By Raymond Zhou

About 230,000 new books were published last year and the number in 2008 will be similar, possibly slightly higher. The publishing industry is flourishing, to say the least. Ironically, though, 2008 is considered to be a "small year" because not many monumental works came out. In fact, it is pretty hard to compile a list of even 10 new books that are both significant and influential.

But then, even the most avid reader cannot cover all of them, or even a representative sample. I depended on others' expert opinions to offer a glimpse of what Chinese publishers are pushing through and what readers are thumbing through.