

http://static.projectpengyou.org/chu/chinese-literature.mp3

With the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, China embarked on a hundred-year literary journey that has been at times cosmopolitan, political, bawdy, thoughtful, elegant, critical, playful, pensive and blatantly commercial. But what are mainland youth reading today?

To answer that query, and to help us chart a course through the last century of mainland lit, we’ve brought in Alice Xin Liu and Eric Abrahamsen, co-editors of Pathlight: a literary magazine that translates some of the best new Chinese writing and poetry into English. So strap in, hold on, and enjoy the comprehensive author list we’ve provided below. It’s on the house.

Footnote: Well-read listeners will note that in our haste we skipped right over one of the early 20th century’s big names, Lao She 老舍! For more on his contributions check out his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Lao_She

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Links:

Pathlight Magazine

http://paper-republic.org/pubs/pathlight/

http://pathlightmag.tumblr.com/

Paper Republic

http://paper-republic.org/

Author list:

(All the writers below also have pages at Paper Republic: http://paper-republic.org/authors/)

1. Post-Qing/Republican Era

Lu Xun 鲁迅

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu_Xun

Qian Zhongshu 钱钟书

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qian_Zhongshu

Shen Congwen 沈从文

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Congwen

Zhang Ailing 张爱玲

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Chang

2. The People’s Republic

Ding Ling 丁玲

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding_Ling

Wang Meng 王蒙

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Meng_(author)

3. Reform and Opening Up

Mo Yan 莫言

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Yan

Wang Anyi 王安忆

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Anyi

Jia Pingwa 贾平凹

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jia_Pingwa

Han Shaogong 韩少功

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Shaogong

Yu Hua 余华

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_Hua_(author)

4. The 90’s

Wang Xiaobo 王小波

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Xiaobo

Wang Shuo 王朔

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Shuo

Zhu Wen 朱文

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Wen_(director)

5. Internet Ascendant

Han Han 韩寒

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Han

Guo Jingming 郭敬明

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guo_Jingming

6. Genre: Sci-fi

Science Fiction World 科幻世界

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_World

Liu Cixin 刘慈欣

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Cixin

Pan Haitian 潘海天

http://paper-republic.org/authors/pan-haitian/

Fei Dao 飞氘

http://paper-republic.org/authors/fei-dao/

7. Genre: Romance

Ai Mi 艾米

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12238011-under-the-hawthorn-tree