‘Store-exclusive merchandise’ and ‘women-centric fiction’ are spotted on the May bestseller charts in Mainland China.

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

Fast Arrivals and Stalwart Series

What our associates at Beijing OpenBook call “women-centric fiction”—based on the search for “spiritual empowerment through reading”—is one of the drivers behind the dynamics of the May fiction charts for Mainland China.

One of the examples offered is a book titled She Came To Split the Mountain by Bing he zhai, a book marketed as a collection of “feminist fairy tales.” Released in January by publisher Hua Cheng Chu Ban She, the book is described as using “fantastical frameworks to subvert traditional gender tropes.” These include “fairies flying without enchanted robes and princesses-in-distress who split mountains that symbolize `patriarchal constraints’ instead of waiting for rescue.

Titles of some of these stories include “The Field Mouse Bit Through the Fairy’s Feathers;” “The Fox Demon’s Heart;” “The Vanishing Saint;” “The Little Wild Boar’s Return;” “The Mad Lady’s Journey into the Abyss;” “The Price of the Fountain of Youth;” and “The Eyes of the Gorgon.”

She Came To Split the Mountain has gained what our associates discuss as “sustained traction through organic, ripple-effect recommendations on the [social-media and e-commerce] platform Little Red Book” known as Xiaohongshu. Aligned with the “RED” tradition of user-generated content, the platform’s reader testimonials from both readers and influencers. The kind of “continuous sales growth” being tracked for this book indicates that OpenBook’s team sees a jump onto the charts this summer to be possible.

Beyond the trend in “women-centric fiction,” the team at OpenBook is also impressed with the  arrival on the fiction chart of Reply to Keats at No. 1 in May, a book by Qing Ming Gu Yu published by Shanghai Culture Publishing House.

Released only in May, the jump into the top position on the traditionally slow-moving fiction chart reflects the popularity of the piece as a Web novel.

The physical edition of the book was released on retail platforms on May 24, with what we’re told is “an exquisite design and an additional 20,000-w0rd bonus chapter.” Before the release, discussions heavily centered on ‘store-exclusive merchandise.’

This factor has featured retailers offering premium related items including: postcards, stickers, enameled pins, playing cards, photochromic cards with color-changing inks, sealed envelopes, character cards, and plush toys.

Fans have talked it up as a “merch war,” many purchasing multiple editions to collect all six variants of signed inserts and other exclusive items. All of this seems to have worked, hurling the book to the top of the list in the same month it appeared.

And lastly, while one of the key characteristics we see frequently in our monthly updates on the Chinese bestsellers is the tendency for a slow rate of change, another is a remarkable affection for—and allegiance to—serials.

On our nonfiction charts, not only is one of Fei Zhi’s “If History Were a Group of Cats” cartoon-history series at No. 1—If History Were a Group of Cats: Qing Dynasty from Guangdong Tourism Publishing House—but fully half the chart, 15 of 30 titles

Below, then, are OpenBook’s overall lists from May 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, May 2025

May 2025 Ranking	ISBN	Release Date	Title (Translated)	Author	Chinese Publisher
1	9787553531885	202505	Reply To Keats	Qing Ming Gu Yu	Shanghai Culture Publishing House
2	9787557032821	202504	If Journey to the West were a Group of Cats (1)	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
3	9787521769555	202501	Nezha: The Past of the Three Realms	Coco Cartoon, Coloroom Picture	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd.
4	9787572608582	202210	The Litchi Road	Ma Boyong	Hunan Literature & Art Press
5	9787536692930	200801	The Three-Body Problem	Liu Cixin	Chongqing Publishing House
6	9787536693968	200805	The Dark Forest	Liu Cixin	Chongqing Publishing House
7	9787530221532	202110	To Live (2021 Edition)	Yu Hua	Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House
8	9787506344791	200812	Street Wizards (Revised Edition)	Feng Jicai	The Writer’s Publishing House
9	9787229030933	201011	Death’s End	Liu Cixin	Chongqing Publishing House
10	9787807735786	202504	Jing Feng (3)	Hu Yu La Jiao	Tricircle Press
11	9787201112695	201703	Siddhartha	Hermann Hesse	Tianjin People’s Publishing House
12	9787536097261	202207	Someone To Talk To	Liu Zhenyun	Flower City Press
13	9787559682390	202504	My Dear Maltese	Maltese	Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd.
14	9787020002207	199807	Dream of the Red Chamber	Cao Xueqin	People’s Literature Publishing House
15	9787512517219	202411	Wait for Me Towards Light (vol.2)	Jiang Zi Bei	International Culture Publishing Corporation
16	9787512516236	202404	Wait for Me Towards Light (vol.1)	Jiang Zi Bei	International Culture Publishing Corporation
17	9787559464606	202401	End on the Tenth Day – The Prison Cage	Sha Chong Dui Dui Yuan	Jiangsu Literature & Art Press
18	9787559662675	202302	Meet in Spring	Zong Hu Xiu Hua	Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd.
19	9787573510921	202412	One Hundred Years of Solitude (2025 Edition)	Gabriel García Márquez	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
20	9787559481702	202404	End on the Tenth Day – The Labyrinth City	Sha Chong Dui Dui Yuan	Jiangsu Literature & Art Press
21	9787515373850	202408	Red Crag	Luo Guangbin,Yang Yiyan	China Youth Press
22	9787572610912	202305	The Annoyance of the Gods	Ma Boyong	Hunan Literature & Art Press
23	9787541161834	202207	Notebook of a Grave Robber (1)	Nanpai Sanshu	Sichuan Literature & Art Press
24	9787559485380	202406	End on the Tenth Day – The Unceasing	Sha Chong Dui Dui Yuan	Jiangsu Literature & Art Press
25	9787559484543	202407	I’m as Timid as a Hare	Yu Hua	Jiangsu Literature & Art Press
26	9787559485748	202408	End on The Tenth Day – The Paradise	Sha Chong Dui Dui Yuan	Jiangsu Literature & Art Press
27	9787201142708	201812	Klingsor’s Last Summer	Hermann Hesse	Tianjin People’s Publishing House
28	9787020139590	201906	The Last Quarter of the Moon	Chi Zijian	People’s Literature Publishing House
29	9787530221396	202106	Ordinary Word (3 Volumes)(2021 Edition)	Lu Yao	Beijing October Art & Literature Publishing House
30	9787506384209	201511	Street Wizards (2)	Feng Jicai	The Writer’s Publishing House

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OpenBook’s Nonfiction Bestsellers, May 2025

May 2025 Ranking	ISBN	Release Date	Title (Translated)	Author	Chinese Publisher
1	9787557033989	202502	If History were a Group of Cats: Qing Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
2	9787111495482	201504	The Courage to Be Disliked	Ichiro Kishimi,Fumitake Koga	China Machine Press
3	9787557033118	202406	If History were a Group of Cats: The Late Ming Dynasty and the Early Qing Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
4	9787201161693	202008	Counselling for Toads: A Psychological Adventure	Robert de Board	Tianjin People’s Publishing House
5	9787557031589	202311	If History were a Group of Cats: The Ming Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
6	9787557030599	202306	If History were a Group of Cats: Xia, Shang and Western Zhou Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
7	9787020084357	201104	I and the Temple of Earth	Shi Tiesheng	People’s Literature Publishing House
8	9787557023041	202010	If History were a Group of Cats: Sui and Tang Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
9	9787557030582	202306	If History were a Group of Cats: The Spring-autumn and Warring State Period	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
10	9787557024413	202105	If History were a Group of Cats: Prosperity of the Tang Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
11	9787557030162	202305	If History were a Group of Cats: Late Yuan and Early Ming Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
12	9787557017477	201902	If History were a Group of Cats: Qin, Chu, Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
13	9787557028657	202210	If History were a Group of Cats: Southern Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
14	9787557020149	201909	If History were a Group of Cats: Three Kingdoms	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
15	9787557027063	202204	If History were a Group of Cats: Song, Liao, Jin Dynasty and the Western Xia Regime	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
16	9787557025847	202111	If History were a Group of Cats: Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
17	9787557021856	202005	If History were a Group of Cats: Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
18	9787557020132	201909	If History were a Group of Cats: The End of Eastern Han Dynasty	Fei Zhi	Guangdong Tourism Publishing House
19	9787544276986	201910	Educated: A Memoir	Tara Westover	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
20	9787550207479	201206	Illustrate the World: 100 Most Beautiful Places in China	Editing Group of This Book	Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd.
21	9787547750407	202411	Unbowed by the Strong Wind	Mo Yan	Beijing daily publishing house
22	9787122450791	202404	Comic The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine	Zhang Jiaming, Wang Jing	Chemical Industry Press
23	9787521774665	202504	The Great Way: Duan Yongping’s Investment Q&A	Munger College, Zhao Liya	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd.
24	9787536094352	202109	My Altay	Li Juan	Flower City Press
25	9787540483432	201711	Jottings in Sickbed (Commemorative Edition 2021)	Shi Tiesheng	Hunan Literature & Art Press
26	9787541172243	202505	Hey, How are you?	Qi Sijun	Sichuan Literature & Art Press
27	9787201151656	201910	A Room of One’s Own	Virginia Woolf	Tianjin People’s Publishing House
28	9787214234346	201907	During Two Thousand Years (Revised Edition)	Hu Sheng	Jiangsu People’s Publishing House
29	9787115543424	202009	Cognitive Awakening: The Driving Force Behind Self-Change	Zhou Ling	Posts & Telecommunications Publishing House
30	9787531764700	202503	Insight, Enlightenment, and Wisdom	Ji Hao	North Literature & Art Press

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OpenBook’s Children’s Bestsellers, May 2025

May 2025 Ranking	ISBN	Release Date	Title (Translated)	Author	Chinese Publisher
1	9787522502816	202107	Biography of Ao Bing (1)	Erstrovsky, Guji, Li Zilan	Jiuzhou Press
2	9787534633362	200505	Bronze and Sunflower	Cao Wenxuan	Jiangsu Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
3	9787556882236	202408	Treasure Hunting in Jilin	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
4	9787556869572	202301	Treasure Hunting in Shanghai	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
5	9787558580949	202401	Traveling with Poetry	Rizhi Books	The North China Women & Children’s Publishing House
6	9787501609413	201504	Bronze and Sunflower	Cao Wenxuan	Foreign Literature Press
7	9787807733911	202412	Comics 1000 Questions of Chinese Culture	Gan Chao	Tricircle Press
8	9787556869589	202301	Treasure Hunting in Beijing	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
9	9787536574366	201601	Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: Stratego	Bei Mao	Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
10	9787536574397	201601	Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: Clever Little Prodigy	Bei Mao	Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
11	9787536574380	201601	Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: Who’s the Smart Guy?	Bei Mao	Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
12	9787536574373	201601	Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: The Great Adventure of the Castle	Bei Mao	Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
13	9787556878871	202311	Treasure Hunting in Shanxi	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
14	9787556869831	202302	Treasure Hunting in Hainan	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
15	9787556869602	202302	Treasure Hunting in Chongqing	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
16	9787556869596	202302	Treasure Hunting in Tianjin	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
17	9787556869640	202302	Treasure Hunting in Zhejiang	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
18	9787556869824	202302	Treasure Hunting in Xinjiang	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
19	9787556869664	202302	Treasure Hunting in Shaanxi	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
20	9787556869626	202302	Treasure Hunting in Sichuan	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
21	9787556869657	202302	Treasure Hunting in Gansu	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
22	9787556869695	202302	Treasure Hunting in Yunnan	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
23	9787556869848	202302	Treasure Hunting in Heilongjiang	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
24	9787536593749	202005	Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: Game of the Wise	Bei Mao	Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
25	9787556869619	202302	Treasure Hunting in Shandong	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
26	9787556869855	202302	Treasure Hunting in Neimenggu	Jingding Comic	21st Century Press Group
27	9787536593756	202005	Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: Password Discovery	Bei Mao	Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
28	9787536593459	202005	Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: ‘Have a Meal’ Restaurant	Bei Mao	Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
29	9787536587731	201804	Mi Xiaoquan School Experience: Trouble of the New Deskmate	Bei Mao	Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House
30	9787536593442	202005	Mi Xiaoquan’s Brain-teaser: The Magic Lamp	Bei Mao	Sichuan Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House

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Foreign Author Fiction Bestsellers, May 2025

May 2025 Ranking	ISBN	Release Date	Title (Translated)	Author	Author Nationality	Chinese Publisher
1	9787201112695	201703	Siddhartha	Hermann Hesse	Germany	Tianjin People’s Publishing House
2	9787573510921	202412	One Hundred Years of Solitude (2025 Edition)	Gabriel García Márquez	Colombia	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
3	9787201142708	201812	Klingsor’s Last Summer	Hermann Hesse	Germany	Tianjin People’s Publishing House
4	9787544766500	201701	To Kill a Mockingbird	Harper Lee	United States of America	Yilin Press
5	9787544291163	201708	Journey Under the Midnight Sun (2017 Edition)	Keigo Higashino	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
6	9787541160868	202109	The Vegetarian	Han Kang	Korea	Sichuan Literature & Art Press
7	9787208061644	200604	The Kite Runner	Khaled Hosseini	United States of America	Shanghai People’s Publishing House
8	9787544298995	202009	Miracles of the Namiya General Store (2020 Edition)	Keigo Higashino	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
9	9787201141527	201810	Strait is the Gate	Andre Gide	France	Tianjin People’s Publishing House
10	9787544291170	201708	One Hundred Years of Solitude (50th Anniversary Edition)	Gabriel García Márquez	Colombia	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
11	9787544269452	202112	Malice (2022 Edition)	Keigo Higashino	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
12	9787513932134	202012	Siddhartha	Hermann Hesse	Germany	Democracy and Construction Press
13	9787573500014	202111	The Devotion of Suspect X (2022 Edition)	Keigo Higashino	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
14	9787513348362	202208	Look Back	Tatsuki Fujimoto	Japan	New Star Press Co., Ltd.
15	9787573510037	202412	You Killed Someone	Keigo Higashino	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
16	9787544774635	201901	How the Steel Was Tempered (New Edition)	Nikolai Alexeevich Ostrovsky	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics	Yilin Press
17	9787521748239	202212	Goodbye, Eri	Tatsuki Fujimoto	Japan	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd.
18	9787573511317	202504	Black showman and the awakening women	Keigo Higashino	Japan	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
19	9787532761760	201308	The Outsider	Albert Camus	France	Shanghai Translation Publishing House
20	9787559614711	201801	Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit	Jeanette Winterson	Britain	Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd.

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Foreign Author Nonfiction Bestsellers, May 2025

May 2025 Ranking	ISBN	Release Date	Title (Translated)	Author	Author nationality	Chinese Publisher
1	9787111495482	201504	The Courage to Be Disliked	Ichiro Kishimi,Fumitake Koga	Japan	China Machine Press
2	9787201161693	202008	Counselling for Toads: A Psychological Adventure	Robert de Board	Britain	Tianjin People’s Publishing House
3	9787544276986	201910	Educated: A Memoir	Tara Westover	United States of America	Nan Hai Publishing Co.
4	9787201151656	201910	A Room of One’s Own	Virginia Woolf	Britain	Tianjin People’s Publishing House
5	9787550268517	201607	Positive Discipline (Revised Edition)	Jane Nelsen	United States of America	Beijing Union Publishing Co., Ltd.
6	9787522200514	202105	Nonviolent Communication	Marshall B.Rosenberg	United States of America	Huaxia Publishing House
7	9787508661766	201606	The Power of Now	Eckhart Tolle	Germany	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd.
8	9787521741124	202204	The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness	Eric Jorgenson	United States of America	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd.
9	9787516837375	202401	There’s An Elephant In Every Mosquito: Why We Don’t Get Upset About Little Things For No Reason	Ernstfried Hanisch, Eva Wunderer	Germany	Taihai Publishing House
10	9787508675534	201710	Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience	Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi	United States of America	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd.
11	9787508633558	201207	Thinking, Fast and Slow	Daniel Kanneman	United States of America	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd.
12	9787515360430	202007	The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Revised Edition)	Stephen R. Covey	United States of America	China Youth Press
13	9787513360364	202504	The Fifth Consumption Era	Atsushi Miura	Japan	New Star Press Co., Ltd.
14	9787020116133	201606	Red Star Over China	Edgar Snow	United States of America	People’s Literature Publishing House
15	9787515350622	201804	The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People	Stephen R. Covey	United States of America	China Youth Press
16	9787559488787	202409	Pet Dog Suspects the Universe for Scheming to Take Its Place	R. Tagore	India	Jiangsu Literature & Art Press
17	9787521719253	202008	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.
18	9787108009821	199807	1587, A Year of No Significance	Ray Huang	United States of America	SDX Joint Publishing Company
19	9787111703631	202204	The Effective Executive	Peter F. Drucker	United States of America	China Machine Press
20	9787521768527	202408	Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI	Yuval Noah Harari	Israel	CITIC Publishing House Co., Ltd.

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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 26,000 online and off-line bookstores.

The online channel includes digital retailers such as large self-operated online stores, platform stores, and small- and medium-sized stores.

The off-line channels include more than 5,100 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 2024, OpenBook tracked around 82.66 billion RMB in sales (US$11.39 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.

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More China bestseller reports from Publishing Perspectives are here, and more on the Chinese book publishing market is here.