China Bestsellers in August: Charting a Summer’s End

The Chinese bestseller lists in August showed an unusual level of interest in newer works as well as the traditionally favored classics.

Bamboo rafting on the Li River in Yangshuo County at Xingping Town, Guilin, a popular tourist destination. Image – Getty: TK Kurikawa

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

More Than the Classics

In an interesting twist on the norm, the hot-weather reading patterns tracked by our associates at Beijing OpenBook have indicated that the sales of relatively modern classics—normally great favorites of the Chinese readership and often bought in repeatedly in new editions—appear to have had a quieter than usual run this summer.

‘I’m as Timid as a Hare’

Among the books released in July, Yu Hua’s reprint work I’m as Timid as a Hare from Jiangsu Literature & Art Press reached No. 29.

And Lin Qian’s online literary work Preference of Poseidon from Shanghai Culture Publishing House did even better, appearing at No. 23.

Among the new releases in August, Luo Guangbin and Yang Yiyan’s reprinted work Red Crag—a 1961 book from China Youth Press that classifies as one of those popular modern-classics—and Bai Cha’s marvelously titled I Like That You Don’t Like What I Do, But Can Do Nothing About It sold also sold well, albeit the first one being in the tradition of that re-release trend.

‘Preference of Poseidon

Another of the recent classics back in August: The 1998 Dream of the Red Chamber by Chi Zijian from People’s Literature Publishing House—discussed in our July China Bestsellers—is persevering at No. 3.

The OpenBook team makes the point that both old and new books are benefiting from market boosts powered by short-video social media work. (In China, TikTok’s counterpart is called Douyin. Another prevalent service is Kuaishou. Together the two are said to represent more than half of China’s short-video market.

And with the end of summer on the horizon in August, families had education on the mind, including issues of home-schooling vs. the social benefits of standard school experience.

‘Dream of the Red Chamber’

While it’s not on the bestseller lists provided OpenBook, How to Communicate with the Class Teacher seems to have had a boost amid family discussions about the pros and cons of two modes of education, and it may be that its reprint appears in the September charts.

Below, then, are OpenBook’s overall lists from August 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, August 2024

OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, August 2024

OpenBook’s Children’s Bestsellers, August 2024

Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, August 2024

Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, August 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.