Motorcycle traffic, June 18, in hard-hit Shanghai where some lockdowns and quarantines continue. As Publishing Perspectives readers know, the Shanghai International Book Fair announced on Friday (June 17) a new delay for their dates, from July to November. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Documentary
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
See also: Rights Edition: Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair Postpones Again
Nonfiction Energized by World Book Day
We continue today to step through the spring months with our China Bestsellers series, in which we’re assisted by the research team at Beijing OpenBook.
‘Guns, Germs, and Steel’
As you’ll remember, in March we saw a trend that’s unusual for that month in the Chinese market: the still-ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic spread-mitigation measures taken by the Chinese government had meant a delay in some educational systems’ operations. That, in turn, had caused the March bestseller charts to remain more focused on what the readership considers its relatively contemporary “classics,” rather than being driven by classroom reading lists that normally impact the March lists.
In April, we see a relatively stable set of lists, and some retail energy around April 23 in World Book Day—which isn’t a moment we normally associate as readily with the Chinese market as we do with Western markets.
For example, OpenBook points to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (CITIC Publishing House Co.) in April at No. 11 on OpenBook’s nonfiction list. It held that position, we’re told, amid current events—not only the pandemic responses being felt so painfully by many in China’s lockdowns but also by those watching the unprovoked Russian assault on Ukraine by Vladimir Putin.
‘The Cloud Collector’s Handbook’
Bookstores ran discounts around World Book Day, which helped spur what OpenBook tracked as a significant upturn in sales for Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Those ubiquitous series of historical humor and cartooning also lost no fascination for a market that’s now been fascinated by them for many months. Both the “If History were a Group of Cats” series and the “30 Minutes in Comics” series performed well in April.
The “Cats” series saw seven titles in the Top 30 retail market; nine titles in the Top 30 in the print channel; and six titles in the Top 30 in digital retail channels.”
‘Inviting Books Into Your Life’
Nevertheless, the leading three entries on the nonfiction list in April were:
- Close to The Buddha by Khenpo Sherab Zangpo Rinpoche, ranked No. 1 (Hainan Publishing House)
- The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi, ranked No. 2, ranked (China Machine Press)
- Yi Ching is Really to Understand by Zeng Shiqiang, ranked No. 3 ( Shaanxi Normal University Press)
Two books were new to the nonfiction list in April, and the first has a title guaranteed to make reading fans go weak at the knees:
- Inviting Books into Your Life by Luo Zhenyu, ranked No. 10 (New Star Press Co.)
- The Cloud Collector’s Handbook by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, ranked No. 28 (Yilin Press)
Fiction: ‘Online Literature’ and ‘Ultraman’ at 55
As popular as it has been, the popularity of books that began life as online literature has subsided since January. In a month-over-month comparison, just two titles that originated as online literature were in the Top 30 in April 2022, while in April 2021, there were seven such serials-to-books entering the same chart at this point.
‘Ultraman,’ the 55th-anniversary photo book, has topped the children’s bestsellers chart for two months
OpenBook’s specialists caution, however, that the decrease in this year’s showing of “born online” titles doesn’t signal that the interest in this type of work has faltered in the Chinese market. Instead, the slower sales of such books have to do with timing. As such titles seemed to crest in popularity last year, the consumer base was focused on titles published (as books, after the serial stage) in 2019 and 2020. And that means that by this April, regular fans of this kind of book had made the rounds and picked up their copies of the leading titles in the field. New titles should renew the fandom’s fervor.
As our associate Wendy Pan at OpenBook puts it, the key sales time frame is “at the beginning of the sale when online literature can rely on fans who have followed installments online to quickly drive a book’s uptake. However, that overall ready audience for a print edition is relatively fixed” in size. As an example, she points to the target consumers for romantic stories, which are “concentrated in young women from middle school to university”—certainly a pattern seen in many world publishing markets. “So there’s a big difference in the continuity of sales between online literature and traditional literature that can target to all readers,” Pan says.
Indeed, a large part of the online-literature realm tracked by OpenBook is in themes of campus life and fantasy. But there’s some indication that the young-female readership traditionally targeted by this work is also responding to stories of e-sports (video gaming), military life, and suspense–as well as “reasoning.”
But if you’d like to see a perfectly catapult into the top spot on a Chinese list, look at the Children’s Books chart below for Tsuburaya Productions’ Ultraman Series Photo Book, a 55th-anniversary publication from Anhui Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House. It entered at No. 1 in March and held on there, rock-solid, in April.
Below, then, are OpenBook’s overall lists from April of bestsellers in fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, 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.
Visiting relatives in quarantine in Shanghai, June 15. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Documentary
OpenBook’s Fiction Bestsellers, April 2022
| March 2022 Ranking | April 2022 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787506331746 | 2005-05 | Distant Savior | Dou Dou | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 3 | 2 | 9787536692930 | 2008-01 | The Three-Body Problem | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 4 | 3 | 9787536693968 | 2008-05 | The Dark Forest | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 5 | 4 | 9787229030933 | 2010-11 | Death’s End | Liu Cixin | Chongqing Publishing House |
| 9 | 5 | 9787544291170 | 2017-08 | One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 6 | 6 | 9787500601593 | 2005-08 | Red Crag | Luo Guangbin, Yang Yiyan | China Youth Press |
| 2 | 7 | 9787515350264 | 2018-01 | In the World (3 Volumes) | Liang Xiaosheng | China Youth Press |
| 11 | 8 | 9787540487645 | 2018-06 | Moments We Shared | Zhang Jiajia | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 10 | 9 | 9787544766500 | 2017-01 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | Yilin Press |
| 17 | 10 | 9787530221532 | 2021-10 | To Live (2021 Edition) | Yu hua | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 8 | 11 | 9787020002207 | 1998-07 | Dream of the Red Chamber | Cao Xueqin | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 15 | 12 | 9787530219218 | 2019-02 | A Wavy Life | Mai Jia | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 13 | 9787506344791 | 2008-12 | Street Wizards | Feng Jicai | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 13 | 14 | 9787533966102 | 2021-12 | Life and Death are Wearing Me Out | Mo Yan | Zhejiang Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 15 | 9787544298995 | 2020-09 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store (2020 Edition) | Keigo Higashino | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 18 | 16 | 9787530221396 | 2021-06 | Ordinary Word (3 Volumes) (2021 Edition) | Lu Yao | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| 24 | 17 | 9787521200836 | 2018-08 | Thiaoouba Prophecy | Michael Desmarquet | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 16 | 18 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Keigo Higashino | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 7 | 19 | 9787506368698 | 2013-06 | The World Under the Sky | Dou Dou | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 22 | 20 | 9787530221099 | 2021-02 | Wencheng | Yu hua | Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 21 | 9787540264635 | 2022-04 | Agaras Desharow | Ya Sheng | Beijing Yanshan Publishing House |
| 20 | 22 | 9787532175512 | 2020-05 | 13 Steps | Kazuaki Takano | Shanghai Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 23 | 9787559614636 | 2017-12 | Fang Si-Qi’s First Love Paradise | Lin Yihan | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| Not Ranked | 24 | 9787521208740 | 2020-01 | Street Wizards (3) | Feng Jicai | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 19 | 25 | 9787020090006 | 2012-07 | Fortress Besieged | Qian Zhongshu | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 26 | 9787506384209 | 2015-11 | Street Wizards (2) | Feng Jicai | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 14 | 27 | 9787506394314 | 2017-04 | White Deer Plain | Chen Zhongshi | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 28 | 28 | 9787572602825 | 2021-08 | Always Have, Always Will | Zhang Jiajia | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| Not Ranked | 29 | 9787020164776 | 2020-07 | A Late Bloomer | Mo Yan | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 30 | 9787208061644 | 2006-04 | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, April 2022
| March 2022 Ranking | April 2022 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 2 | 1 | 9787544334792 | 2011-01 | Close to The Buddha | Khenpo Sherab Zangpo Rinpoche | Hainan Publishing House |
| 4 | 2 | 9787111495482 | 2015-04 | The Courage to Be Disliked | Ichiro Kishimi | China Machine Press |
| 1 | 3 | 9787561346259 | 2009-05 | Yi Ching is Really to Understand | Zeng Shiqiang | Shaanxi Normal University Press |
| 3 | 4 | 9787201161693 | 2020-08 | Counselling for Toads: A Psychological Adventure | Robert de Board | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 7 | 5 | 9787521733679 | 2021-09 | The Most Tender Upbringing: Be a Gentle but Steadfast Parent | Oh Eun-young | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 6 | 6 | 9787521603774 | 2019-08 | The Faith as Premise of Freedom | Luo Xiang | China Legal Publishing House |
| 8 | 7 | 9787111691020 | 2021-09 | The Underlying Logic: How to See the Essence of Things | Liu Run | China Machine Press |
| Not Ranked | 8 | 9787511714152 | 2012-08 | How to Talk so Teens will Listen and Listen so Teens will Talk | Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish | Central Compilation & Translation Press |
| 11 | 9 | 9787208171336 | 2021-08 | In the Affair: Chinese Government and Economic Development | Lan Xiaohuan | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 10 | 9787513348867 | 2022-04 | Inviting Books into Your Life | Luo Zhenyu | New Star Press Co.Ltd |
| 23 | 11 | 9787521736816 | 2022-01 | Guns, Germs, and Steel | Jared Diamond | CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd |
| 5 | 12 | 9787222204331 | 2021-11 | Details of Law | Luo Xiang | Yunnan People’s Publishing House |
| 10 | 13 | 9787557025847 | 2021-11 | If History were a Group of Cats: Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms | Fei Zhi | Guangdong Tourism Publishing House |
| 12 | 14 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 9 | 15 | 9787544276986 | 2019-10 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 14 | 16 | 9787550043657 | 2021-11 | Speechless Time Answers Everything | Ji Xianlin | Baihuazhou Literature & Art Publishing House |
| 24 | 17 | 9787559330260 | 2018-06 | If History were a Group of Cats: The Spring-autumn and Warring State Period | Fei Zhi | Heilongjiang Fine Arts Press |
| 15 | 18 | 9787559313652 | 2017-09 | If History were a Group of Cats: Xia, Shang and Western Zhou Dynasty | Fei Zhi | Heilongjiang Fine Arts Press |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787553734132 | 2016-03 | Tang Tou Ge Jue | Wang Ang, Xin Bin, Wu Jiankun | Jiangsu Science & Technology Press |
| 20 | 20 | 9787539999883 | 2017-03 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon | Chen Lei | Jiangsu Literature & Art Press |
| 22 | 21 | 9787549632725 | 2020-09 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (5) | Chen Lei | Wenhui Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 22 | 9787557017477 | 2019-02 | If History were a Group of Cats: Qin, Chu, Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasty | Fei Zhi | Guangdong Tourism Publishing House |
| 25 | 23 | 9787544387866 | 2019-09 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (4) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 29 | 24 | 9787544382045 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (2) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 30 | 25 | 9787544382052 | 2018-05 | 30 Minutes of Chinese History in Cartoon (3) | Chen Lei | Hainan Publishing House |
| 21 | 26 | 9787557024413 | 2021-05 | If History were a Group of Cats: Prosperity of the Tang Dynasty | Fei Zhi | Guangdong Tourism Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 27 | 9787557020149 | 2019-09 | If History were a Group of Cats: Three Kingdoms | Fei Zhi | Guangdong Tourism Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 28 | 9787544771344 | 2018-03 | The Cloud Collector’s Handbook | Gavin Pretor-Pinney | Yilin Press |
| Not Ranked | 29 | 9787557023041 | 2020-10 | If History were a Group of Cats: Sui and Tang Dynasty | Fei Zhi | Guangdong Tourism Publishing House |
| 16 | 30 | 9787010009223 | 1998-07 | Mao’s Selected Works (vol.1) | Mao Zhedong | People’s Publishing House |
OpenBook’s Children’s Bestsellers, April 2022
| March 2022 Ranking | April 2022 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Chinese Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | 9787570711888 | 2021-12 | Ultraman Series Photo Book for 55th Anniversary | Tsuburaya Productions | Anhui Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 2 | 9787566720719 | 2021-06 | Hundred Thousand Whys (Story Version) (8 volumes) | Ling Lan Ma Ma | Hunan University Press |
| Not Ranked | 3 | 9787568290685 | 2020-11 | The Classic of Mountains and Rivers for Kids | Lan Mengxing,He Weifang, Xu Pingping | Beijing Institute of Technology Press |
| 2 | 4 | 9787521726473 | 2020-12 | A Dog Named Money | Bodo Schafer | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 19 | 5 | 9787559621337 | 2019-04 | Butt Detective: Detective and the Fraud | Troll | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 13 | 6 | 9787550286122 | 2016-11 | Butt Detective: Disappeared Popular Dessert | Troll | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 14 | 7 | 9787550286238 | 2016-11 | Butt Detective: Look for the Rainbow Diamond | Troll | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 18 | 8 | 9787559608390 | 2018-01 | Butt Detective: The Criminal Appears | Troll | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 16 | 9 | 9787550286214 | 2016-11 | Butt Detective: The Missing Lunch Box | Troll | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 15 | 10 | 9787550286085 | 2016-11 | Butt Detective: The Big Crisis of Small Director | Troll | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| Not Ranked | 11 | 9787511052568 | 2020-08 | Butt Detective: Snow Monster in Deep Mountain | Troll | Dolphin Press |
| Not Ranked | 12 | 9787534633362 | 2005-05 | Bronze and Sunflower | Cao Wenxuan | Jiangsu Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| 5 | 13 | 9787536574366 | 2016-01 | Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: Stratego | Bei Mao | Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 14 | 9787020144587 | 2018-10 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows | J.K. Rowling | People’s Literature Publishing House |
| 4 | 15 | 9787536574397 | 2016-01 | Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: Clever Little Prodigy | Bei Mao | Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| 6 | 16 | 9787536574380 | 2016-01 | Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: Who’s the Smart Guy? | Bei Mao | Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| 7 | 17 | 9787536574373 | 2016-01 | Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: The Great Adventure of the Castle | Bei Mao | Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| 8 | 18 | 9787536587694 | 2018-04 | Mi Xiaoquan School Experience: I am a Pupil | Bei Mao | Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787566716408 | 2019-05 | Become A Better You (with Audio) (10 volumes) | Cai Xiaobai | Hunan University Press |
| 9 | 20 | 9787536587724 | 2018-04 | Mi Xiaoquan School Experience: Look at This Family | Bei Mao | Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| 10 | 21 | 9787536587717 | 2018-04 | Mi Xiaoquan School Experience: A Dog Called Rat | Bei Mao | Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| 11 | 22 | 9787536587700 | 2018-04 | Mi Xiaoquan School Experience: My Good Friend Tie Tou | Bei Mao | Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House |
| 26 | 23 | 9787539135168 | 2006-10 | Les P’tites Poules: I Want to See the Sea | Christian Jolibois, Christian Heinrich | 21st Century Press Group |
| Not Ranked | 24 | 9787556859993 | 2022-03 | The Story of Xiao Hai and Three River Source Region | Yang Zhijun | 21st Century Press Group |
| Not Ranked | 25 | 9787521734416 | 2021-12 | Kira and the Secret of the Donut | Bodo Schafer | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 30 | 26 | 9787539135182 | 2006-10 | Les P’tites Poules: I Want to Have a Star | Christian Jolibois, Christian Heinrich | 21st Century Press Group |
| Not Ranked | 27 | 9787539188607 | 2013-06 | Les P’tites Poules: I Love the Saucepan | Christian Jolibois, Christian Heinrich | 21st Century Press Group |
| Not Ranked | 28 | 9787539135151 | 2006-10 | Les P’tites Poules: I’ll Get the Sun Back | Christian Jolibois, Christian Heinrich | 21st Century Press Group |
| 29 | 29 | 9787539168999 | 2011-10 | Les P’tites Poules: I am Not a Coward | Christian Jolibois, Christian Heinrich | 21st Century Press Group |
| Not Ranked | 30 | 9787539135175 | 2006-10 | Les P’tites Poules: I Want to Have a Little Brother | Christian Jolibois, Christian Heinrich | 21st Century Press Group |
Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, April 2022
| March 2022 Ranking | April 2022 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 | 9787544766500 | 2017-01 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | United States of America | Yilin Press |
| 7 | 3 | 9787544298995 | 2020-09 | Miracles of the Namiya General Store (2020 Edition) | Keigo Higashino | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 5 | 4 | 9787521200836 | 2018-08 | Thiaoouba Prophecy | Michael Desmarquet | Australia | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 3 | 5 | 9787544291163 | 2017-08 | Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition) | Keigo Higashino | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 4 | 6 | 9787532175512 | 2020-05 | 13 Steps | Kazuaki Takano | Japan | Shanghai Literature & Art Press |
| 8 | 7 | 9787208061644 | 2021-03 | The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini | United States of America | Shanghai People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 8 | 9787540485337 | 2018-03 | Tsubaki Stationery Store | Ito Ogawa | Japan | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 18 | 9 | 9787533955168 | 2019-02 | Crime and Punishment | Fyodor Dostoevsky | Russia | Zhejiang Literature & Art Press |
| 10 | 10 | 9787544297059 | 2020-03 | Love in the Time of Cholera (3 Million Sold Anniversary Edition) | Gabriel García Márquez | Colombia | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 9 | 11 | 9787544267618 | 2014-06 | The Devotion of Suspect X | Keigo Higashino | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 14 | 12 | 9787544291224 | 2017-08 | After School (2017 Edition) | Keigo Higashino | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 19 | 13 | 9787544296274 | 2019-09 | Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse | Otsuichi | Japan | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| 15 | 14 | 9787559614711 | 2018-01 | Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit | Jeanette Winterson | Britain | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 6 | 15 | 9787506394864 | 2017-09 | Sophie’s World (New Edition) | Jostein Gaarder | Norway | The Writer’s Publishing House |
| 13 | 16 | 9787559641182 | 2020-07 | Scream | Aki Hamanaka | Japan | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| Not Ranked | 17 | 9787551819251 | 2019-02 | The Moon Over the Mountain | Atsushi Nakajima | Japan | Sanqin Press |
| Not Ranked | 18 | 9787533960414 | 2020-05 | Notes from Underground | Fyodor Dostoevsky | Russia | Zhejiang Literature & Art Press |
| 12 | 19 | 9787201112695 | 2017-03 | Siddhartha | Hermann Hesse | Germany | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| Not Ranked | 20 | 9787533960421 | 2020-05 | White Nights | Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nicolai Troshisky | Russia | Zhejiang Literature & Art Press |
Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, April 2022
| March 2022 Ranking | April 2022 Ranking | ISBN | Release Date | Title (Translated) | Author | Author nationality | Chinese Publisher |
| 2 | 1 | 9787111495482 | 2020-03 | The Courage to Be Disliked | Ichiro Kishimi | Japan | China Machine Press |
| 1 | 2 | 9787201161693 | 2020-08 | Counselling for Toads: A Psychological Adventure | Robert de Board | Britain | Tianjin People’s Publishing House |
| 3 | 3 | 9787521733679 | 2021-09 | The Most Tender Upbringing: Be a Gentle but Steadfast Parent | Oh Eun-young | Korea | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 9 | 4 | 9787511714152 | 2016-10 | How to Talk so Teens will Listen and Listen so Teens will Talk | Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish | United States of America | Central Compilation & Translation Press |
| 8 | 5 | 9787521736816 | 2022-01 | Guns, Germs, and Steel | Jared Diamond | United States of America | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| 5 | 6 | 9787550268517 | 2016-07 | Positive Discipline | Jane Nelsen | United States of America | Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd. |
| 4 | 7 | 9787544276986 | 2019-10 | Educated: A Memoir | Tara Westover | United States of America | Nan Hai Publishing Co. |
| Not Ranked | 8 | 9787544771344 | 2018-03 | The Cloud Collector’s Handbook | Gavin Pretor-Pinney | Britain | Yilin Press |
| 10 | 9 | 9787505737488 | 2016-12 | What Life Should Mean to You | Alfred Adler | Austria | China Friendship Publishing Company |
| Not Ranked | 10 | 9787540471194 | 2019-02 | Relationship: Bridge to the Soul | Christoper Moon | Canada | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 12 | 11 | 9787522200514 | 2021-05 | Nonviolent Communication | Marshall B.Rosenberg | United States of America | Huaxia Publishing House |
| 13 | 12 | 9787520711531 | 2019-11 | A Compass to Fulfillment | Kazuo Inamori | Japan | Orient Press |
| 19 | 13 | 9787210096528 | 2017-09 | Mindset: The New Psychology of Success | Carol S.Dweck | United States of America | Jiangxi People’s Publishing House |
| 11 | 14 | 9787505745681 | 2018-12 | The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind | Gustave Le Bon | France | China Friendship Publishing Company |
| Not Ranked | 15 | 9787540489304 | 2019-01 | Danshari | Eiko Yamashita | Japan | Hunan Literature & Art Press |
| 15 | 16 | 9787111551287 | 2021-04 | Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise | Anders Ericsson, Robert Pool | United States of America | China Machine Press |
| 18 | 17 | 9787521719253 | 2020-08 | The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) | Philippa Perry | Britain | CITIC Publishing House Co.,Ltd |
| Not Ranked | 18 | 9787108009821 | 2014-03 | 1587, a Year of No Significance | Ray Huang | United States of America | SDX Joint Publishing Company |
| Not Ranked | 19 | 9787115509543 | 2021-04 | Efficient Memory Method in Brain Science | Yuji Ikeguchi | Japan | Posts & Telecommunications Publishing House |
| 6 | 20 | 9787559643346 | 2020-09 | Blue Flame | Yuzuru Hanyu | Japan | Beijing Union Publishing 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, Jiang Boyan 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.
More from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.