Survey reveals two sides to China story

A recent survey found that the subject matter of books about Chinese culture in the overseas market falls largely within the realm of traditional, rather than contemporary, culture - a trend that may not be presenting an accurate reflection of modern-day China.

Since books and publishing are an important channel for cultural communication, the Horizon Research Center examined books pertaining to Chinese culture and their overseas readership, by analyzing data extracted from e-commerce giant Amazon.

The research team selected the top 100 books with the most reviews and the top 100 books with the highest average of customer reviews within the category of Chinese culture, which respectively reflect the readers' areas of interest and the disposition of their comments.