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Your favourite chinese books
Oct 11, 2006 04:52
  • EXLIFE
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hi guys,
recently, i am reading Tess of the D'urberwilles. attraced by description of foreign countrysides, i find some of the words and ways of thinking quite hard to understand. this make me wonder what kind of feelings do you have when you are reading famous chinese novel, such as the Dream of the Red Chamber which is not easy for natives to understand.
Oct 11, 2006 08:38
#1  
  • CHYNAGYRL
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Tess of the D'Urberville's strength is its ability to capture the pastoral life in England of a few centuries ago. That story was tremendously shaped by its location. Although the location was familiar to me, the characters' attitudes were foreign to me. Many of the characters were fatalistic and provincial, part of a generation when women faced more oppression and had no where to turn to.

I've read a Gao Xinjian novel "Soul Mountain" and Da Siejie "Balzac and the Little Seamstress", as well as "The Good Earth". They were great since they give insight into the writers' mental and physical location -- both of which combine to make a true experience anywhere in the world. The writer's feelings and state of mind were more important to me when I read, because how they feel about China hints about China's social and political situation -- and spiritual condition.
Oct 11, 2006 20:11
#2  
  • CALIFORNIA
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I'd like reading Hong Lou Meng,and I have read it three time,finally,I understand it:-)
Oct 11, 2006 20:25
#3  
  • CONNY129
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U understood ,Cali?
I read it a few times ,the description is excellent , but the implication is still not that clearly for me to understand :(
Oct 11, 2006 20:34
#4  
  • CALIFORNIA
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Yes,I understand now!

The 1st time,I only knew what the story talked about,and the 2nd time,I knew the relationships amoung the roles in the novel,and the 3rd time,I paid attention to the poems,really nice!
Oct 11, 2006 21:39
#5  
  • TEKNOMED
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I love "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck. This is a great story by a non-Chinese who understood the social and political situation of China of that time.
Oct 12, 2006 04:23
#6  
  • LEMONCACTUS
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I would love to read the classic Chinese novels (translated of course) but there are so many different versions and I think it will be very difficult for me to understand, especially if my Chinese friends here can't fully understand it...

I read and loved 'Red Dust' by Ma Jian... it's a fascinating account of a man on the road in China in the 1980s. Labelled as China's answer to Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road'.

I also love Chinese poetry and currently am dipping into a book of 300 Tang Dynasty poems, in translation and with the Chinese...Du fu, Wang Ji, Li Bai etc....
Oct 12, 2006 20:19
#7  
  • CALIFORNIA
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"300 Tang Dynasty poems"???

Haha,interesting!!!
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