Poor copy of Ice Bucket challenges readers

Many celebrities list their top 10 books in the Book List Challenge popular on Sina Weibo.[Photo/China Daily]

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.