 | 2018-04 | The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People | Stephen R.Covey | United States of America | China Youth Press |
| Not Ranked | 18 | 9787508692098 | 2018-07 | 21 Lessons for the 21st Century | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787020116133 | 2017-06 | Red Star Over China | Edgar Snow | United States of America | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 20 | 9787521702415 | 2019-02 | The American Trap | Frederic Pierucci, Matthieu Aron | France | 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.
Jiang Boyan LLC advises authors and right’s holders on global intellectual property and investment opportunities.As of January 1, 2020, OpenBook monitored more than 10,000 online and offline bookstores.
The online channel includes digital retailers such as large self-operated online stores, platform stores, and small- and medium-sized stores. The offline channels include 4,495 bookstores. Coverage includes most of the state-owned and influential privately owned bookstores in 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibet are not included in OpenBook’s system.
In 2019, OpenBook tracked around 71.72 billion RMB in sales (US$10.1 billion).
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. And more from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here and at the CORONAVIRUS tab at the top of each page of our site.