Chinese Literature

[Anonymous No.21496830]

What's some quintessential chinese literature that one needs to read? Can be philosophical but doesn't have to be.

[Anonymous No.21496913]

>>21496830
the four great novels

[Anonymous No.21496996]

Tang Xianzu's complete dramatic works due to pic related. Having read all of it, and some volumes of dreams of red mansions it's considered low literature but the feeling of being a Chinese aristocrat and the massive 12 inch to 10 inch book really transports you to Ming China. Peony pavilion is okay but doesn't have any depth and there's a play about Ants which is terrible and goes on for 200 pages you will get a phobia for anything ant related for the rest of your life.

[Anonymous No.21497029]

>>21496830
why all this shilling for chink shit? piss off back to /pol/ ching chang

[Anonymous No.21497036]

Zhuangzi
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio
Water margin is also fun but I’ve never finished it

[Anonymous No.21497072]

>>21496830
>Chinese
>Literature

[Anonymous No.21497092]

>>21496830
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

[Anonymous No.21497178]

>>21497029
>shits his pants once china is brought up
>tells anyone to piss off back to /pol/

[Anonymous No.21497185]

>>21496830
Start with poetry, Songs of Chu and Tang Shi, ignore the novels

[Anonymous No.21497192]

>>21497178
there's over a billion chinks, if you want to indulge in their shit go ahead but you'll sooner or later realize it's all for naught because you're not born in china, you don't speak the language by birth, and you'll never understand what it is you seek to by reading chinese literature

[Anonymous No.21497210]

>>21497192
>you're not born in china, you don't speak the language by birth
That can be said for literally every country that isn't your own. Stop being a seething retard just because someone shows interest in a country that you don't like. Especially when a good chunk of its literature is thousands of years old.

[Anonymous No.21497227]

>>21497192
>you'll never understand what it is you seek to by reading chinese literature
I seek to enjoy myself by reading good books

[Anonymous No.21497632]

>>21496830
Bump for interest

[Anonymous No.21497863]

If you're interested in modern poetry, I personally recommend works by 海子 (Hai Zi), 徐志摩 (Xu Zhimo) and 戴望舒 (Dai Wangshu).

[Anonymous No.21498381]

>>21496830
Read Yan Lianke, Kafka Prize winner, future Nobel Laureate

[Anonymous No.21498452]

Mo Yan is goated

I also thoroughly enjoyed Ma Jian but I think he lacks depth of thought. As a matter of fact, I don't think I can remember one really captivating thought he set forth. That's not necessarily a bad thing, he is after all a writer and not a philosopher, he really has a knack for creating an atmosphere, creating memorable scenes and overall writes a good story, but pseuds won't like him

[Anonymous No.21498903]

Confucius:
‘The Master said, “I suppose I should give up hope. I have yet to meet the man who is as fond of virtue as he is of beauty in women.”’

[Anonymous No.21499109]

Lu Xun

[Anonymous No.21499133]

Tao Lin

[Anonymous No.21499719]

Ba Jin is absolute kino; 'Family' was the best novel I read this year (shout out to great translation by Shapiro). Lu Xun is also good to get an idea of issues which influenced turn-of-the-century China, though I frankly find him boring (except his retellings of traditional folktales).
Seconding Mo Yan for worthwhile contemporary lit.

>>21498452
When I finished Beijing Coma I sat on my kitchen floor and cried and cried. I think I was upset about some other stuff too but that story brought everything crashing down at once. I don't remember when I've cried so much. So I guess you could say I was captivated.
Tangentially, I went and got myself a copy of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, I haven't opened it yet but I like looking at it on my shelf.