/lit/ - Literature

A.A. Milne is pretty good

>>21994861
Yes that's a fine joke but I am genuinely interested in books on Chinese Mythology to add to my collection of Mythology texts. Pic related is one translation that piques my interest.

>>21994882
I'm in the middle of reading that translation right now and I'm really enjoying it. It's a nice episodic story about several immortals escorting a monk to the west and the various trials and tribulations they face along the way. It drags a little in the beginning, but things pick up once the actual journey west begins.

>>21995517
What interests my about Anthony C. Yu's translation is that it's four volumes long. So even though I haven't gotten my hands on it yet, it does genuinely feel like you'd get the full story from it.

Whereas pic related by Arthur Waley is an abridged translation. Which isn't exactly what I want in terms to mythological accuracy to the text. Or at least the closest to accurate as possible.

Other than Journey to the West, are there any other translations of Chinese Mythology that you've read that you would recommend as high quality English translations?

>>21994882
I prefer the W J F Jenner translation

>>21995641
I still might go with the Anthony C. Yu translation as my most likely choice, but thanks for the recommendation of an alternative translation anyways. After all, I do plan to add at least three English translations of the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda for a total of six books covering two texts.

>>21995619
Both Yu's and Jenner's translations are unabridged, so I don't think you can really go wrong with either. Yu's is definitely more of an academic/scholarly translation with plenty of footnotes, whereas Jenner's focuses more on readability.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very similar in that regard, if you want something academic then the Moss Roberts translation is probably the way to go, or try the Yu Sumei translation if you prefer readability.

>>21994846
well i'll be damned...
im also trying to get into chinese myth. literally just finished the classic of mountains and seas and i was about to start with the investiture of the gods but i thought "eh lets take a brake and go shitpost for a bit first" and i came here and this was the first thread i saw.
you have no idea how helpful your list is anon, thank you so much.

>>21995692
>Romance of the Three Kingdoms Moss Robers or Yu Sumei
Thanks for the translation recommendations for this one. At the risk of asking a cliche question, is Romance of the Three Kingdoms kind of like the Iliad of China? Obviously there are some cultural, historical and structural differences, but I was mainly thinking in terms of both of them being mythological tellings of real historical events that happened in the past.

>>21995733
>literally just finished the classic of mountains and seas
If it's an English translation you read, can you tell me the name of the translator and whether or not it's a good English translation?

>and i was about to start with the investiture of the gods
That's another one I'd like a good English translation of as well. Mainly because Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West are prominent classical examples of Shemo or Gods and Demons fiction. Which is a genre within Chinese literature. When I tried to find pic related's recommendation for it (titled "Creation of the Gods" here), I was disappointed to find out that it was out of print and being sold for two to three thousand dollars on Amazon. So hopefully there's a newer, multi-volume translation that's still circulating in stores.

>but i thought "eh lets take a brake and go shitpost for a bit first" and i came here and this was the first thread i saw.
>you have no idea how helpful your list is anon, thank you so much.
Well I'm glad that this coincidence worked out in your favor then. So hopefully both you and I find what we're looking for ITT.

Can anyone that has read The Plum in the Golden Vase comment on whether or not it's worth reading? I want to read it, but the sheer size of it is intimidating.

It looks like a soijak from the thumbnail.

>>21997270
I would like to know if it's worth reading as well. Apparently it's a "Novel of Manners", which I didn't know was a thing until now.

>>21997303
I personally don't see the resemblance to soijak, but I can sort of see how this painting of the Jade Emperor can look like that if you look really hard. Which I'm unable to do. The painting just looks like a standard example of Chinese art to me. Pic somewhat related in that it's more modern.

>>21994846
Thanks for the wonderful list, I was missing quite a few of these.

>>22000385
>Thanks for the wonderful list, I was missing quite a few of these.
If you already have a good chunk of what's on the list, can you tell me what English translations you read for the specific books you own?

>>21997303
Same reason I clicked this thread, kek.

>>22000495
Honestly this manuscript of Odin looks more like a wojak to me. Though it's more of a coomer wojak than a basedjak, but still.

Anyways, to get back on track, got any recommendations for English translations of famous works of Chinese Mythology?

from a chinese culture perspective DC Lau is the best translation of tao te ching
and I'm pretty sure there are only like three translations of liezi and AC Graham is the only sinologically modern one

>>22000705
Thanks for the recommendation. If you don't mind me asking, what's the difference between Taoism and Chinese Folk Religion? There seems to be some religious syncretism between the two traditions. Plus from what I've heard about Sun Wukong, he got some of his powers from training under Taoist and Buddhist monks. Pic sort of related.

>>22000462
So far I've only read the big four:
>Journey to the West: Anthony C. Yu
>Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Moss Roberts
>Dream of the Red Chamber: David Hawkes
>The Water Margin: John & Alex Dent-Young
...and roughly half a dozen different translations of the Tao; I don't remember which ones, I just try a different one every time.

I chose the Dent-Young translation of Water Margin because afaik it's the only translation based on the 120 chapter version of the text, which I assume is the most complete version.
For what it's worth, the Yu Sumei translation of Three Kingdoms is supposed to be pretty good too.

I was also thinking about starting the David Tod Roy translation of The Plum in the Golden Vase soon, but if anyone recommends a different translation, let me know.

>>21996572
>can you tell me the name of the translator and whether or not it's a good English translation
the translation i read was by Richard E. Strassberg. as for whether or not it's a "good" translation, i cannot say, i have nothing else to compare it to. This was my first time reading the classic of mountains and seas.

>>22001830
Thank you for all of your translation recommendations. Including the David Tod Roy one you mentioned wanting to check out. What are your thoughts on J.H. Jackson's translation of Water Margin? While I do like the cover, since it's got a lower page count than John & Alex Dent-Young's 3 volume set (it is three volumes, right?), I assume it's an abridged version, right? It was also shown in the info graph of this post >>21996572 , though I can entertain the possibility that this chart is old.

>>22001850
Thanks for your recommendation. Just for clarification, is it the one titled "Chinese Bestiary" in English?

Also, do you two anons happen to have any translation recommendations for Investiture of the Gods?

>>22001850
>>22003300
Here's the cover of Strassberg's translation I was asking about. For the sake of clarity, that is.

>>22003300
>What are your thoughts on J.H. Jackson's translation of Water Margin?
I've heard that J.H. Jackson's translation of the 71 chapter version was somewhat sanitized, removing vivid depictions of violence and references to various creatures of Chinese mythology, but apparently the Tuttle version has amended the translation to address most of these issues, in addition to fixing other miscellaneous translation errors.

>While I do like the cover, since it's got a lower page count than John & Alex Dent-Young's 3 volume set (it is three volumes, right?), I assume it's an abridged version, right?
There are three different versions, a 71, a 100, and a 120 chapter version, all of which are technically unabridged. Again, I just picked the longest under the assumption that it would be the most complete and therefore hopefully the best.
The Dent-Young translation is five volumes, The Broken Seals, The Tiger Killers, The Gathering Company, Iron Ox, and The Scattered Flock.

>>21994846
you want moss roberts for rotk
anthony yu for journey to the west
water margin doesn't have a good translation AFAIK but sydney shapiro is the best one I think

generally don't read anything translated by a woman unless its the only option

>>>An Eastern/Chinese mythology/philosophy etc. thread that isn't full to the brim with bing bong ching chong memes and shitposting

I'm surprised, proud of you guys.

>>22004418
>Tuttle version
I still might go with the 5 volume version, but thanks for the clarification regarding the Tuttle version. By the way, are any Chinese Gods mentioned in Water Margin? Or is it more of a historical legend affair like Romance of the Three Kingdoms? I know that Guan Yu was deified for his heroic actions in the Three Kingdoms Period, but do any other Chinese Gods show up in RoTK?

>The Dent-Young translation is five volumes, The Broken Seals, The Tiger Killers, The Gathering Company, Iron Ox, and The Scattered Flock.
Thanks for that rundown. I'm a bit worried that the covers for Volumes 4 and 5 don't match the art style of Volumes 1-3 for cover design. Volumes 4 and 5 are just black and red with white text while the covers of 1-3 are blue, green and a purple-ish red respectively. Also, while some of them on Amazon say "more on the way", others say "order soon". Can even books labeled "order soon" be restocked like the "more on the way" category or are they that close to going out of print?

>>22004439
>Moss Roberts
>Anthony Yu
>Sydney Shapiro
I'll keep these translators in mind. Two of them are already on my list.

On another note for both of you, do you have any recommendations for English translations of Investiture of the Gods and Legend of the White Snake? Would really like to add some more classical Shenmo novels to go along with my eventual copies of Journey to the West. So IotG and LotWS are a high priority for me. Pic related in that Nezha is one of the characters in Investiture of the Gods and I would like to read about him.

>>22004469
OP here, there was a Winnie the Pooh joke but I sort of nipped that in the bud in my own way. Because regardless of how I feel about the PRC's government, my focus is primarily getting some good recommendations for Chinese mythological works. Speaking of which, do you have any recommendations for good English translations of Investiture of the Gods and Legend of the White Snake?

>>22004548
>there was a Winnie the Pooh joke
*at the beginning of the thread, was what I meant to say. I hate it when I forget to type out part of a sentence. Especially when you can't edit posts for spelling errors.

>>22004548
I don't, no. Sorry.

>>22004532
>do you have any recommendations for English translations of Investiture of the Gods and Legend of the White Snake?
never heard of em, sorry
I think from my very scant study of chinese lit that theres a scarcity of quality English translations of the chinese classics
when in doubt, just get whatever is public domain and/or unabridged

>>22004576
>>22004583
That sucks. I tried to find pic related but the 1st volume is over 200-300 dollars while the 2nd volume was significantly more cheaper.

Another alternative translation I found is this one by someone named Katherine Liang Chew. But I've read some reviews that it does literal translations of the names of Chinese Deities. Who the fuck is "Purple Flying Cloud General Brother 7"? I've read various manga in the past, I can comprehend foreign sounding names. God I hate these kinds of translations. Plus the "Creation of the Gods" version has a higher page count and is recommended in that chart posted here >>21996572 so am I just going to have to bite the bullet and fork over the cash?

If anyone's interested, the kindle version of Journey to the West volumes three and four are currently on sale on Amazon.com for $3 and $5 respectively, hugely discounted from their usual price of $25 each.

>>22005135
Thanks for the offer. But I prefer physical copies for my mythology collection. At the risk of sounding like a pleb, I've considered getting Audible for the audiobook versions of Star Wars Legends, Halo Spinoff Novels and 40k Black Library shit. the kind of stuff /ssfg/ would probably like. Hell, I mainly got into mythology through pop culture series like Fate/stay night, SMITE, Record of Ragnarok and Shin Megami Tensei, for example. But I'm pretty sure that will be useful to any other anons who use kindle though. Pic related.

>>21996572
>Romance of the Three Kingdoms kind of like the Iliad of China?
Kind of, it's slightly different in that it was always read as a fictionalized account of the war rather than a true retelling of the Warring States Era.

>>22005445
Alright, thanks for the explanation. Other than Guan Yu, do any other Chinese Deities show up? Or is he the only Chinese God you see in the novel?

>>22004532
One small note for the Moss Roberts translation: all of the footnotes are all at the end of the second book, so for the first two thirds of the story you'll be reading part one but have to constantly reference part two. Despite this minor annoyance, it's still far and away the best translation.

>>21994846

journey to the west (translated by Arthur Waley)
romance of the three kingdoms (translated by Moss Roberts)
water margin (translated by Sidney Shapiro)
dream of the red chamber (translated by David Hawkes and John Minford)
investiture of the gods (translated by Gu Zhizhong)
legend of the white snake (translated by Wilt L. Idema)
jin ping mei (the plum in the golden vase) (translated by David Tod Roy)
the scholars (translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang)
classic of mountains and seas (translated by Anne Birrell)
shi yi ji (translated by Allan H. Barr)
bowuzhi (translated by Kenneth J. DeWoskin)
book of gods and strange things (translated by Edward H. Schafer)
the peach blossom spring (translated by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping)
four journeys (translated by Richard L. Davis)
the three sui quash the demons' revolt (the sorcerer's revolt) (translated by William H. Nienhauser Jr.)
strange tales from a chinese studio (translated by John Minford)
soushen ji (translated by Michael S. Duke)
tian xian pei (translated by M. Wylie)
what the master would not discuss (translated by Jeffrey Riegel)
heavenly questions (translated by David Hawkes)
chu ci (translated by David Hawkes)
records of the grand historian (translated by Burton Watson)
great learning (four books/already in the book of rites) (translated by James Legge)
doctrine of the mean (four books/already in the book of rites) (translated by James Legge)
analects (four books/thirteen classics) (translated by D.C. Lau)
mencius (four books/thirteen classics) (translated by D.C. Lau)
classic of poetry (five classics/thirteen classics) (translated by Arthur Waley)
book of documents (five classics/thirteen classics) (translated by James Legge)
book of rites (five classics/thirteen classics) (translated by James Legge)
i ching (five classics/thirteen classics) (translated by Richard Wilhelm)
spring and autumn annals (five classics) (translated by James Legge)
rites of zhou (thirteen classics) (translated by B.J. Mansvelt Beck)
etiquette and ceremonial (thirteen classics) (translated by John Minford)
commentary of zuo (translated by Stephen Durrant)
commentary of gongyang (translated by John S. Major)
commentary of guliang (translated by Ch'u Chai and Winberg Chai)
classic of filial piety (thirteen classics) (translated by James Legge)
erya (thirteen classics) (translated by Richard Sears)
tao te ching (translated by D.C. Lau)
zhuangzi (translated by Burton Watson)
huainanzi (translated by John S. Major, Sarah A. Queen, Andrew Seth Meyer, and Harold D. Roth)
taipingjing (translated by Stephen R. Bokenkamp)
xiang'er (translated by Livia Kohn)
liezi (translated by A.C. Graham)
sanhuangjing (translated by Charles A. Stone)
huahujing (translated by Philip Clart)
qingjing jing (translated by Livia Kohn)
baopuzi (translated by Richard B. Mather)
daozang (translated by various translators, as it is a large collection of Taoist texts)

just from memory: usually the go-tos or the most widely accepted.

>>22006061
Thanks for this heads up. Do Volumes 3 and 4 have footnotes of their own?

>>22007051
Thank you for providing the most comprehensive list of English translation recommendations in this thread so far. Greatly appreciate it.

>>22007602
>Thanks for this heads up. Do Volumes 3 and 4 have footnotes of their own?
Sorry for the confusion, pic related is the two part version I was referring to, not the four volume edition by Foreign Language Press.

>>22008287
Oh shit, thanks for your clarification on that. I was referring to pic related, which turned out to be 4 volumes rather than 3, apparently. Did this guy translate RotTK multiple times or what? If you like, could you post pics of the covers of the translations you suggested? I know what Anthony Yu's 4 volume translation looks like. But what does the cover for Sydney Shapiro's translation of Water Margin?

>>22004835
I've been looking for an affordable English translation of Fengshan Yanyi for years anon, unfortunately the one in your pic is the only decent version I've been able to find.

>>22008287
>>22009135
Also, is that translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms unabridged? As in, includes every single detail from it's original language version of the book? And since the cover calls it "The Iliad of China", do any Chinese Gods spectate the war like the Greek Gods did during the Trojan War?

>>22009160
>do any Chinese Gods spectate the war like the Greek Gods did during the Trojan War
No. There are some supernatural elements like sorcery, divination, etc. but no gods or mythological creatures.

>>22005469
Pretty much just Guan Yu although he wasn't a god yet when the novel takes place

Goddammit I thought that was a wojak from the thumbail.

>>22009157
Why the hell is it so expensive anyways? Is this what going out of print does to more older books? I remember once reading an anecdote about how this guy found Oxford's Dictionary of Celtic Mythology by James MacKillop at a used bookstore for much cheaper than it was going for on Amazon. I wouldn't exactly know what kind of used bookstore I should look for to find Fengshan Yanyi since their stocks tend to vary quite a bit. I could either fork over some serious cash or hopefully get lucky next time I go to a used bookstore.

I know that tales involving Nezha and Daji (the one where an Emperor simps hard for Nuwa) are in it, but what are your favorite tales regarding deities in your copy of Creation of the Gods?

Pic related for obvious reasons.

>>22009180
>No. There are some supernatural elements like sorcery, divination, etc. but no gods or mythological creatures.
What kinds of sorcery? If you can remember the details, that is.

>>22009203
>Pretty much just Guan Yu although he wasn't a god yet when the novel takes place
Yeah, I was aware that Guan Yu didn't become deified until a long time after the Three Kingdoms Era. Just thought I'd ask.

>>22009205
I still think the image of Odin I posted here >>22000648 looks more like a wojak than the Jade Emperor pic in the OP, but to each their own.

>>22009233
>What kinds of sorcery?
The Yellow Turban leaders use magic to control weather and heal illnesses. There's not much of it, and actually that's the only example I can think of.

>>22009135
>>22009160
>Did this guy translate RotTK multiple times or what?
>is that translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms unabridged?
It should be the same (unabridged) translation, just published by different publishers. I think the huge difference in page count is because the University of California Press books are both larger and have smaller text.

>what does the cover for Sydney Shapiro's translation of Water Margin [look like]?
It was a different anon that suggested that one, but I'm pretty sure pic related is the Shapiro translation.

>>22009489
>It should be the same (unabridged) translation, just published by different publishers. I think the huge difference in page count is because the University of California Press books are both larger and have smaller text.
Sorry if I sound repetitive here, but thanks for that particular explanation.

>It was a different anon that suggested that one, but I'm pretty sure pic related is the Shapiro translation.
In that case, which translation was the one that you suggested in particular? Sorry for mixing you up with the other anon. I have trouble distinguishing between two or more different anons. Which means the website where nearly everyone is anonymous does it's job well.

>>22007051
>journey to the west (translated by Arthur Waley)
Why the Waley translation? It's okay at best and highly abridged, coming in at less than 1/3 the length of the original novel.

>>22010339
OP here, that's the only translation recommendation that I disagree with. Which is why I'm going with the Anthony C. Yu translation.

I've been told Foreign Languages Press sucks ass.

>>22011682
I checked out their website for a little bit. They don't seem to have any Chinese mythological books from my brief browsing. Why bring this publisher up? Did one of the translators mentioned here work for this company?

>>22011705
I've been told their books are full of typos, etc. Multiple people in this thread have brought up Foreign Languages Press, that's why I had mentioned it.

>>22011723
From the translations I checked:
>Journey to the West by Anthony C. Yu is University of Chicago Press
>Creation of the Gods by New World Press
>Some Penguin Classics translations
>Some University of Hong Kong Press translations
>Tuttle Publishing
>Princeton University Press
>University of California Press
But pic related is Foreign Language Press and it's got a uniform style. But if their translations are full of typos, then thanks for the heads up.

>>22009135
>>22009489
>>22011782
For the sake of providing a PSA to fellow Anons interested in Chinese Mythology, These four (including pic related) are from Foreign Language Press.

I recommend Annping Chin's translation of The Analects. She provides good commentary.

>>22011859
Thanks for the recommendation. Greatly appreciate it.

After reading the Dent-Young translation of The Water Margin, I decided to read a bit of the Shapiro translation to see how it compares.

From what little I read, I think I actually prefer the Shapiro translation. It seems to flow better and uses more of the kind of verbiage I expect from a novel like this, if that makes sense.

>>22013086
Fair enough, I suppose. I might get multiple versions of the same story just because I would like to own them. This also depends on how widely available they are and how aesthetically pleasing I find the covers. To be honest, I don't find the Foreign Language Press covers to be all that appealing to my personal tastes. The Anthony Yu and Richard Strassberg covers, on the other hand, look nice to my standards.

>>21996572
saved, thanks for this anon

>>22013337
You can find many more charts like that here: https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/8rZ2yCia

Specifically in the "book" folder, since it contains charts from other 4chan boards. Though I found it from this /lit/ wiki right here: https://4chanlit.fandom.com/wiki/Charts#See_also

>>22013315
>I might get multiple versions of the same story just because I would like to own them.
I like having multiple translations of the same novel, it's interesting to see how they differ.

why do i find zhuangzi so confusing
the stories are so confusing

>pai mei kills a monastery full of monks just because the head monk didn't greet him properly on the streets
wtf was his fucking problem

>>22014326
>like having multiple translations of the same novel, it's interesting to see how they differ.
As do I. For the rest of my mythology book collection, I plan to get three translations of the Poetic Edda and three translations of the Prose Edda respectively.

>>22014614
What English translation of Zhuangzi are you reading?

>>22014935
I know that Pai Mei was a legendary martial artist. But which book did you get this tale from?

>>22015388
burton watson coloumbia press the one that's always posted here
>When Gongwen Xuan saw the commander of the right, he was startled and said "what kind of man is this? How did he come to lose his foot? was it heaven? or was it man?"
>"it was heaven, not man" said the commander "when heaven gave me life, it saw to it that i would be one footed. Men's looks are given to them. So i know this was the work of heaven and not of man. The swamp pheasant has to walk ten paces for one peck and a hundred paces for one drink, but it doesn't want to be kept in a cage. Though you treat it like a king, its spirit won't be content"
literally every short story just begins and ends like this abruptly and has me going what

>>22015548
Thanks for specifying the translator and publisher for me Anon. And yeah, that is definitely confusingly worded. Probably makes more sense from a Chinese cultural perspective though.

How do I know if I'm fit enough to be a strategist during three kingdoms
>tfw ywn be a strategist during three kingdoms era

>>22015974
Since you brought up strategy, what are some good English translations of Sun Tzu's Art of War and the Thirty-Six Stratagems of War?

Where should I start with the classics? Do I read them in the order they were published or is there another preferred reading order?

>>22018418
I don't think there's a required reading order? At least with the four great classics, I'd personally start with Journey to the West first because of the mythologuical aspect of shenmo fiction. So just go with whatever appeals to you the most first. Unless some other anon suggests a more proper reading order, that is.

>>22019707
Journey to the West first it is then. I guess it makes sense to read that one first, since it leans more heavily into the fantasy genre than the other classics do.

>>22004439
>>22004532
>>22007051
>>22009135
>>22009489
>>22009757
>>22013086
Sidney Shapiro is Jewish. Read the Pearl S Buck translation.

>>22021264
Shapiro is Jewish, and Buck is a woman - which is the lesser of two evils?

>>22021264
>>22022314
>Shapiro is Jewish, and Buck is a woman
I fail to see how that's relevant at all.

>>22022314
There's nothing wrong with being jewish or a woman, fuck off to you-know-where.

Is Pearl S. Buck's translation of The Water Margin (published as All Men Are Brothers) any good? I can't find a digital version available anywhere, and I'm not paying $50+ for a translation of unknown quality.

I just got done reading the second volume of Journey to the West and it's very entertaining so far. Like some of the other Chinese classics it has that weird "let us see how our heroes fare in the next chapter" thing at the end of each chapter.

What are the best 21st-century epic Chinese novels?

>>22026460
bump

>>21996572
>No Mencius

>>22027590

the butterfly

Bump

>>22009135
>>22009135
the hardcover is 3 volumes

>>21994846
>Journey to the West
Anthony C Yu's is the best and he knew it from memory almost

>>22015821
Zhuangzi and Huizi are the best of buds

His whole 'I'm not upset my wife died because it's natural' seems a bit unhuman to me but oh well I suppose he was just ahead of the curve

>>22027849
>no mencius
sir it's right there, middle of the top row under "religion and philosophy"

That said, I haven't read 90% of that chart and have no intention of doing so. I've read the ones under "religion and philosophy", and parts of the shiji (bottom corner of "other classics".

It's a very weird reading list because the categories are also differentiated by time period, without explicitly stating it. For example, the "Religion and Philosophy" section is pure pre-unification china. The bottom half of the chart is all modern fiction or biographies. The "four great classics" are ming/qing era fiction. I'm not squinting any longer to categorise the top and middle right, other than pointing out the shiji, but it is just an unusual list.

If you just want to know ancient china then read the religion and philosophy section, throw in some more famous works like the book of lord shang, and throw in a lot of historical and ecclectic works like chunqiu zuozhuan, wuyuechunqiu, guanzi, lushichunqiu, and some other interesting miscellany like the mutianzizhuan and shanhaijing. Then maybe dip your toes into han era stuff, you could also check out the qin legal code and case records, etc. Maybe find some good commentaries on the philosophical works you liked, if you've read all that stuff know where you want to go.

>Daozang

You aren't serious are you? You do realize Daozang is just a collection of Daoist text for the entire duration of Chinese history, totalling to around 35000 pages of pure concentrated classical chinese text with no punctuation, mostly about religious lore and voodoo magic, right? Not even the Chinese themselves read it, not even actual practitioners of Daoism read it. Only highly dedicated history scholars in a niche field actually read it, and most of them consider it a torture.

>>22033345
he should get this

Best Chinese poetry?

>>21994846
that image looks like a soijack from the thumbnail

>>22035987
can't unsee

>>22035987
Has anyone ever written a book about basedjacks?

>>22024507
Yes. I haven't read Water Margin in Chinese so I can't say how faithful it is to the original, but it's a great read.

What's the best Chinese novel over 1000 pages?

>>22038513
ask ChatGPT

bumping