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.