Government force student to read some western/Russia famous fiction book,every 2-3 grades student should do that because is their homework,and the story plot of the book will test in some exam(like ,Chinese exam is 120 marks ,and “familiar with famous book” is like 5 marks),so yes,they’re popular.
Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings are also mandatory for student to read,Harry Potter/Sherlock Holmes is mandatory for elementary school,The Lord of the Ring is for junior high school,Shakespare’s novel also,there’s a list of book that every students should read and will test in exam.I was not so happy for reading these book when I was a student(because you really need to read a lots of book at spare time,meanwhile you need to study your own class),but thanks to this policy,all of classic western character become super well-known.