Chinese Literature Challenge

I’ve been wanting to read more Chinese books, especially since now we’re in Canada and far away from our roots and things that would remind us of our roots, traditions, and culture.

We always hear friends and family speaking Chinese and Cantonese all the time in Malaysia, and now that it’s just two of us, we’ve decided that we’ll communicate in Mandarin to each other even though we always used to speak in English.

This is a perfect opportunity for me to read more about Chinese history and culture. =)

What is the duration of the challenge?
The challenge will start and end on Chinese New Year, which means it will runfrom February 3rd 2011 to January 23rd 2012. You can however join in anytime.

What do you mean by Chinese literature?
Books either written by a Chinese author or books about China (incl. Hongkong and Macau) or Taiwan.

What are the requirements for participating in this challenge?
You have to read at least one book and write a review about it. If you don't have a blog, it's also fine to post your review on Goodreads or Librarything.

There are four levels of participation (no need to set one beforehand):
Merchant: 1-3 books
Artisan: 4-6 books
Farmer: 7-9 books
Scholar: 10+ books

I think I want to take the Scholar challenge. I really do want to focus more on this, but we’ll see. I’ll probably know before the challenge starts if I can commit the time to this.

What kind of books can I read?
Any genre, in any format (audiobook/e-book/paper) in any language. Also, re-reads are allowed.

Can I combine with other challenges?
Sure! You could, for example, combine this challenge with the East and Southeast Asia challenge hosted by VioletCrush. But anything goes.

Do you have a list of books I can choose from?

I have listed a few books below, by different authors. It is, of course, far from complete. You are encouraged to find books that are not listed. Feel free to contact me if you have suggestions for this list or if you need more suggestions from me.

CLASSICS
The Story of the Stone - Xueqin CAO
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio - Songling PU
Monkey - Ch'eng-en WU
The Analects - Confucius
The Art of War - SUN Tzu
Romance of the Three Kingdoms - LUO Guanzhong
Romance of the Western Chamber - WANG Shifu
The Peony Pavilion - TANG Xianzu

CHINA
Teahouse - Lao She
Falling Leaves - Adeline Yen MAH
The Shop of the Lin Family and Spring Silkworms - Mao Dun
The True Story of Ah Q - Lu Xun
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China - CHENG Jung
Lust, Caution (and other stories) - CHANG Eileen
Shanghai Baby - (ZHOU) Weihui
Waiting - JIN Ha
Song of Everlasting Sorrow - WANG Anyi
Sky Burial - (XUE) Xinran
Village of Stone - GUO Xiaolu
Bitter Winds - WU Harry
A Dictionary of Maqiao - HAN Shaogong
Candy - Mian Mian

TAIWAN
Running Mother and Other Stories - GUO Songfen
Orphan of Asia - WU Zhuoli
The Taste of Apples - HUANG Chunming
Rose, Rose, I Love You - WANG Zhenhe
A Thousand Moons on a Thousand Rivers - HSIAO Li-Hung
My South Seas Sleeping Beauty - ZHANG Guixing
The Old Capital: A Novel of Taipei - CHU T'ien-hsin
Three-Legged Horse - CHENG Ch'ing-wen
Notes of a Desolate Man - CHU T'ien-Wen
Wild Kids: Two Novels About Growing Up - ChANG Ta-chun
Wintry Night - LI Qiao

HONGKONG
Farewell My Concubine - Lilian Lee

OVERSEAS CHINESE
The Lily Theatre - Lulu Wang
The Joy Luck Club - Amy Tan

Sounds like fun! How do I sign up?
Go to the dedicated blog for the Chinese Literature Challenge. =)