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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Chinese literature

May 2024

  • The Huangpu river in Shanghai.

    River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure review – all change in China

    Shortlisted for the Women’s prize, this immersive debut tells an intergenerational story about coming of age in a country that’s rapidly growing

June 2023

  • The China's Hidden Century exhibition at the British Museum

    British Museum offers to pay translator after plagiarism row

    Yilin Wang had translated passages from a Chinese revolutionary which were used in the China’s Hidden Century exhibition

April 2023

  • Observer Books<br>Xiaolu Guo, author. Photographed in HAckney, London.

    Books interview
    Xiaolu Guo: ‘It would be tacky to ask: can you forgive me for writing this?’

    The Chinese-British author on leaving her family to find creative freedom, the effect on those she writes about in her revealing new book, and the power of Moby-Dick

March 2023

  • The cover of the english translation of Heaven Officials Blessing, one of the most famous examples of China’s danmei or ‘boy’s love’ literature.

    China’s ‘rotten girls’ are escaping into erotic fiction about gay men

    Danmei is by some measures the most popular genre of fiction for women in China, and its popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Communist party

March 2022

  • Graduates wearing gowns and mortar boards at a graduation ceremony.

    Teach UK students about China to tackle knowledge ‘deficit’, say experts

    UK lacks sufficient understanding of China to make sensible decisions, finds higher education policy report

January 2022

  • A calligrapher at work in Beijing

    Kingdom of Characters by Jing Tsu review – Chinese writing’s near death experience

    A lively chronicle of the inventors who gave their all to make the Chinese script compatible with modern life

November 2018

  • Occupy Central leaders, from right, Shiu Ka Chun, Tanya Chan, Chan Kin Man, Benny Tai, Chu Yiu Ming and Lee Wing Tat shout slogans before entering a court in Hong Kong.

    The Guardian view on Hong Kong protest trials: a test of freedoms

    Editorial: The city has been under growing pressure since the ‘umbrella movement’ convulsed it four years ago

July 2018

  • Copyright Sarah Lee - Some of the shortlisted nominees of the International Man Booker Prize. Yan Lianke

    Book of the day
    The Day the Sun Died by Yan Lianke review – the stuff of nightmares

    Unalloyed disgust at China’s moral decay underpins this tale of a village subsumed by darkness and death

February 2016

  • Fu Manchu

    Children's books
    How I discovered London’s lost Chinatown

    As the year of the monkey begins, Katherine Woodfine shares some fascinating gems about what she learned about the reality of London’s original Chinatown as she researched her latest novel The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth – and went beyond the negative stereotypes of Fu Manchu

June 2015

  • trang ha

    Ebooks: the new reading
    Nothing can stop a good story, however badly told

    James Bridle
    Collective translations into Vietnamese of Chinese network-generated fiction have caused outrage – but their popularity is undeniable

June 2014

  • Xiaolu Guo

    I Am China by Xiaolu Guo review – exile and uncertainty

    Isabel Hilton on Chinese politics and culture across three continents

March 2014

  • Chineasy peasy … A new book by ShaoLan Hsueh and Noma Bar brings beautiful graphic clarity to the process of learning Chinese characters.

    Architecture and design blog
    Chineasy peasy: Noma Bar brings fun and colour to Chinese characters

    When ShaoLan Hsueh realised her children didn't have the patience to learn Chinese, she wanted to simplify it for them – so she worked with graphic artist Noma Bar on a new book that turns a fiendish world into a visual treat

January 2014

  • Reindeer caravan of Evenk people in Siberia

    The Last Quarter of the Moon by Chi Zijian – review

    This epic novel about the nomadic Evenki clan in northern China is an enthralling look at a culture in decline, writes Jane Housham

December 2013

  • David Foster Wallace

    Comfort reading
    The Tao Te Ching by Laozi: ancient wisdom for modern times

    Damien Walter: The mysterious Laozi's insights may be hard to translate, but the meaning is clear – learning to be self-aware could improve modern life

May 2013

  • Chinese military personnel watch over Tiananmen Square

    Writers around the world call on China to respect freedom of expression

    Authors alliance including Mario Vargas Llosa, Salman Rushdie and Nadine Gordimer salutes the bravery of Chinese citizens struggling with censorship in a 'perilous climate'

March 2013

  • CHINA-SICHUAN-HANYUAN-FLOWERS (CN)

    Books blog
    Chinese fiction is focusing on the fringes – of both map and mind

  • Sea bass eye

    Water stories
    Woman Fish by Dorothy Tse, translated by Nicky Harman

February 2013

  • China author Ping Fu

    Chinese cast doubt over executive's rags to riches tale

    Author of book describing her path from cultural revolution to head of US technology firm accuses critics of smear campaign

October 2012

  • Mo Yan

    My hero
    My hero: Mo Yan

  • Mo Yan and Liu Xiaobo

    Nobel winner Mo Yan speaks up for jailed 'subversive' Liu Xiaobo

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