China Bestsellers June: The Tried, True, and Familiar Hold the ...

A Higashino title published in May by Nan Hai Publishing Co., The Camphor Keeper, arrived on the list in June at No. China’sbooksalesinJuneweresomewhatsubduedbythepandemic,inamonthinwhichChinesereadersclungtofavoredauthorsandthemes. Passengersaboardahigh-speedtrainatJiuquan,formerlyknownasSuzhou,intheprovinceofGansu.Image–iStockphoto:RobertWei ByPorterAnderson,Editor-in-Chief|@Porter_Anderson ComfortFictionand‘Cholera’ InourlookatChina’sJanuary-to-Junestatisticsforthisunusualyear,oneofthemostinterestingtrendsourassociatesatBeijingOpenBookhadspottedwasanongoingstruggleforthelargerbookstoresinthelargestcitiestoreopen.Majorchainsandrecognizedbig-storehubswereencounteringsalesdropsof50and55percentbycomparisontothefirstsixmonthsof2019,asdigitalretailgainedsometraction. ‘LoveintheTimeofCholera’ Paralleltothis,bestsellerlists,researchshows,inJunewerereflectingalogicalinterestnotonlyinself-helpandself-realization,butalsoinbooksdirectlyrelatedtothecoronavirusCOVID-19pandemicandpreventionofapathogen’sspread.Infiction,theconcernscontinuedtodrivesalesofGabrielGarciaMarquez’s1985LoveintheTimeofCholera,inananniversaryeditionselling3millioncopies. Butwheresomerobustchartingreallyoccurredseemstohavebeeninacertainamountofescapism,leadingtotwofamiliarsources:the“30MinutesinCartoon”nonfictiontreatmentsofvarioustopicsbyChenLeiandthefictionoftheintenselypopularJapaneseauthorKeigoHigashino. AHigashinotitlepublishedinMaybyNanHaiPublishingCo.,TheCamphorKeeper,arrivedonthelistinJuneatNo.16,alongwithsixothertitlesfromtheauthor. Apartofwhatdrivesthesuccessofthesebooksisfilmandtelevisiondevelopment. ‘TheCamphorKeeper’ AndatypeofmagicalrealisminsomeofHigashino’swork—asinhisabidinghit,MiraclesoftheNamiyaGeneralStore—returnsinTheCamphorKeeper,which centersontheguardianofanancienttreetowhichthefaithfulprayinordertohavetheirdreamscometrue.Notsurprisingly,there’sacomfortfactortothiswork,andthatseemstohaveplayedintoitspopularityinatimewheneventheChinesecapitalhasbeenjoltedbyoutbreaks. AsprolificasHigashinois,andasloyalafollowingashehasinChina,TheCamphorKeeperisthefirstofhistitlestobereleasedinChinasimultaneouslywithitsappearanceinJapan.Toenergizethatfactor,theauthorwroteanaffectingnotetohisChinesereaders:“ThereasonIwroteTheCamphorKeeperistopraythatreaderscanhavehopefortomorrow.” Nationalawarenesswasalsoatplay,insalesforthebooksonChinesepresidentXiJinpingandanewcomertothenonfictioncharts,100QuestionsAboutNationalSecurity. The18thofJunewas,asitiseachyear,markedoutasahalfwaypoint,usuallycalled“618,”intheshoppingyearinChinaandmuchofthemonthindigitalretailwasthemedaroundthattriggerfordiscounts.Classicstendtodobetterinthisannualsale-fest,andthatseemstohaveheldthenonfictionchartsinplacewithoutalotofchange. ThelateStephenHawking’sABriefHistoryofTimedidmoveontothemainnonfictionlists,havingappearedinthepastontheinternationalnonfictioncharts. Atthiswriting(July27),the3:34a.m.ETupdate(0734GMT)oftheJohnsHopkinsCoronavirusResourceCenterplacesChinaatNo.26intheworldforcaseloads,with86,570infectionsand4,652reportedfatalitiesinapopulationof1.4billion. PerthereportingofHuizhongWu,JudyHua,andRyanWooforReuters,itisofsomeconcernthatonSunday(July26),Chinareported61newcasesforthemainland,“upfrom46casesadayearlier,thehealthcommissionsaidonMonday,withnewinfectionsnotinvolvingpeoplereturningfromoverseashittingthehighestnumbersinceearlyMarch.”Some57ofthosecasesaresaidtohavebeendomestictransmissions. Below,then,areOpenBook’soveralllistsfrom(month)ofbestsellersinfictionandnonfiction,followedbyitslistsofbestsellingfictionandnonfictioninChinabyauthorsfromoutsidethecountry. Attheendofourarticle,asalways,you’llfindnotesonhowthelistsareconstructed. OpenBook’sFictionBestsellers,June2020 May2020Ranking June2020Ranking ISBN ReleaseDate Title(Translated) Author ChinesePublisher 2 1 9787536692930 2008-01 TheThree-BodyProblem LiuCixin ChongqingPublishingHouse 1 2 9787540487645 2018-06 MomentsWeShared ZhangJiajia HunanLiterature&ArtPress 4 3 9787536693968 2008-05 TheDarkForest LiuCixin ChongqingPublishingHouse 5 4 9787229030933 2010-11 Death’sEnd LiuCixin ChongqingPublishingHouse 6 5 9787559439482 2020-04 RanFreely(3) WuZhe JiangsuLiterature&ArtPress 10 6 9787506365437 2010-06 ToLive Yuhua TheWriter’sPublishingHouse 17 7 9787544291163 2017-08 JourneyUndertheMidnightSun(2017Edition) HigashinoKeigo NanHaiPublishingCo. 3 8 9787530219218 2019-02 LifeisLikeOcean MaiJia BeijingOctoberArt&LiteraturePublishingHouse 12 9 9787500601593 2005-08 RedCrag LuoGuangbin,YangYiyan ChinaYouthPress 9 10 9787559620187 2018-10 RanFreely WuZhe BeijingUnionPublishingCo.,Ltd. 8 11 9787544280662 2020-03 SilentParade HigashinoKeigo NanHaiPublishingCo. 11 12 9787530216781 2017-06 OrdinaryWord(3Volumns) LuYao BeijingOctoberArt&LiteraturePublishingHouse 13 13 9787544291170 2017-08 OneHundredYearsofSolitude(50thAnniversaryEdition) GabrielGarcíaMárquez NanHaiPublishingCo. 15 14 9787559446848 2020-04 RanFreely(2)(2020Edition) WuZhe JiangsuLiterature&ArtPress 16 15 9787020090006 2012-07 FortressBesieged QianZhongshu People’sLiteraturePublishingHouse NotRanked 16 9787544299015 2020-05 TheCamphorKeeper HigashinoKeigo NanHaiPublishingCo. 14 17 9787208061644 2006-04 TheKiteRunner(2018Edition) KhaledHosseini ShanghaiPeople’sPublishingHouse 7 18 9787559614636 2017-12 FangSi-Qi’sFirstLoveParadise LinYihan BeijingUnionPublishingCo.,Ltd. 18 19 9787544285148 2016-10 Malice HigashinoKeigo NanHaiPublishingCo. NotRanked 20 9787544297059 2020-03 LoveintheTimeofCholera(3MillionSoldAnniversaryEdition) GabrielGarcíaMárquez NanHaiPublishingCo. 20 21 9787544270878 2014-04 MiraclesoftheNamiyaGeneralStore HigashinoKeigo NanHaiPublishingCo. NotRanked 22 9787544291224 2017-08 AfterSchool(2017Edition) HigashinoKeigo NanHaiPublishingCo. 19 23 9787020002207 1998-07 DreamoftheRedChamber CaoXueqin People’sLiteraturePublishingHouse 27 24 9787506394864 2017-09 Sophie’sWorld(NewEdition) JosteinGaarder TheWriter’sPublishingHouse NotRanked 25 9787544267618 2014-06 TheDevotionofSuspectX HigashinoKeigo NanHaiPublishingCo. 25 26 9787544766500 2017-01 ToKillaMockingbird HarperLee YilinPress 29 27 9787559436399 2019-07 BreaktheCloud HuaiShang JiangsuLiterature&ArtPress 26 28 9787530215593 2017-06 ToLive Yuhua BeijingOctoberArt&LiteraturePublishingHouse 23 29 9787532776771 2018-03 NorwegianWood(30thAnniversaryEdition) HarukiMurakami ShanghaiTranslationPublishingHouse 22 30 9787500680239 2009-01 Pioneering LiuQing ChinaYouthPress OpenBook’sNonfictionBestsellers,June2020 May2020Ranking June2020Ranking ISBN ReleaseDate Title(Translated) Author ChinesePublisher 1 1 9787544276986 2019-10 Educated:AMemoir TaraWestover NanHaiPublishingCo. 3 2 9787550268517 2016-07 PositiveDiscipline JaneNelsen BeijingUnionPublishingCo.,Ltd. 4 3 9787540489304 2019-01 Danshari YamashitaEiko HunanLiterature&ArtPress 6 4 9787508095226 2018-09 NonviolentCommunication MarshallB.Rosenberg HuaxiaPublishingHouse 2 5 9787559620125 2018-05 GeniusontheLeft,LunaticontheRight(FullVersion)(NewEdition) GaoMing BeijingUnionPublishingCo.,Ltd. 10 6 9787544387866 2019-09 30MinutesofChineseHistoryinCartoon(4) ChenLei HainanPublishingHouse 11 7 9787539999883 2017-03 30MinutesofChineseHistoryinCartoon ChenLei JiangsuLiterature&ArtPress 12 8 9787544382052 2018-05 30MinutesofChineseHistoryinCartoon(3) ChenLei HainanPublishingHouse 5 9 9787201088945 2014-12 NoMoreThanSkins CaiChongda TianjinPeople’sPublishingHouse 15 10 9787544382045 2018-05 30MinutesofChineseHistoryinCartoon(2) ChenLei HainanPublishingHouse 25 11 9787559418111 2018-04 30MinutesofWorldHistoryinCartoon ChenLei JiangsuLiterature&ArtPress 13 12 9787108063106 2018-06 WeThree(ThirdEdition) YangJiang SDXJointPublishingCompany 7 13 9787010219783 2020-04 100QuestionsAboutNationalSecurity CompileGroupof100QuestionsAboutNationalSecurity People’sPublishingHouse 16 14 9787532174997 2020-03 30MinutesofSongPoetryinCartoon ChenLei ShanghaiLiterature&ArtPress NotRanked 15 9787020116133 2016-06 RedStarOverChina EdgarSnow People’sLiteraturePublishingHouse NotRanked 16 9787544389372 2019-11 30MinutesofChineseHistoryinCartoon:TraditionalChineseFestivals ChenLei HainanPublishingHouse 24 17 9787559436184 2019-05 30MinutesofTangPoetryinCartoon ChenLei JiangsuLiterature&ArtPress 23 18 9787503561634 2017-08 XiJinping’sSevenYearsasanEducatedYouth PartySchooloftheCentralCommitteeofC.P.C CentralPartySchoolPress 27 19 9787559435552 2019-09 30MinutesofTangPoetryinCartoon(2) ChenLei JiangsuLiterature&ArtPress 8 20 9787503567292 2020-01 XiJinpinginNingde PartySchooloftheCentralCommitteeofC.P.C CentralPartySchoolPress 19 21 9787503567285 2020-01 XiJinpinginXiamen PartySchooloftheCentralCommitteeofC.P.C CentralPartySchoolPress 22 22 9787508689586 2018-07 EconomicsLectureNotes XueZhaofeng CITICPublishingHouseCo.,Ltd 28 23 9787544387873 2019-08 30MinutesofEconomicsinCartoon:CommonSenseofLife ChenLei HainanPublishingHouse NotRanked 24 9787530214787 2017-04 TheStoriesoftheSahara Echo BeijingOctoberArt&LiteraturePublishingHouse 26 25 9787530216590 2017-04 SilentMajority WangXiaobo BeijingOctoberArt&LiteraturePublishingHouse 18 26 9787544391931 2020-03 30MinutesofEconomicsinCartoon:FinancialCrisis(TheEnd) ChenLei HainanPublishingHouse 29 27 9787544388672 2019-09 30MinutesofEconomicsinCartoon:FinancialCrisis ChenLei HainanPublishingHouse 21 28 9787508660752 2017-02 Sapiens:ABriefHistoryofHumankind YuvalNoahHarari CITICPublishingHouseCo.,Ltd NotRanked 29 9787521708554 2019-09 Style WuJun CITICPublishingHouseCo.,Ltd NotRanked 30 9787535732309 2001-11 ABriefHistoryofTime StephenW.Hawking HunanScience&TechnologyPress ForeignAuthorFictionBestsellers,June2020 May2020Ranking June2020Ranking ISBN ReleaseDate Title(Translated) Author Authornationality ChinesePublisher 4 1 9787544291163 2017-08 JourneyUndertheMidnightSun(2017Edition) HigashinoKeigo Japan NanHaiPublishingCo. 1 2 9787544280662 2020-03 SilentParade HigashinoKeigo Japan NanHaiPublishingCo. 2 3 9787544291170 2017-08 OneHundredYearsofSolitude(50thAnniversaryEdition) GabrielGarcíaMárquez Colombia NanHaiPublishingCo. NotRanked 4 9787544299015 2020-05 TheCamphorKeeper HigashinoKeigo Japan NanHaiPublishingCo. 3 5 9787208061644 2018-02 TheKiteRunner(2018Edition) KhaledHosseini UnitedStatesofAmerica ShanghaiPeople’sPublishingHouse 5 6 9787544285148 2016-10 Malice HigashinoKeigo Japan NanHaiPublishingCo. 15 7 9787544297059 2020-03 LoveintheTimeofCholera(3MillionSoldAnniversaryEdition) GabrielGarcíaMárquez Colombia NanHaiPublishingCo. 8 8 9787544280020 2019-08 WhatLifeYouWanttoHave YoshinoGenzaburo Japan NanHaiPublishingCo. 6 9 9787544270878 2014-04 MiraclesoftheNamiyaGeneralStore HigashinoKeigo Japan NanHaiPublishingCo. 19 10 9787544291224 2017-08 AfterSchool(2017Edition) HigashinoKeigo Japan NanHaiPublishingCo. 12 11 9787544267618 2014-06 TheDevotionofSuspectX HigashinoKeigo Japan NanHaiPublishingCo. 9 12 9787544766500 2017-01 ToKillaMockingbird HarperLee UnitedStatesofAmerica YilinPress 10 13 9787506394864 2017-09 Sophie’sWorld(NewEdition) JosteinGaarder Norway TheWriter’sPublishingHouse 7 14 9787532776771 2018-03 NorwegianWood(30thAnniversaryEdition) HarukiMurakami Japan ShanghaiTranslationPublishingHouse NotRanked 15 9787544281102 2016-01 Newcomer HigashinoKeigo Japan NanHaiPublishingCo. NotRanked 16 9787559427434 2019-02 TheOutsider AlbertCamus France JiangsuLiterature&ArtPress 11 17 9787539983295 2015-10 Foundation IsaacAsimov UnitedStatesofAmerica JiangsuLiterature&ArtPress 13 18 9787201116693 2017-05 MyGrandmotherAskedMetoTellYouShe’sSorry FredrikBackman Sweden TianjinPeople’sPublishingHouse NotRanked 19 9787513312929 2013-08 AndThenThereWereNone AgathaChristie UnitedKingdom NewStarPressCo.Ltd 14 20 9787550013247 201505 Ferryman ClaireMcFall UnitedKingdom BaihuazhouLiterature&ArtPublishingHouse ForeignAuthorNonfictionBestsellers,June2020 May2020Ranking June2020Ranking ISBN ReleaseDate Title(Translated) Author Authornationality ChinesePublisher 1 1 9787544276986 2019-10 Educated:AMemoir TaraWestover UnitedStatesofAmerica NanHaiPublishingCo. 2 2 9787550268517 2016-07 PositiveDiscipline JaneNelsen UnitedStatesofAmerica BeijingUnionPublishingCo.,Ltd. 3 3 9787540489304 2019-01 Danshari YamashitaEiko Japan HunanLiterature&ArtPress NotRanked 4 9787807639817 2013-07 Danshari YamashitaEiko Japan GuangxiScience&TechnologyPress 4 5 9787508095226 2018-09 NonviolentCommunication MarshallB.Rosenberg UnitedStatesofAmerica HuaxiaPublishingHouse 5 6 9787540471194 2019-02 Relationship:BridgetotheSoul ChristoperMoon Canada HunanLiterature&ArtPress NotRanked 7 9787508687216 2018-08 PoorEconomics:ARadicalRethinkingoftheWaytoFightGlobalPoverty AbhijitV.Banerjee,EstherDuflo UnitedStatesofAmerica CITICPublishingHouseCo.,Ltd 6 8 9787547734315 2019-09 LifeisWorthLiving NakamuraTsuneko Japan Beijingdailypublishinghouse NotRanked 9 9787532772322 2016-08 Guns,Germs,andSteel:TheFatesofHumanSocieties JaredDiamond UnitedStatesofAmerica ShanghaiTranslationPublishingHouse NotRanked 10 9787220114045 2019-07 RichDadPoorDad RobertT.Kiyosaki UnitedStatesofAmerica SichuanPeople’sPublishingHouse NotRanked 11 9787521713305 2020-03 WhatItTakes:LessonsinthePursuitofExcellence StephenA.Schwarzman UnitedStatesofAmerica CITICPublishingHouseCo.,Ltd 17 12 9787020116133 2017-06 RedStarOverChina EdgarSnow UnitedStatesofAmerica People’sLiteraturePublishingHouse NotRanked 13 9787210096528 2017-09 Mindset:TheNewPsychologyofSuccess CarolS.Dweck UnitedStatesofAmerica JiangxiPeople’sPublishingHouse 8 14 9787514219203 2017-09 TheWillpowerInstinct(NewEdition) KellyMcGonigal UnitedStatesofAmerica CulturalDevelopmentPublishingHouse 7 15 9787201088822 2014-09 HowtoWinFriends&InfluencePeople DaleCarnegie UnitedStatesofAmerica TianjinPeople’sPublishingHouse 9 16 9787508660752 2017-02 Sapiens:ABriefHistoryofHumankind YuvalNoahHarari Israel CITICPublishingHouseCo.,Ltd 10 17 9787535732309 2001-11 ABriefHistoryofTime StephenW.Hawking UnitedKingdom HunanScience&TechnologyPress 12 18 9787508684031 2017-12 Principles RayDalio UnitedStatesofAmerica CITICPublishingHouseCo.,Ltd 14 19 9787301109489 2006-10 AGlobalHistory:FromPrehistorytothe21stCentury(Vol.1) L.S.Stavrianos UnitedStatesofAmerica PekingUniversityPress 15 20 9787301110522 2006-10 AGlobalHistory:FromPrehistorytothe21stCentury(Vol.2) L.S.Stavrianos UnitedStatesofAmerica PekingUniversityPress NotesontheCharts OpenBookisaprivatelyownedindustry-dataresearchfirmbasedinBeijing.ItfunctionssomewhatasNielsenandNDPdofromtheWest,andNielsenBookResearchInternationalhasworkedwithOpenBookinAsianoperations.Withauthoritativedataandinformationresources,OpenBookisabletodeliverconsultingservicetopartnerswhowouldliketoexploretheChinesebookmarketandidentifysuitablepartners. JiangBoyanLLCadvisesauthorsandright’sholdersonglobalintellectualpropertyandinvestmentopportunities. AsofJanuary1,2020,OpenBookmonitoredmorethan10,000onlineandofflinebookstores. Theonlinechannelincludesdigitalretailerssuchaslargeself-operatedonlinestores,platformstores,andsmall-andmedium-sizedstores.Theofflinechannelsinclude4,495bookstores.Coverageincludesmostofthestate-ownedandinfluentialprivatelyownedbookstoresin30provinces,municipalities,andautonomousregions.Taiwan,HongKong,andTibetarenotincludedinOpenBook’ssystem. In2019,OpenBooktrackedaround71.72billionRMBinsales(US$10.1billion). Retailoutletsinclude: Traditionalbookstores Supermarkets Campusbookstores “Professional”stores,saidtobesmallstoreswithaspecificindustrialortradefocus Airportstores Inaddition,OpenBookisdrawingdatafromonlinebookstoresofthreemaintypes: The“Tmall”storesofAlibaba(Tmallisdescribedasamarketplaceofcompaniesthatcreatestorefrontsonlinetosellproductsincludingbooks) The“JingDong”StoresofJD.com(similartoTmallasamarketplaceofbothindividualcompaniesandbookstoresoperatedbyJD.com) Tenindependentonlinebooksellingretailers Chinahas500ormorepublishersinoperationtoday.Mostofthem,TrajectoryCEOJamesBryantclarifies,aregovernment-owned.PrivatepublishersarerequiredtogenerateISBNsfortheirtitlesfromapublishingcompanythatisgovernment-owned—which,inotherwords,createsasysteminwhichallISBNsareinonewayoranotherregisteredthroughgovernmentchannels.ThegovernmentapproveseachbookpublishedinChina. MoreChinabestsellerreportsfromPublishingPerspectivesarehere.AndmorefromusonthecoronavirusCOVID-19pandemicanditsimpactoninternationalbookpublishingis here andattheCORONAVIRUStabatthetopofeachpageofoursite. AbouttheAuthorPorterAndersonFacebookTwitterGoogle+PorterAndersonisanon-residentfellowofTrendsResearch&Advisory,andhehasbeennamedInternationalTradePressJournalistoftheYearinLondonBookFair'sInternationalExcellenceAwards.HeisEditor-in-ChiefofPublishingPerspectives.HeformerlywasAssociateEditorforTheFutureBookatLondon'sTheBookseller.AndersonwasformorethanadecadeaseniorproducerandanchorwithCNN.com,CNNInternational,andCNNUSA.Asasanartscritic(NationalCriticsInstitute),hewaswithTheVillageVoice,theDallasTimesHerald,andtheTampaTribune,nowtheTampaBayTimes.Heco-foundedTheHotSheet,anewsletterforauthors,whichnowisownedandoperatedbyJaneFriedman. SUBSCRIBESignuptogetourFREEemailedition,MondaytoFriday!SUBSCRIBE» BrowsePopularTopics Authors Bestsellers BookPrizes BookSales Bookselling Children’sBooks DigitalPublishing Distribution Education FrankfurtBookFair Literature LondonBookFair Marketing Reading Rights Statistics Translation Writing BrowseCountries/Regions Africa Asia Australia Brazil Canada China Europe France Germany India Italy LatinAmerica Mexico MiddleEast Russia SoutheastAsia Spain Turkey USA UK TypeandPress“enter”toSearch