I f you love reading, one of the easiest ways to get a better understanding of China and its history is by reading historical novels. Several of China’s classic novels, written centuries ago, described earlier periods. Today’s Chinese novelists continue to explore the country’s history, from the Boxer rebellion to the ups and downs of post-1949 China. Here are ten works of historical fiction , set in China—both classic texts and novels by contemporary writers.
To Live by Chinese novelist Yu Hua is a beautiful book that traces 20th-century Chinese history through the life of Fugui, the son of a wealthy landowner, and his family. It's a real tearjerker of a book, which really brings alive what people went through as China went from civil war, to Communist-ruled country, through the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. If you enjoy the book, it was also also turned into a brilliant movie in 1994 by Chinese director Zhang Yimou.
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🏆 Shortlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature
Peach Blossom by Chinese novelist Ge Fei (real name: Liu Yong) is set at the time of China's Hundred Days' Reform in 1898 when it looked, briefly, as if China's Qing dynasty would embrace reform. The main protagonist is Xiumi, the daughter of a wealthy landowner and former government official.
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The Death of Woman Wang is a brilliant reconstruction of an ordinary woman's life in 17th century China, by Jonathan Spence, one of the West's great China scholars. This is really a work of history with novelistic touches, so is ideal for those wanting to learn about Chinese history without reading a textbook. Spence was able to find out so much about her because she was murdered, and the crime investigated.
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“O-Lan, the mother in this book, gives birth to two sons and two daughters, one of whom she strangles in infancy because there is not enough food to sustain the family. She’s born a slave. She’s plain and coarse. She toils silently and stoically all her life to provide for her family and is basically never rewarded. When her husband gets a little wealthier, virtually the first thing he does is take in a concubine.” Read more...
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Amy Chua ,
Lawyer
“It’s about two young people who get to know each other aged between eight and 12, and they’re in love, but then their families have to leave Peking at the time of the Boxer Rebellion, in 1898-1901. There is a description of the terrible flight of all these families from Peking to the South when the foreigners invaded, and they lose sight of each other during the travel. It’s the story of their qualms and their sadness, and the way their parents interfere, and the boy is married off to another girl, and then he realises the girl he loved is still alive, and he arrives close to her just when he is dying.” Read more...
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Marianne Bastid-Bruguière ,
Historian
“The Water Outlaws never slows its pace. Huang makes it clear early on in the novel that horrific things can and will happen to people in this world, and are difficult to predict, depending as they do on the whims of the powerful. This ensures your rapt attention at every half-sign of danger. The bandits are loveable and varied, the villains truly teeth-grindingly villainous.” Read more...
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Sylvia Bishop ,
An immersive historical novel set in 15th-century China, based on the true story of Tan Yunxian, a female physician who devoted her life to woman's healthcare. Kirkus called it "engrossing": "Women's friendships in a world where they have little freedom shape a quietly moving book."
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The Three Kingdoms was written during the early/middle years of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), but chronicles events during the Han dynasty (168-280). Pictured is volume one of Moss Roberts’s translation of the Three Kingdoms. There is also an abridged edition, which is excellent (and still comes in at 400+ pages).
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“You could say that its story is the story of all China, passed down from father to son. It is one of China’s four great classical novels, which also include the Journey to the West . But only with Romance of the Three Kingdoms did old Chinese stories really become Chinese literature. It’s also beautifully written. A reader can harvest a lot of history and knowledge from this book, because it chronicles all aspects of China. You can discover in it the entirety of the Chinese character, ancient and modern. All Chinese people today can find themselves in the Three Kingdoms , whether you are rich or poor, old or young.” Read more...
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Ma Jian ,
Novelist
“The Poppy War is about 19th and 20th century Chinese history, in a fantasy world…Our hero Rin is taken off to this school, where she is ridiculed by most of the other people because she’s from the peasant class…She’s writing about the experience of someone who is trying, genuinely trying, to save her country and liberate it from colonialism. By the time you get to the end of the trilogy, there are armies which are being sponsored by foreign powers, who are coming into her country. She writes about the experience of China during the Second World War; she writes horribly about the Nanjing Massacre, and about the violence that was inflicted on China in the 19th century by Europe, and then in the 20th century by Japan. But she’s also writing about the resistance to it, generating the need for extreme action.” Read more...
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Anna Smith Spark ,
Novelist
The Story of the Stone is an 18th-century Chinese novel. Pictured is Volume 1 of a 5-volume set.
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“This book is believed by many to be the greatest Chinese novel ever written. For me, it is like a bible for everything to do with Chinese culture. Cao belonged to the Han Chinese clan and the book is a huge family novel written in the 18th century…It really is a wonderful book which has been translated by Penguin since 1970 and reprinted again and again. But many Westerners don’t know about this book, which is a shame because it is such a powerful book” Read more...
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Xinran ,
Nonprofit Leaders & Activist
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