Traditional books back in fashion

"This is the best time for Chinese traditional culture," he says, adding that "especially at a time when social media is highly developed so that videos can go viral in a very short time. For publishers, this trend provides a lot of opportunities".

Xiron has launched not only works from established writers such as Yu Qiuyu, Zhou Guoping, Meng Man and Wang Meng, but also works that cater to the flavor of young people, like the cartoon series of Foodie Boy Comics: The Amazing History of Food.

Yu Qiuyu's Lectures on Chinese Culture published in 2019 has sold more than 300,000 copies. It is a systematic interpretation of Chinese traditional culture by the essayist and scholar. A teenager version has also sold more than 300,000 copies.

Xiron is not the only publisher that tries to seize the opportunities, but Pan says there are a lot of books about traditional Chinese culture in the market, but whether they can sell well depends on whether "young people can have fun in reading".

For example, when designing the bestselling book The Travel Guide to the Tang Dynasty, the publisher tried to tell readers through the book cover that rather than heavy and difficult, this historical book offers an experiential reading. In an amusing and creative way, it talks about the historical background and social and cultural knowledge more than 1,000 years ago that common people can relate to now, Pan says.

"So we have been trying to switch our identity and perspective to those of readers to turn books that we think good into books that readers really like," he says.