# China Bestsellers, May 2026: Screen Adaptations Drive Book Sales **Date:** 26.06.2026 **URL:** https://samolit.com/news/26 OpenBook has released data on book sales for May 2026 in China, covering fiction, nonfiction, and children's categories, and also highlighting popular titles by international authors. The Chinese book market in May clearly demonstrates how adapting books into films or TV shows significantly boosts… --- ![](/storage/images/news-content/26/26-1782492335.webp) OpenBook has released data on book sales for May 2026 in China, covering fiction, nonfiction, and children's categories, and also highlighting popular titles by international authors. The Chinese book market in May clearly demonstrates how adapting books into films or TV shows significantly boosts the sales of their original print versions. While the top three fiction titles maintained their positions, albeit in a shuffled sequence, Zhang Jiajia's latest work, **The Echo of Farewell**, secured the fourth spot on the list. Zhang has cultivated a substantial and devoted fanbase, thanks to earlier publications like **I Belonged to You**, alongside strategic marketing efforts and successful livestream sales events on Douyin, China's equivalent of TikTok. The highly popular television series "Leading Role," which premiered on May 10th on CCTV-1 during primetime and was also available on Tencent Video, spurred a surge in sales for Chen Yan's acclaimed novel that served as its source material. Fei Zhi's well-received **If Cats** series largely occupied the top ten positions in nonfiction, and although not detailed in the provided charts, self-help books maintained strong sales, especially through online retail platforms. Historian Shi Zhan's **Rivers and Mountains**, launched in March, also entered the top 30. This book explores China's history through its geographical features, such as mountains and rivers, addressing the core question of what defines China, and generated considerable debate after its publication. For children's books, the May 8th release of the "Bronze and Sunflower" movie significantly boosted sales for two distinct versions of Cao Wenxuan's novel. Additionally, other popular children's titles reflect parental worries about excessive screen time, featuring books that blend comic-style artwork to captivate young readers. Recalling April's report, the **Demon Slayer** manga series secured five bestseller spots, likely influenced by its film adaptation. This month, the series nearly swept the entire Top Ten, underscoring the global impact of movies on boosting book sales. OpenBook, a privately held data research company situated in Beijing, operates similarly to Western firms like Nielsen and NDP, and has collaborated with Nielsen Book Research International for its Asian activities. Leveraging its robust data and information assets, OpenBook provides consulting services to partners interested in navigating the Chinese book market and finding appropriate collaborators. According to its most recent update, OpenBook tracks over 26,000 bookstores, encompassing both online and physical establishments. Its online monitoring covers various digital retailers, including major self-managed online shops, platform-based stores, and smaller to medium-sized outlets. The offline segment comprises over 5,100 bookstores, covering the majority of state-owned and prominent private bookstores across 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, though Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibet are excluded from OpenBook's data. In 2024, OpenBook recorded approximately 82.66 billion RMB (US$11.39 billion) in sales. These retail outlets consist of traditional bookstores, supermarkets, campus bookstores, specialized "professional" stores focusing on particular industries or trades, and airport stores. Furthermore, OpenBook gathers data from three primary categories of online bookstores: Alibaba's Tmall stores, which function as a marketplace for companies to sell various products including books; JD.com's JingDong Stores, a similar marketplace featuring both individual companies and JD.com-operated bookstores; and ten distinct independent online booksellers. Currently, mainland China hosts over 500 operational publishers, predominantly government-owned. Private publishers must obtain ISBNs for their books from state-owned publishing houses, effectively ensuring all ISBNs are registered via government channels. The Chinese government must approve every book released in the country.