Poor copy of Ice Bucket challenges readers

[Photo/China Daily]

The past summer witnessed the Ice Bucket Challenge going viral on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of the Twitter. Following in its path more recently is the Book List Challenge.

The meme asks Chinese social media users to list the top 10 books that have exerted the greatest influence on their lives, and then nominate online friends to do the same.

Like the Ice Bucket Challenge, the Book List Challenge is a drive that was first started by a foreign charity on Facebook and then swept the Chinese Internet.

The challenge started on Sina Weibo on Sept 5, when writer-translator Fang Bolin listed his top 10 books.

Two days later, Hong Kong writer Liao Weitang followed suit, and as comments to his post soon snowballed to the hundreds, the challenge began picking up.

On the evening of Mid-Autumn Festival day on Sept 8, the challenge was listed among hottest keywords on Sina Weibo.

On Sept 9, Hua Shao Loves Reading Books, the Sina Weibo account of a popular book reading TV program aired by Hu'nan Satellite TV, listed 10 books, including Three Hundred Tang Poems, A Dream of Red Mansions, Fortress Besieged, To Live and The Little Prince.

It challenged famous writers and such celebrities as Yu Dan, Feng Tang, Shi Hang and Zhang Jiajia, to participate. Some, such as Feng Tang and Shi Hang, accepted the challenge, but others did not.

As the challenge continued, more and more people got involved.

Li Jiajia, an achor at Guangdong Satellite TV, based in Guangzhou in Guangdong province, accepted the challenge on Sept 26, after a friend working at Phoenix Satellite TV nominated her.

She listed 10 books, including Wuthering Heights, 1984, Animal Farm and Chinese writer Yu Hua's Brothers and To Live.

"The books I listed were those I could remember instantly when I received the challenge," Li says. "They are both insightful and a pleasure to read, and they easily stand out from what I have read."

The Book List Challenge, however, has failed to make as big a splash as the Ice Bucket Challenge did.

For one thing, it hasn't attracted as many public figures as the Ice Bucket Challenge. Apart from some writers or critics, very few celebrities－especially those in show business－took part in the book challenge.

A Sina Weibo user known as Dongdongqiangstraightforwardly comments that the book challenge is "just a poor people's version of the ice challenge". Even among people in the book and publishing industry, the challenge has held limited appeal.

Mao Kunlun, a senior editor with a private publishing company based in Beijing, says he noticed the book challenge on social media, but didn't join in. No one had nominated him, but that is not the reason he chose not to participate.

He says: "There are so many influential books. It is hard and meaningless to select 10 to say they are the most influential. Even if someone did nominate me, I would probably ignore the request."

The book challenge made news headlines, with critics commenting on the lack of its wide acceptance and the fact that many people listed popular fiction and textbooks as books that inspired them most, which indicated that Chinese people are not only reading less but also not enough good books.

Moreover, the Book List Challenge on Facebook, which went viral in August and September, worked for a cause. It not only asked people to list their top 10 books, but also asked them to donate the books to their nearby library or to needy people, and challenge others to do the same.

But the Chinese version of the challenge didn't have any such aspect. Many people, including Mao, felt uncomfortable to equate reading with "challenge".

"Reading is very personal. It should never be about competition or demonstration," he says.

Li, the TV anchor, didn't pass on the challenge to others, because she felt it was rude to compel others to accept it.