Coloring books sell hot in China in 2015

Chinese online bookstores Amazon, Dangdang and Jingdong have released their best-seller lists for 2015, showing that The Secret Garden, an all the rage coloring book with only 264 characters, is the book most people spent money on in the past year.

中国网上书店亚马逊、当当和京东均发布了2015畅销书排行榜。数据显示，《秘密花园》，这本仅有264个字的风靡一时的图画书，是过去一年里卖的最火的一本书。

"Sales of The Secret Garden reached a million copies three months since it hit the shelves, and total sales in 2015 are more than 1.5 million," Chen Lijun, manager at Dangdang's publications devision, told Huaxi Metropolis Daily.

当当网出版物事业部经理陈丽君告诉华西都市报记者，"《秘密花园》在上架后三个月内售出了一百万本，2015年的销售总额超过150万。"

"I think coloring is a good way to relax," said Xiong Xin, a 27-year-old staff worker at a state-owned enterprise in Beijing who bought the book soon after it came out. Anne Ruisi, an expat working in China who received the book from a colleague, also says the book gives her the pleasure of being creative through drawing and painting.

《秘密花园》刚出版后，北京某国企27岁的职工熊信就购买了本书，他说，"我觉得涂色是一种很好的放松方式。"移居中国工作的安妮.瑞斯的同事也送了这本书给她，她也认为通过绘画和涂色，体验到了创作的快乐。

The sold out popularity of the book, while not surprising, is quite accidental to some cultural critics – it is a byproduct of the growing young middle class's endeavor to escape from work and life pressures.

这本书的畅销不足为奇，但意外的遭到了文化界的批评——它被认为是越来越多的年轻中产阶级努力想要逃避工作和生活压力的副产品。

"The book is more about participation and recreation. Its popularity suggests that the book is becoming an alternative for the young middle class Chinese to let out pressure," Peking University professor and cultural critic Zhang Yiwu told China Daily Website.

北京大学教授，文化评论家张颐武在接受中国日报采访时说，"这本书，更多的是参与和娱乐。其受欢迎程度表明，涂色书正在成为年轻一代中产阶级释放压力的选择之一。"

Zhang said it also explained why so called "healing" books are among the top sellers. "Books that are easy to read, those that are sentimental and humorous respond well to the emotional and spiritual needs of the young Chinese middle class. I Belonged to You by Zhang Jiajia and As Long as You are Here by Liu Tong, for example, are representatives of such a genre," Zhang said.

张教授说，这同时也解释了为什么所谓的"治愈系"书最畅销。"那些易于阅读的，那些或感伤的、或幽默的书，很好的迎合了中国年轻一代中产阶级情感和精神的需要。比如，张嘉佳的《从你的全世界路过》和刘同的《你的孤独，虽败犹荣》，都是这个流派的代表。"

Books concerning children, as last year, did not miss out among the top 10 – only that the focus shifted from children's literature to education. Such demands, came as no surprise as the country is encouraging more babies and the middle class Chinese's interests in cultivating their children is on the rise.

有关儿童的书籍，和去年一样，畅销书前十也榜上有名，只是重点从儿童文学转移到儿童教育。随着国家鼓励生育，以及中国的中产阶级对孩子教育的兴趣上升，这类需求上升也在意料之中。

Other trending books include those spurred by same name movies or dramas, such as Wolf Totem written by Chinese writer Jiang Rong, The Little Prince by French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Ordinary World by Chinese writer Lu Yao. Web fictions that were firstly embraced by same name dramas, though not in the top 10, also sold very well.

其他趋势的书籍包括那些受同名影视剧所推动的作品，如中国作家姜戎所著《狼图腾》，法国作家安东尼.德.圣艾修伯里的《小王子》和中国作家路遥《平凡的世界》。那些首次被搬上荧幕的网络小说，虽然没有进入前十，却也卖得非常火。

The only economics and management book on the list is Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, ranked second and fourth in Jingdong and Amazon's selling lists. The book, recommended by many worldwide CEOs including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, seems to be an echo to the growing number of aspiring entrepreneurs in Chinese society.

名单上唯一的经济管理类书籍——《从0到1：开启商业与未来的秘密》，分别在京东和亚马逊的畅销书单中名列第二和第四。这本书，被国内外的许多CEO所推荐，包括FacebookCEO马克.扎克伯格。它似乎在越来越多的中国社会大有抱负的企业家中产生了反响。