China Bestsellers in April: ‘Insensitive Force’ and Expression

China’s April bestseller lists are starting to include more mental-health content for young readers, looking at ‘insensitive force’ and expressiveness.

A family at Geming Revolution Park in Shaanxi Province reads from a ‘stone book.’ Image – Getty iStockphoto: Pawopa

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

Cultivating Confidence: ‘Insensitive Force’

In our China Bestsellers coverage for March, we looked at the Chinese market’s fast-growing interest in literature for youngsters—and/or their parents—relative to bullying, outright attack, and the potential for lethal violence among school-age kids.

‘Comic Children Insensitivity’

In April, as our associates at Beijing OpenBook point up, “insensitive force” became a concept for young readers and their families—and not meaning that one should exercise force against others with insensitivity, but that young people who may be deemed “sensitive” can learn to become less sensitive and more forceful.

Comic Children Insensitivity by Chu Dou Wen Hua, published in December by Sinolingua Press, is such a book and it entered the children’s books charts in April at No. 20.

Our associates at OpenBook write, “Insensitive force has become a hot topic in children’s mental health.

“On the path of growth, every child will repeatedly experience the process of falling and getting up. As guides on their children’s path, parents often want to direct their children on how to deal with various issues but often feel that children are sensitive and vulnerable.

“‘Insensitive force’ has become an effective method for children to transition from being sensitive and fragile to being composed and self-assured.”

‘Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window’ (2018 edition)

In combination with books promoting self-expression, our associates say, pubishers and authors in China are working quickly to nourish the market with help.

And No 1 in April in the children’s sector was Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window (2018 edition) by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi from Nan Hai Publishing.

“Not knowing how to refuse,” write our associates at OpenBook, “being afraid to speak, and having ambiguous expressions are common difficulties children face in social situations. These essentially come from their immature logical thinking and inability to accurately convey their thoughts.

“The relevant books have provided reference ideas and have performed well in the market.”

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.

OpenBook’s Fiction Bestsellers, April 2024

OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, April 2024

OpenBook’s Children’s Bestsellers, April 2024

Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, April 2024

Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, April 2024

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.

At last report, OpenBook monitored more than 18,000 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 more than 4,800 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 2022, OpenBook tracked around 76.21 billion RMB in sales (US$10.62 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 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 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.