"While Douban is by no means representative of all of China, it’s pretty representative of China’s young intellectual class. And in a country with almost no major independent literary prizes or dedicated book review venues, that makes Douban’s annual Best Books of the Year lists a pretty big deal."
- Top books: good year for literary memoir, dismal year for fiction
- Fiction: strong feminist representation in a weak year
- Rapid fire: the rest of the lists
Thanks to Andrew, Cold Winter Newsletter, 18 Dec 2025