When it comes to Chinese novels written before the 20th century, just a few have traditionally been declared standards:
[ul][li]Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sānguó Yǎnyì / 三國演義)[/li]
[li]Water Margin (a.k.a. Outlaws of the Marsh) (Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn / 水滸傳)[/li]
[li]Journey to the West (Xīyóu Jì / 西游記)[/li]
[li]Dream of the Red Chamber (a.k.a. Story of the Stone) (Hónglóu Mèng / 紅樓夢)[/li]
[li]Golden Lotus (Jīn Píng Méi / 金瓶梅)[/li][/ul]
How many of these have you read? How about tried to read but never finished?
I’ll start things off by admitting that although I’ve read bits and pieces of all of those, the Golden Lotus is the only one I’ve managed to finish.
I did a course, so I’ve read most of them. BTW, the translations of Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Jin Ping-mei (the David Roy translation) are real achievements of scholarship and cross-cultural understanding. As far as I know Roy has only completed the first volume of the Jin Ping-mei though.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sānguó Yǎnyì / 三國演義) Finished
Water Margin (a.k.a. Outlaws of the Marsh) (Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn / 水滸傳) Finished
Journey to the West (Xīyóu Jì / 西游記) Finished, but it got to be an ordeal.
Dream of the Red Chamber (a.k.a. Story of the Stone) (Hónglóu Mèng / 紅樓夢) Fell Asleep Makes War & Peace look like Cliff Notes.
Golden Lotus (Jīn Píng Méi / 金瓶梅) Finished
I read them in Chinese, so my dictionary got a work-out.
I always enjoyed 傳奇話本 short stories. I’m a sucker for ancient soap opera.
I want to read all of these, but so far have only finished Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There’s also a few more that I’d like to read someday, like 聊齋誌異 (Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio), 東周列國志 (Romance of the Eastern Zhou), and 老殘遊記 (The Travels of Old Can).
sorry, not into the pre-modern classics… u think in 5 thousand years, they could have produced more stuff. I can only see so many versions of the Monkey King before I wanna throw up.
Yeah you got a good point…my professor said it was because novels were traditionally looked down upon as lowbrow by the literati, who were the only literate ones. And they only comprised 15% of the population. Still, I really do like the few novels that they did come up with.
For me the most disappointing was the Qing lou meng (like hong lou meng, but Blue, not red - qing lou means a brothel).
I was expecting something pretty racy… but it was a lot of romantic twaddle where it just so happened some girl came from a very idealised and romanticized brothel… in fact, i remember very little about it, it was that good…
Although cranky loawai lists (some of) the classics, there are a huge number of other traditional novels out there - but mostly I’ve found them very disappointing and usually give up after a hundred pages or so…
if anyone ever discovers a good one please let me know…
[quote=“steev”]For me the most disappointing was the Qing lou meng (like hong lou meng, but Blue, not red - qing lou means a brothel).
I was expecting something pretty racy… but it was a lot of romantic twaddle where it just so happened some girl came from a very idealised and romanticized brothel… in fact, i remember very little about it, it was that good…[/quote]
Maybe you’d like Ròu Pútuán (肉蒲團 / The Carnal Prayer Mat) better, though “racy” is of course a relative term. It’s pretty funny in parts before the tiresome moralistic ending.
I’m clearly cheating. But Elegua’s list is eerily similar.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sānguó Yǎnyì / 三國演義) Finished
Water Margin (a.k.a. Outlaws of the Marsh) (Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn / 水滸傳) [strike]Finished[/strike] Dropped it and read in English.
Journey to the West (Xīyóu Jì / 西游記) Finished, but it got to be an ordeal.
Dream of the Red Chamber (a.k.a. Story of the Stone) (Hónglóu Mèng / 紅樓夢) [strike]Fell Asleep Makes War & Peace look like Cliff Notes.[/strike] Fell asleep and couldn’t be bothered when I woke up.
Golden Lotus (Jīn Píng Méi / 金瓶梅) Finished - First read an English version, which was really weird because all the naughty bits were in Latin. Fortunately I had enough medical Latin to get me through it.
I’d add Sun Zi - Bingfa - Art of war. It was an introductory text in classical Chinese class. A good choice because the language is relatively easy, once you have a dictionary tuned to middle age weapons. A great place to start classical Chinese.
In all instances your dictionary will cop an extreme work out.
I probably should have been clearer when I put up the list that translations are OK. Y’all don’t have to have attempted any of these in the original to post here – but to all those who have made it through even one that way.
[quote=“cranky laowai”][quote=“steev”]For me the most disappointing was the Qing lou meng (like hong lou meng, but Blue, not red - qing lou means a brothel).
I was expecting something pretty racy… but it was a lot of romantic twaddle where it just so happened some girl came from a very idealised and romanticized brothel… in fact, i remember very little about it, it was that good…[/quote]
Maybe you’d like Ròu Pútuán (肉蒲團 / The Carnal Prayer Mat) better, though “racy” is of course a relative term. It’s pretty funny in parts before the tiresome moralistic ending.[/quote]
Actually I’m not really into the racy stuff. I just thought the idea of a porno Hong Lou Meng would be pretty cool… but in fact the Hong Lou Meng is itself pretty porn-o-graphic (I think chapter 9 (?) where they have the schoolhouse riot is a classic - but the naughtiest bits arent footnoted and the dodgy characters arent even in your dictionary)…
But the Jin Ping Mei is one of the “classics” ( I’m not sure all Chinese would classify it thus, on account of its porno nature) that I gave up on really fast…
Paul theroux gives it a real hatchet job in “riding the iron Rooster”… he goes on about how porno it is and then skillfully quotes the entire quota of porno passages in the book! sometimes for 4-5 pages at a time! and thereby ruins any incentive you might have had for reading it in the first place…
But he always was a hypocrite and fake prude…
to all those who have made it through even one that way.