Modern Chinese ebooks - fictions or otherwise

[fireball9261]

I noticed not too many people here mentioned Chinese eBooks. Although a lot of them are pretty bad, but there are also good ones out there. They are a good source to learn modern Chinese usage. There are also a few stories that included sections of classical Chinese written by the authors. Most importantly, you can read a lot of them for free and in the comfort of your own homes. You can also get involved in the readers’ forum to experience the modern Chinese web culture.

I would like to recommend the eBook site, www.cmfu.com. They had a wide selection of books and pretty much virus free – I have only encountered virus once in the last 5 years of reading there. Just remember: Don’t give out your credit card number or account number to purchase VIP or other accounts there unless you are very familiar with their services and security.

I would like to mention the following eBooks. I believe they were also published in either Taiwan or mainland China or both. The following 3 books will probably appeal to people who like to read the Romance of the 3 Kingdoms. Each had its own special ways, but each was written in excellent modern Chinese with a little classical leaning (like Jing Yuon’s novels). The last two had excellent poems that I believe were written by modern authors (probably the authors themselves or their friends) with the ancient flavor. It’s great to see the passing of the torch from the ancient poet, Qu Yuan of the Warring States period, to the modern day young Chinese poets. I just want to mention that (1) was completed, but, I believe, (2) & (3) are still in progress. However, it is well worth reading the parts that were done.

The stories were all set in alternative universes. The universes in (1) and (2) are similar to imperial China. The universe in (3) was a combination of ancient China and Science Fiction.

You can read these 3 books for free online, and here are the books and their links:

(1) 随波逐流之一代军师 by 随波逐流

(http://www.cmfu.com/showbook.asp?bl_id=21839)

This one had situations like Li Shi-Ming of Tang and the Romance of 3 Kingdoms. It was completed and published. The primary character was like Zhuge Liang but had a more relaxed and lazy personality.

(2)庆熹纪事 by 红猪侠 (http://www.cmfu.com/showbook.asp?Bl_id=1140)

This one was more involved in palace and court intrigues with a feel of Ming dynasty court.

(3)天行健 by 燕垒生 (http://www3.cmfu.com/showbook.asp?bl_id=408)

This one was mostly in the battle fields through the eyes of the captain in a military unit that was sent to quell the rebellion, and the setting was the combination of Science Fiction and ancient China. The story had three parts. As the captain rises in rank, he became closer to court intrigues. His own conscience also caused him to question the actions of his leaders as well as the actions of the rebel leaders. The story had 3 parts. Part 1 and 2 were completed, and I think part 3 might have been completed in the published form (in mainland China), but I am not sure.

Forum members, please join in and share your favorite Chinese eBook sites as well as good Chinese eBooks.

p.s. 燕垒生 also wrote a lot of short stories, and they were also published.

[dporter1465]

There's also a good free selection of modern Chinese literature (and some film scripts) on the Chinese Text Sampler webpage: http://www.umich.edu/~dporter/sampler/sampler.html