Best of
Chinese-Literature

2011

The King's Avatar


蝴蝶藍 - 2011
    However, due to a myriad reasons, he is kicked from the team. After leaving the professional scene, he finds work in an Internet Cafe as a manager. When Glory launches its tenth server, he who possesses ten years of gaming experience once again throws himself into the game. Bringing with him the memories of his past and an incomplete, self-made weapon, his return along the road to the summit begins! After fighting and scheming, who snatched away my glory? Under the tossing of the wind and rain, my dreams shall still appear as though they had never been shattered. In all its splendor, the path shall never be lost. Before the gazes of millions, this is where I return!Tags

No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems


Xiaobo Liu - 2011
    In Oslo, actress Liv Ullmann read a long statement the activist had prepared for his 2009 trial. It read in part: I stand by the convictions I expressed in my June Second Hunger Strike Declaration twenty years ago I have no enemies and no hatred. None of the police who monitored, arrested, and interrogated me, none of the prosecutors who indicted me, and none of the judges who judged me are my enemies.That statement is one of the pieces in this book, which includes writings spanning two decades, providing insight into all aspects of Chinese life. These works not only chronicle a leading dissident s struggle against tyranny but enrich the record of universal longing for freedom and dignity. Liu speaks pragmatically, yet with deep-seated passion, about peasant land disputes, the Han Chinese in Tibet, child slavery, the CCP s Olympic strategy, the Internet in China, the contemporary craze for Confucius, and the Tiananmen massacre. Also presented are poems written for his wife, Liu Xia, public documents, and a foreword by Vaclav Havel.This collection is an aid to reflection for Western readers who might take for granted the values Liu has dedicated his life to achieving for his homeland.

The Story of Gilgamesh


Yiyun Li - 2011
    In answer to the prayers of his oppressed citizens, the gods create Enkidu, a wild man whose destiny is to first fight Gilgamesh, and then become his life-long friend. They embark on adventures together, but when they - together - kill the Bull of Heaven, Enkidu must pay the ultimate price. In his grief and fear of his own death, Gilgamesh goes on a journey to discover the secret to immortality...

Ordinary World


Lu Yao - 2011
    A literary masterpiece which has been transformed into a popular television series of the same name. The book presents a panoramic view of modern Chinese life, in both urban and rural areas. For over a decade, the writer portrays the intricate layers of daily life through complex relationships. Work and love, setbacks and pursuits, sorrows and joys, as well as intriguing social conflicts, intertwine to present the unexpected twists and turns of ordinary people during a volatile time.

Never-flower in Never-dream


San Mao - 2011
    When she was in junior school, she dropped out since she was so autistic and rebellious. After her studying tour in Spain, Germany and America, she became confident. After she married in 1974, she began her writing career. In 1979, Jose died suddenly, so San Mao got great hurt in her heart. Her work, Never-flower in Never-dream, including 23 essays, which records her lonely life after Jose's death and shows us her internal experience of facing life strongly again.三毛一生短暂,但经历不凡。在三毛还是二毛的时候,辍学的她一度自闭、叛逆,游学西班牙、德国、美国后,渐渐成长为独立自信的青年;一九七四年,三毛与荷西在撒哈拉沙漠结婚,白手成家,她的文学创作生涯从此开启;移居加纳利群岛后,三毛的生活渐趋安定,她的创作也达到了高峰;一九七九年,荷西意外去世,三毛的心灵受到巨大创伤,人生陷入低谷;返台后,三毛再度出走,游历中南美洲,开始新的生活。《梦里花落知多少》记录了荷西意外去世后,三毛的孀居生活,共二十三篇,展现了三毛渐渐走出人生低谷,再次坚强面对生命的心路历程。

Brush Talks from Dream Brook


Shen Kuo - 2011
    Highly valued by scholars for its scientific and technological coverage, this encyclopaedic book is probably the most important source text for technological advances and the organization of knowledge in China's golden age, the Song dynasty (960-1279). Author Shen Kuo is the most famous writer in China's scientific history. The significance of Brush Talks From Dream Brook been thoroughly researched by scholars such as Fu Daiwie but it has not yet gained the recognition it deserves in Western studies on the history of science and technology. Written between 1086 and 1093 in note style, it covers astronomy, mathematics, geography, physics, biology, medicine, military, literary, history, archaeology and music. Now translated into English and available outside of China for the very first time, it's rightly recognised as a masterpiece in the history of Chinese scientific and technological development.

Shiji, All 4 Volumes(paperback)


Qian Sima - 2011
    

Escape From Blood Pond Hell: The Tales of Mulian and Woman Huang


Beata Grant - 2011
    They represent only two of numerous versions of these legends, composed in a variety of genres, which were once popular all over China. While the seeds of the Mulian legend, in which a man rescues his mother from hell, can be found in Indian Buddhist texts, the story of Woman Huang, who seeks her own salvation, appears to be indigenous to China. With their graphic portrayals of the underworld, dramatization of Buddhist beliefs about death, salvation, and rebirth, and frank discussion of women's responsibility for sin, these texts provide detailed and powerful descriptions of popular religious beliefs and practices in late imperial China, especially as they relate to women.

The Columbia Anthology of Chinese Folk and Popular Literature


Victor H. Mair - 2011
    Mair and Mark Bender, capture the breadth of China's oral-based literary heritage. This collection presents works drawn from the large body of oral literature of many of China's recognized ethnic groups--including the Han, Yi, Miao, Tu, Daur, Tibetan, Uyghur, and Kazak--and the selections include a variety of genres. Chapters cover folk stories, songs, rituals, and drama, as well as epic traditions and professional storytelling, and feature both familiar and little-known texts, from the story of the woman warrior Hua Mulan to the love stories of urban storytellers in the Yangtze delta, the shaman rituals of the Manchu, and a trickster tale of the Daur people from the forests of the northeast. The Cannibal Grandmother of the Yi and other strange creatures and characters unsettle accepted notions of Chinese fable and literary form. Readers are introduced to antiphonal songs of the Zhuang and the Dong, who live among the fantastic limestone hills of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; work and matchmaking songs of the mountain-dwelling She of Fujian province; and saltwater songs of the Cantonese-speaking boat people of Hong Kong. The editors feature the Mongolian epic poems of Geser Khan and Jangar; the sad tale of the Qeo family girl, from the Tu people of Gansu and Qinghai provinces; and local plays known as "rice sprouts" from Hebei province. These fascinating juxtapositions invite comparisons among cultures, styles, and genres, and expert translations preserve the individual character of each thrillingly imaginative work.