Children's Publishing Industry in Chaos: "Those Who Achieve Great Things and Understand Social Etiquette" Ranks in the Top Ten of Sales

The Paper News Reporter Yang Baobao

Recently, a video of Zheng Zhong, President of Zhejiang Juvenile & Children’s Publishing House, giving a speech about children’s publishing went viral online. In just a few minutes, his sharp and straightforward views quickly resonated with parents, educators, and publishers, leading to widespread sharing.

In the video, he criticizes the chaos in current children’s publishing, saying, “Children’s publishing has become pseudo-publishing! Last year, many of the top ten best-selling children’s books were selling anxiety. Kids today lack non-utilitarian reading; they have no stories, no poetry, no distant horizons. Does this represent the reading level of our future generations of citizens?”

In Zheng Zhong’s posted 2025 Children’s Book Sales Chart, the top five books are “1000 Questions About Chinese Culture in Comics,” “Achievers: My Destiny Is Up to Me, Not Heaven,” “The Way of the Wolf,” “Winning with Breakthrough Thinking,” and “Home with Children: Girls, Self-Safety Is More Important.” The first children’s literary work appears only at rank 57—Cao Wenxuan’s “Bronze Sunflower”—while the long-standing top 10 bestseller “Charlotte’s Web” is at rank 63.

2025 Children’s Publishing Retail Top Ten

From once being dominated by literary books to now flooded with success guides, psychology, and quick-knowledge books, how have children’s reading and publishing changed over the years? And what impact has this had on young children? The Paper News interviewed President Zheng Zhong.

Chaotic Children’s Publishing and Damaged Reading Ecology

“The core issue in children’s publishing today is the complete collapse of the channel ecosystem. This not only stalls industry growth but also directly harms every child’s reading life,” Zheng Zhong told The Paper News. The most obvious change is the complete loss of children’s autonomy in choosing books.

“Actually, the past 20 years since the new century have been a golden period of rapid growth in children’s publishing.” Zheng Zhong recalls that from 2000 to 2019, the annual growth rate of children’s publishing remained in double digits, driving the upward trend of China’s retail book market. In 2016, children’s books even surpassed social sciences books to become the largest segment in the retail market.

That period also marked the rise of children’s literature. Starting with the introduction of the “Harry Potter” series into China, children’s literature gradually grew from a neglected category to a major part of children’s publishing, once holding over 45% market share. In the most prosperous times, bestsellers in this genre accounted for over 75%, with authors like Yang Hongying, Shen Shixi, Cao Wenxuan, and imported titles like “Harry Potter” and “The Adventure Little Tigers” dominating bestseller lists. During weekends and school holidays, bookstores in big cities were crowded with children reading and choosing books, and parents were willing to leave their kids in bookstores.

“Back then, more than half of children’s books were purchased spontaneously by children themselves—they were ‘child-centered.’ They genuinely loved these books, which led to many bestsellers and even super-bestsellers. Most of these were literary works that became popular among children naturally,” Zheng Zhong said.

Many of the children’s books that once topped retail charts were children’s literature.

The turning point began in 2020. “Since 2020, children’s publishing has started to decline, and it has been falling for five consecutive years.” Alongside industry downturns, physical bookstores have also declined. “Before the pandemic, physical bookstores accounted for over 50% of children’s book sales, but now that share has dropped to 3%. The soil for directly cultivating children’s reading habits has vanished.”

Replacing it is a utilitarian book-buying model led by parents. “Now, over 90% of children’s books are purchased online by parents, leaving children with almost no autonomy. Most Chinese parents choose books based on one criterion—usefulness, whether it improves grades, or helps learn more knowledge, preferably linked directly to exams,” Zheng Zhong explained. This utilitarian mindset has led to the decline of children’s literature. “Previously, children’s literature made up half of children’s publishing, but last year it plummeted to 16.78%. In Western developed countries, this proportion is as high as 70%. The gap is huge.”

Even more worrying is that many “bestsellers” on the charts are problematic, low-quality “questionable books.” Zheng Zhong bluntly states that the top 30 children’s books are mostly utilitarian, copyright-free, high-priced, and low-discount compilations. He estimates that with the decline of traditional retail channels and the rapid growth of new media channels, “70% or more of the 100-yuan books sold online are spent on traffic costs. Publishers can only afford to spend the remaining 30 yuan on editing, printing, and distribution. If they also pay 8-10% royalties to authors, the book can’t cover costs.” As a result, high-quality original books rarely enter high-traffic live streams. Most best-selling children’s books on new media are poorly made compilations with little originality and no royalties paid. “To survive, publishers have to abandon quality originals and focus on quick, utilitarian books. In five years, no new children’s original IP has been cultivated.”

Piracy further worsens the situation. “Whenever a good book becomes popular, within five days, pirated links appear on major platforms. Piracy has reached a point where almost every book is pirated, severely squeezing the space for genuine, high-quality books.”

Utilitarian Reading Damaging Children’s Childhood

Zheng Zhong believes that the chaos in children’s publishing seems like an internal industry issue but actually causes deep, subtle harm to children’s growth. “When children lose the right to choose their books independently, they also lose interest and joy in reading. Reading should be enjoyable, but now it has become a task. Under such circumstances, it’s hard for children to develop lifelong reading habits.”

Regarding questionable “problematic books,” Zheng Zhong warns of their harm. “These books lack scientific and literary value. Most are fragmented knowledge compilations that not only fail to nourish children spiritually but also mislead their cognition, fostering fast-food, fragmented reading habits.” The harm of pirated books is even more direct: “Pirated books are poorly printed, with many errors, which affects reading and damages children’s eyesight. More importantly, piracy squeezes out genuine books, making it difficult for children to access quality literature, severely limiting their reading horizons.”

Even more alarming is that a distorted reading ecology intensifies children’s anxiety. “In the top ten children’s books of 2023, four are psychology comics for elementary school students, reflecting the increasing psychological pressure on children,” Zheng Zhong said helplessly. Many parents try to alleviate their children’s anxiety with such books but are mistaken. “Parents think these books are useful, but they only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. Truly nourishing a child’s soul are high-quality literary works—books that make them feel beauty, learn empathy, and imagine. Utilitarian reading only makes children more anxious, superficial, and deprived of childhood happiness.”

Restoring a Pure Reading Environment for Children

Zheng Zhong believes that solving the current predicament in children’s publishing requires joint efforts from publishers, platforms, and parents to rebuild a healthy reading ecology and give children a truly warm and valuable reading experience.

For the publishing industry, the primary task is to crack down on price manipulation and piracy. “Publishers can build self-operated systems, such as establishing cloud warehouses and implementing drop-shipping to reduce distribution links and control prices from the source. We should also collaborate with media and consumer associations to expose piracy, file complaints, and shorten piracy response times, creating space for genuine, high-quality books.”

For major online platforms, Zheng Zhong recommends implementing “technology-controlled pricing” and establishing “traffic special zones.” He explains, “Books and other mass-market goods are different. Their core value for platforms is attracting customers for free, increasing user stickiness, and building brand value. Platforms shouldn’t treat books the same as clothes or jewelry, using the same traffic logic. When setting traffic prices, platforms should offer preferential policies for books. Only then will publishers be willing to bring books, and high-quality books can enter new media sales.”

“Utilitarian reading is a systemic issue involving channel ecology, traffic ecology, changes in physical retail, and social and psychological problems we face today,” Zheng Zhong emphasized. “Only through multi-party collaboration can we change the plight of children’s publishing and see more classic, quality books on children’s desks.”