On the banks of the Yangtze River in Wuhan, August 30. Image – iStockphoto: Julien Viry
Mo Yan: ‘A More Complex Color’
Quick entries on China’s charts tracked by our associates at Beijing OpenBook in August include The Only One at No. 1 by Mu Suli from Jiangsu Literature and Art Press, and A Late Bloomer at No. 6 by Mo Yan from People’s Literature Publishing House.
A Late Bloomer
Both of those titles were published in July, making their auspicious entries onto the charts somewhat unusual, as even successful new releases in China can take several months to work their way into the Top 10.
In the case of A Late Bloomer, however, it’s not a surprise that the book is doing so well in the data OpenBook gathers, of course, because Mo is the 2012 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. This is his first work published since he accepted the award, and the focus of the new work is on his hometown of Gaomi, in Shandong Province.
In fact, Mo writes in A Late Bloomer about what it was like to return home after becoming a Nobel laureate, but the book—said to read like a memoir—actually has fictionalized elements, hence its presence on the fiction chart. That’s not a surprise, of course, the Nobel committee having cited his “hallucinatory realism” in “merging folk tales, history and the contemporary.,”
On the release of his new work, Mo said, “Because of the 2012 Nobel Prize incident, my identity as a writer has added a more complex color.
“In today’s business society and online information society, when a person with such an identity returns to his hometown, the people and things he encounters are much richer than in the past.”
Mo Yan
So, it might be added, are that person’s fortunes. Mo Yan opened an account on Chinese social media platforms on September 3 with a short video introducing the new A Late Bloomer. The video drew more than 31 million views on the same day, Rainy Liu at OpenBook tells us. “In this era,” she says, “the enthusiasm for short video can be converted into business opportunities”—which is obvious, of course, in the 800 million active users said to be fans of the recently controversial TikTok platform.
And as the annual midsummer burst of student reading lists eases, some of the previous high-riders such as Red Crag by Luo Guangbin and Yang Yiyan from China Youth Press have taken their traditional seasonal tumbles, Red Crag diving 11 points from No. 6 in July to No. 17 in August.
Overall, OpenBook’s staffers report market improvement in August, as the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic conditions in much of China have become relatively more stable.
Nonfiction, they say, is benefiting from publishers’ and authors’ growing awareness of the potential for social-media marketing of key titles, as referenced in our report last week on the Beijing conference this month.
The Only One
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.
At this writing, the 4:23 a.m. ET (0823 GMT) update of the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center sees 90,369 cases in China’s population of 1.4 million, with 4,737 fatalities.
The South China Morning post has a report from Alice Yan in Shanghai in which she reports that Yannan province’s outbreak of new cases is drawing a “wartime mode” response, in an effort to halt the contagion there quickly. The region is near Myanmar, which itself has had a rise in cases.
While Phase 3 trials of a vaccine development reportedly are going well, Yan writes, Huashan Hospital infectious disease specialist Zhang Wehnhong is warning that deployment of a vaccine could take a year in itself and that “Now that Europe is having a second wave, it is inevitable we will see a second wave of infections” in the winter.
OpenBook’s Fiction Bestsellers, August 2020
| July 2020 Ranking | August 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| Not Ranked | 1 | 9787559439833 | 2020-07 | The Only One | Mu Suli | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 5 | 2 | 9787540487645 | 2018-06 | Moments We Shared | Zhang Jiajia | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 1 | 3 | 9787506365437 | 2010-06 | To Live | Yu hua | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 2 | 4 | 9787536692930 | 2008-01 | The Three-Body Problem | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 7 | 5 | 9787530216781 | 2017-06 | Ordinary Word (3 Volumns) | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 6 | 9787020164776 | 2020-07 | A Late Bloomer | Mo Yan | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 8 | 7 | 9787559439482 | 2020-04 | Ran Freely (3) | Wu Zhe | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 3 | 8 | 9787536693968 | 2008-05 | The Dark Forest | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 4 | 9 | 9787229030933 | 2010-11 | Death’s End | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 13 | 10 | 9787020002207 | 1998-07 | Dream of the Red Chamber | Cao Xueqin | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 10 | 11 | 9787559620187 | 2018-10 | Ran Freely | Wu Zhe | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 17 | 12 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 9 | 13 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 14 | 14 | 9787559446848 | 2020-04 | Ran Freely (2) (2020 Edition) | Wu Zhe | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 16 | 15 | 9787208061644 | 2006-04 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 12 | 16 | 9787559442680 | 2020-06 | Break the Cloud (2) | Huai Shang | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 6 | 17 | 9787500601593 | 2005-08 | Red Crag | Luo Guangbin,Yang Yiyan | China Youth Press |
| 28 | 18 | 9787530215593 | 2017-06 | To Live | Yu hua | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 18 | 19 | 9787020090006 | 2012-07 | Fortress Besieged | Qian Zhongshu | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 15 | 20 | 9787020008735 | 1998-07 | Journey to the West | Wu Cheng’en | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 22 | 21 | 9787530216774 | 2017-07 | Ordinary Word | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 21 | 22 | 9787544280662 | 2020-03 | Silent Parade | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 24 | 23 | 9787559436399 | 2019-07 | Break the Cloud | Huai Shang | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 27 | 24 | 9787544270878 | 2014-04 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store | Higashino Keigo | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 11 | 25 | 9787020008742 | 1998-07 | Water Margin | Shi Nai’an,Luo Guanzhong | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 30 | 26 | 9787569930337 | 2019-06 | Underachieve | Mu Gua Huang | Bejing Times Chinese Press |
| Not Ranked | 27 | 9787569930344 | 2019-08 | Underachieve (2) | Mu Gua Huang | Bejing Times Chinese Press |
| 20 | 28 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 29 | 9787559637949 | 2019-11 | Short Stories from Notebook of a Grave Robber Chronicles | Nanpai Sanshu | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| Not Ranked | 30 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, August 2020
| July 2020 Ranking | August 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| Not Ranked | 1 | 9787559643872 | 2020-08 | May You 2.0 | Da Bing | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 2 | 2 | 9787544276986 | 2019-10 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 4 | 3 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 1 | 4 | 9787020116133 | 2016-06 | Red Star Over China | Edgar Snow | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 10 | 5 | 9787540489304 | 2019-01 | Danshari | Yamashita Eiko | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 7 | 6 | 9787508095226 | 2018-09 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 6 | 7 | 9787539999883 | 2017-03 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 5 | 8 | 9787544387866 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (4) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 18 | 9 | 9787559620125 | 2018-05 | Genius on the Left, Lunatic on the Right (Full Version)(New Edition) | Gao Ming | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| Not Ranked | 10 | 9787559642943 | 2020-07 | Goodbye My Loneliness | Liu Tong | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 8 | 11 | 9787544382045 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 12 | 12 | 9787540484880 | 2018-01 | The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo (Commemorative Edition) | Lin Yutang | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 19 | 13 | 9787201088945 | 2014-12 | No More Than Skins | Cai Chongda | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 9 | 14 | 9787544382052 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (3) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 17 | 15 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 11 | 16 | 9787559418111 | 2018-04 | 30 Minutes of World History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 13 | 17 | 9787532174997 | 2020-03 | 30 Minutes of Song Poetry in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Shanghai Literature & Art Press |
| 27 | 18 | 9787503561634 | 2017-08 | Xi Jinping’s Seven Years as an Educated Youth | Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C | Central Party School Press |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787503568404 | 2020-07 | Xi Jinping in Fuzhou | Party School of the Central Committee of C.P.C | Central Party School Press |
| 23 | 20 | 9787535447340 | 2014-02 | The Poignant Culture Traveling | Yu Qiuyu | Changjiang Literature & Art Press Co.,Ltd. |
| 14 | 21 | 9787559436184 | 2019-05 | 30 Minutes of Tang Poetry in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 16 | 22 | 9787108063106 | 2018-06 | We Three (Third Edition) | Yang Jiang | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| 29 | 23 | 9787508689586 | 2018-07 | Economics Lecture Notes | Xue Zhaofeng | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 20 | 24 | 9787549631698 | 2020-05 | 30 Minutes of Science History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Wenhui Publishing House |
| 22 | 25 | 9787530214787 | 2017-04 | The Stories of the Sahara | Echo | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 15 | 26 | 9787559435552 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Tang Poetry in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 21 | 27 | 9787549550173 | 2014-01 | Seeing Off | Long Yingtai | Guangxi Normal University Press |
| Not Ranked | 28 | 9787521708554 | 2019-09 | Style | Wu Jun | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 26 | 29 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| Not Ranked | 30 | 9787559639134 | 2020-06 | The Rise of China | Jin Yinan | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, August 2020
| July 2020 Ranking | August 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 2 | 1 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 1 | 2 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 3 | 3 | 9787208061644 | 2018-02 | The Kite Runner (2018 Edition) | Khaled Hosseini | United States of America | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| 4 | 4 | 9787544280662 | 2020-03 | Silent Parade | Higashino Keigo | 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 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | Norway | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 12 | 7 | 9787532776771 | 2018-03 | Norwegian Wood (30th Anniversary Edition) | Haruki Murakami | Japan | Shanghai Translation Publishing House |
| 8 | 8 | 9787544285148 | 2016-10 | Malice | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 10 | 9 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 9 | 10 | 9787544299015 | 2020-05 | The Camphor Keeper | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 13 | 11 | 9787544291224 | 2017-08 | After School (2017 Edition) | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 11 | 12 | 9787544766500 | 2017-01 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | United States of America | Yilin Press |
| 16 | 13 | 9787544280020 | 2019-08 | What Life You Want to Have | Yoshino Genzaburo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 14 | 14 | 9787544297059 | 2020-03 | Love in the Time of Cholera (3 Million Sold Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 18 | 15 | 9787544281102 | 2016-01 | Newcomer | Higashino Keigo | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 15 | 16 | 9787530217054 | 2017-12 | The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho | Brazil | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 20 | 17 | 9787550013247 | 2015-05 | Ferryman | Claire McFall | United Kingdom | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 18 | 9787550032125 | 2019-02 | Outcasts | Claire McFall | United Kingdom | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 7 | 19 | 9787539983295 | 2015-10 | Foundation | Isaac Asimov | United States of America | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 19 | 20 | 9787201116693 | 2017-05 | My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry | Fredrik Backman | Sweden | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, August 2020
| July 2020 Ranking | August 2020 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 2 | 1 | 9787544276986 | 2019-10 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | United States of America | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 3 | 2 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | United States of America | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 1 | 3 | 9787020116133 | 2017-06 | Red Star Over China | Edgar Snow | United States of America | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 5 | 4 | 9787540489304 | 2019-01 | Danshari | Yamashita Eiko | Japan | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 4 | 5 | 9787508095226 | 2018-09 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | United States of America | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 6 | 6 | 9787508660752 | 2017-02 | Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 13 | 7 | 9787508684031 | 2017-12 | Principles | Ray Dalio | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 10 | 8 | 9787535732309 | 2001-11 | A Brief History of Time | Stephen W.Hawking | United Kingdom | Hunan Science & Technology Press |
| 8 | 9 | 9787301109489 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.1) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 7 | 10 | 9787301110522 | 2006-10 | A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century (Vol.2) | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 9 | 11 | 9787514219203 | 2017-09 | The Willpower Instinct (New Edition) | Kelly McGonigal | United States of America | Cultural Development Publishing House |
| 11 | 12 | 9787201088822 | 2014-09 | How to Win Friends & Influence People | Dale Carnegie | United States of America | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 13 | 9787521702415 | 2019-02 | The American Trap | Frederic Pierucci,Matthieu Aron | France | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 16 | 14 | 9787508672069 | 2017-01 | Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 18 | 15 | 9787547734315 | 2019-09 | Life is Worth Living | Nakamura Tsuneko | Japan | Beijing daily publishing house |
| 14 | 16 | 9787544775830 | 2019-07 | Souvenirs Entomologiques | Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre | France | Yilin Press |
| Not Ranked | 17 | 9787508692098 | 2018-07 | 21 Lessons for the 21st Century | Yuval Noah Harari | Israel | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 19 | 18 | 9787301269381 | 2019-09 | A Gobal History:From Prehistory to 21ST Century | L. S. Stavrianos | United States of America | Peking University Press |
| 15 | 19 | 9787544768559 | 2017-07 | Souvenirs Entomologiques | Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre | France | Yilin Press |
| 17 | 20 | 9787544768511 | 2017-06 | Three Days to See (New Edition) | Helen Keller | United States of America | Yilin Press |
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 585 publishers in operation today, according to the Publishers Association of China.
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.