Chinese Fiction

According to Confucius, ‘an educated woman is a worthless woman’, but Tan Yunxian – born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separation and loneliness – is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. She begins her training in medicine with her grandmother and, as she navigates the male world of medicine, requiring tact and diplomacy, she struggles against the confining world of her class. From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling.

Young Wang has received plenty of wisdom from his beloved uncle: don’t take life too seriously, get out on the road when you can, and everyone gets just seven great loves in their life—so don’t blow it. This last one sticks with Young as he is an obsessive cataloger of his life: movies watched, favorite albums . . . all filtered through Chinese numerology and superstition. He finds meaning in almost everything, for which his two best friends endlessly tease him. But then, at the end of 1995, when Young is at New York University, he meets Erena.

Before the rails bound a nation, before love defied all barriers, there was a foundation laid in quiet longing and impossible dreams. Xiulan, the daughter of Chinese immigrants serving the Hastings family, has grown up in the shadow of wealth and privilege, her every day intertwined with the grandeur of the estate. But within her heart lies a secret: an unspoken affection for Robert Hastings, the heir who left for the Civil War when she was just a girl. Now, as the household eagerly anticipates his return, Xiulan’s quiet admiration blossoms into something deeper—something dangerous. ...

A sitting U. S. Senator secretly plunders strategic oil reserves. The government whistle blower is brutally murdered. A reluctant hero who is... the weapon of justice. Billions worth of U. S. strategic oil reserves are secretly plundered from the American stock-pile and the Federal whistle-blower disappears without a trace, the day before he can testify. The Sikorsky nine passenger helicopter simply vanishes while traveling from Phoenix, Arizona to the Federal Court in San Diego, California. This key Congressional witness is a Chinese American billionaire and best friend of the Chinese ...

Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid. But in Luli's world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her.

When is an innocent fortune cookie not so innocent? After Jane’s shady landlord damages her house, her life is turned upside down. A Chinese take-out fortune cookie paper says Adventure Awaits and she decides it’s time to step out of her colorless life, to pursue her bucket list binder, one little dream at a time. Along the way, more and more fortune cookies pop up, increasingly threatening, in random places. Fearing for her life, Jane flees to her old hometown. Can Jane fight back against the fortune cookies’ threats in time? If you like clean suspense with a strong female character ...

A puzzling publishing murder attracts the eye of Ellery Queen. Mandarin Press is a premier publishing house for foreign literature, but to those at the top of this enterprise, there is little more beautiful than a rare stamp. As Donald Kirk, publisher and philatelist, prepares his office for a banquet, an unfamiliar man comes to call. No one recognizes him, but Kirk’s staff is used to strange characters visiting their boss, so Kirk’s secretary asks him to wait in the anteroom.

Eighteen-year-old Shelley, born into a much-despised branch of the Zheng family in Yunnan Province and living in the shadow of his widowed father’s grief, dreams of bigger things. Buoyed by an exuberant heart and his cousin Deng’s tall tales about the United States, Shelley heads to San Francisco to claim his destiny, confident that any hurdles will be easily overcome by the awesome powers of the “Chinese groove,” a belief in the unspoken bonds between countrymen that transcend time and borders.

The Backstreets is an astonishing novel by a preeminent contemporary Uyghur author who was disappeared by the Chinese state. It follows an unnamed Uyghur man who comes to the impenetrable Chinese capital of Xinjiang after finding a temporary job in a government office. Seeking to escape the pain and poverty of the countryside, he finds only cold stares and rejection. He wanders the streets, accompanied by the bitter fog of winter pollution, reciting a monologue of numbers and odors, lust and loathing, memories and madness.

This folktale explains why Chinese people no longer choose long names for their children.

聪慧的谭允贤从小耳濡目染，偷偷随祖母学习中医知识，悬壶济世、妙手仁心，得到了普通百姓的赞扬和支持，她也渐起救天下女子之心……聰慧的譚允賢從小耳濡目染，偷偷隨祖母學習中醫知識，懸壺濟世、妙手仁心，得到了普通百姓的讚揚和支持，她也漸起救天下女子之心……

Following Gwen's rediscovery of her family, she must find her Mage Path in the magical city of Shanghai, battling pressure from relatives, expectations from instructors, and her struggles with the Void. At Fudan University, she must ensure that she does not lose her wits, all the while finding a path to power that will not alienate her from the family she acquired in her second life.

Half a century after the Doomsday Battle, the uneasy balance of Dark Forest Deterrence keeps the Trisolaran invaders at bay. Earth enjoys unprecedented prosperity due to the infusion of Trisolaran knowledge and, with human science advancing and the Trisolarans adopting Earth culture, it seems that the two civilizations can co-exist peacefully as equals without the terrible threat of mutually assured annihilation. But peace has made humanity complacent.

卢沟桥事变爆发、北平沦陷的时代背景下，以祁家四世同堂的生活为主线，形象、真切地描绘了以小羊圈胡同住户为代表的各个阶层、各色人等的荣辱浮沉、生死存亡。…… 在盧溝橋事變爆發、北平淪陷的時代背景下，以祁家四世同堂的生活為主線，形象、真切地描繪了以小羊圈胡同住戶為代表的各個階層、各色人等的榮辱浮沉、生死存亡。

Lalu Nathoy's father called his thirteen-year-old daughter his treasure, his "thousand pieces of gold," yet when famine strikes northern China in 1871, he is forced to sell her. Polly, as Lalu is later called, is sold to a brothel, sold again to a slave merchant bound for America, auctioned to a saloonkeeper, and offered as a prize in a poker game. This biographical novel is the extraordinary story of one woman's fight for independence and dignity in the American West.

Advancement has come quickly to Ling Qi. With help from strong allies and connections, her foe has been defeated. The enemies of the alliance she has helped to build have surrendered. Her talent no longer goes unnoticed in the Celestial Empire, casting new eyes on her path. Those like her are accounted for; a title of nobility is within her reach...a prize with implications that will stretch over her now long life.

From the menacing vision of a red umbrella, to the ominous atmosphere of the Laughing Mountain; from the waking dream of virtual working to the sinister games of the locked room . . . this is a fascinating insight into the spine-chilling voices working within China today-a long way from the traditional expectations of hopping vampires and hanging ghosts.

A mysterious "fear disease" is scaring to death the citizens of Longzhou, China. Literally. Victims go insane or die frozen in terror, while survivors rant maniacally about demons infiltrating the city. But what's really behind the sudden epidemic? To find the answer, Chief Inspector Luo Fei teams up with a controversial historian and a brilliant psychologist to track down the true source of the illness and halt the wave of horror that threatens the metropolis.

Mimi is a "waste girl". A member of the lowest caste on Silicon Isle, located off China’s southeastern coast, and home to the world’s largest electronic waste recycling center. There, thousands of miles from home, Mimi struggles to earn a living for her family and dreams of a better life. Luo Jincheng is the head of one of three clans who run the island, a role passed down from his father and grandfather before him. As the government enforces tighter restrictions, Luo in turn tightens the reins on the waste workers in his employ. Ruthlessness is his means of survival.

Improve your Chinese skills and grow your vocabulary with these 10 entertaining Chinese short stories!