Beijing Bestsellers: Marx makes a comeback

Karl Marx is hot again.

Looking for some nice springtime reading? Why, the dismal science, of course! When was the last time Karl Marx was a bestseller?

People’s Daily Press has come out with a new abridged, hardbound translation of Marx’s classic Capital (#10). The angle on this edition tries to sell the book’s status as an essential historical text – the slipcover reads “the book that has influenced over 50% of the world’s population” and “the one book you really should read but have never read.”

The Beijing News suggests that World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April, during which bookstores offered discounts on classics, contributed to Capital‘s high sales. Will anyone actually read it? They can always look at the pictures, I guess – this is an illustrated edition.

Robert’s Rules of Order (#2 Academic) is another classic selling well this week. It lists a publication date of last October but appears to have just recently struck it big.

The overall bestseller list for the week of 04/21–04/27:

1. (1) Brothers (part II) by Yu Hua. (余华, 《兄弟》下)
2. (4) Fight like a man by Huang Jianxiang. (黄健翔, 《像男人那样去战斗》)
3. (2) Pan Shiyi’s Blog by Pan Shiyi. (潘石屹, 《潘石屹的博客》)
4. (5) Padma by Annie Baby. (安妮宝贝, 《莲花》)
5. (3) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. (丹·布郎,《达·芬奇密码》)
6. (7) Who are you working for? by Chen Kaiyuan. (陈凯元, 《你在为谁工作》)
7. (6) Mao: A Biography by Ross Terrill. There’s a brief note here. (特里尔, 《毛泽东传》)
8. (9) Brothers (part I) by Yu Hua. (余华, 《兄弟》上)
9. (-) Deception Point by Dan Brown. (丹·布朗, 《骗局》)
10. (-) Capital by Karl Marx. A new, abridged, illustrated translation. (马克思, 《资本论》)

The overall bestseller list for the week of 04/14–04/20:

1. (1) Brothers (part II) by Yu Hua. (余华, 《兄弟》下)
2. (2) Pan Shiyi’s Blog by Pan Shiyi. (潘石屹, 《潘石屹的博客》)
3. (3) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. (丹·布郎,《达·芬奇密码》)
4. (5) Fight like a man by Huang Jianxiang. (黄健翔, 《像男人那样去战斗》)
5. (4) Padma by Annie Baby. (安妮宝贝, 《莲花》)
6. (-) Mao: A Biography by Ross Terrill. There’s a brief note here. (特里尔, 《毛泽东传》)
7. (-) Who are you working for? by Chen Kaiyuan. (陈凯元, 《你在为谁工作》)
8. (7) Laozi and common life by Yao Ganming. (姚淦铭, 《老子与百姓生活》)
9. (-) Brothers (part I) by Yu Hua. (余华, 《兄弟》上)
10. (-) Cross the Art by Teng Shichu. (腾矢初, 《穿越艺术》)

Bestseller rankings are taken from the Friday Book Review section in The Beijing News, which compiles its data from the city’s major online and brick & mortar bookstores.