China Bestsellers in March: Adaptations on the Rise

A stage adaptation and the work of a strong translator were behind some of the standout books on China’s bestseller charts in March.

The pink Yunnan cherry blossoms in March this year drew tourists to that city in the northwestern area of the province. Image, March 15 – Getty iStockphoto: Gujiang xie

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

Stage and Translation Driving Book Sales

Our China bestsellers report—based on the research and interpretive guidance of our associates at Beijing OpenBook, as you’ll recall—shows the fiction chart for in-country fiction in March with more upheaval than commonly is spotted on this slow-moving gauge.

‘The Seventh Day’ by Yu hua

At the top of the fiction list, you’ll see:

• Lychee in Chang’an by Ma Boyong, ranked No. 1
• The Seventh Day by Yu hua, ranked No. 2
• Knockout by Zhu Junyi, Xu Jizhou, Bai Wenjun, ranked No. 3

And four books entering the month’s list of novels for the first time is, actually, quite a moment for the mainland’s rankings.

This, however, doesn’t mean they’re all new writings.

The second-highest standing among these four newcomers is the 1922 stalwart Siddhartha: An Indian Novel.

In March, the list:

• Suzume no Tojimari by Makoto Shinkai, ranked No.10
• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, ranked No. 23
• The Wavy Water by Yan Zhen, ranked No. 25
• Preference of Poseidon by Lin Qian, ranked No. 26

Not Just Film and Television

We’ve become accustomed to seeing book sales bolstered in China (as in so many book markets) by new productions released in cinemas or on television and especially in streaming formats. But this time, a top driver was theatrical works, stage productions.

‘Siddhartha’ by Hermann Hesse, translated by Jiang

The Seventh Day moved into the N0. 2 slot on the strength of director Men Jinghui’s stage adaptation featuring actors Chen Minghao, Mei Ting, Huang Xiangli. One of the most perceptive comments from our associates at OpenBook is that Jinghui’s book on stage gave him a chance to emphasize his concept’s parallel dynamics of life and death beside “the integration of literature and drama.”

But in yet another departure, Siddhartha is a classic that this time seems to have benefitted from the impact of its translation.

Not unlike the popularity of Jiang Yi’s translation of All Quiet on the Western Front, her translation of Siddhartha is thought to be behind the chart-bounding success if this small book about inward discovery.

Nonfiction, and Chatting Wisely

In nonfiction, there were 10 entries in the Top 30 for March, though most were returning from previous appearances in the ranks. Of particular note:

• Continue the Chat Wisely by Lin Sicheng, ranked No. 1
• I Hear the World Colorful by Wu Jing, ranked No. 20
• A Sideline to Make Money by Angie, ranked No. 23
• Revelation by Li Shuo, ranked No. 26

And could there be a more plainly smart title than Continue the Chat Wisely (Jiangsu Fine Arts Press)?

‘Continue the Chat Wisely’

Not unlike the Japanese bestselling author Takuro Yamaguchi’s Answering Well published in 2018, this is a book designed to help readers navigate the sometimes bruising nature of contemporary intereaction, as our associates at OpenBook put it, “to help resolve embarrassment, eliminate speaking tension, and learn to answer.”

This kind of practical book, the team in Beijing tells us, “hits the reader’s needs,” a fact that might be expected to keep it around and charting for some time to come in the evolving character of conversational exchange, espeically in various social media.

We’re told that a considerable point-of-purchase discount has also helped the book establish itself as a title able to bound right to the top point on then nonfiction roster.

Below, then, are OpenBook’s overall lists from March 2023 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.

OpenBook’s Fiction Bestsellers, March 2023

OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, March 2023

OpenBook’s Children’s Bestsellers, March 2023

Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, March 2023

Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, March 2023

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, and more on the Chinese book publishing market is here.

More from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.