What are you reading?

[eddiewouldgo]

I'm reading 我的前半生， and 我的後半生, by 愛新覺羅 溥儀，the last emperor.

The Qing Dynasty is very popular now days, dramas like 康熙/雍正王朝，江山風雨情, and清十二帝疑案 .

[Anna]

Plague -- by Albert Camus

I am reading it in Chinese' date=' and the translation sucks as hell.[/quote']

I suppose, because of the cultural differences these type of books can not be translated properly at all. Why did you pick it for reading in Chinese?

[Hekate]

I've just finished Variations Without a Theme: And Other Stories by Xu Xing and I loved it. I'm looking forward reading his latest novel which is from one of the shorts of this collection : And everything is left is for you.

As for now, I'm currently reading another collection of 2 short stories (sorry I can't find its Engligh title, and I don't think it has been translated into Englis, I'm reading a French translation) by Zhang Kangkang which are evocations of the educated youth's experiences from the cultural revolution and reflexion of their becoming of today.

[geek_frappa]

the china mystique

:o) good read so far...

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10369.html

[chenpv]

woooo, it seems that u guys appreciates modern chinese literature. while i just like some of them. here apart from some books on neuroscience and GRE, i am reading this 《子不语》written by 袁枚 of Qing Dynasty. Its a collection of ghost stories, very funny, easy to read.

PS: speaking of english textbooks, i find that english person and american are tend to have different writing styles when teaching science. English writers are very precise in diction while American writers are making the book more like a casual conversation.

[cui ruide]

I'm reading Peter Hessler's River Town: Two Year on the Yangtze...

It compliments Rachel Dewoskin's Foreign Babes in Beijing, which I just finished previously--a story about a female American student dabbling in the expatriate Beijing career life. River Town is kinda slow, but not in a boring way, more a subtle, gentle flow not unlike a river; his writing is very lyrical and poetic in a way.

[百變星君]

If you like reading about history, I'd recommend any book by Jonathan Spence. I just finished this huge history of Modern China he wrote, and even though it was painfully long, it was still a fascinating read. The quality of his writing made up for the length of the book.

I don't know if there are chinese translations of his books.

Oh, I also started reading this book in chinese called 365 Night Stories (夜故事）.... it's just a collection of childrens stories, and fables, many of which are borrowed from Hans christian Anderson, but it's challenging enough for studying chinese, and each story is no more than two pages long. Two pages per story is definitely not biting off more than you can chew. It's helped me get more comfortable reading in chinese, because even if I don't know a few words, I can still get the gist of the story. Also, the stories are fairly universal in nature, so you don't have to be an expert on chinese folklore to catch on.

I bought this book at a XinHua bookstore in Beijing for 15 yuan.

[Hekate]

I finished Cruelty and Sandstorm by Zhang Kangkang (about the experiences of the urban educated youth during the Cultural Revolution and their becoming today), which I like and the other day I finished reading yumou sharen by Chi Li (I don't know it's English title perhaps Premeditation which is its French title). It's a fast reading novel about two families during sino-japanese war until 1950. It uses real elements of History with even real historical characters, the pace is quite fast and the story well told.There are other novels by her at the library, I may borrow them.

[gato]

Yes, a Chinese translation of Jonathan Spence's "In Search of Modern China" has been published in Taiwan by 時報出版社 in 2001.

Its Chinese title is 《追寻现代中国》.

Spence goes by the name 史景迁 in Chinese, 迁 as in 司马迁.

See《追寻现代中国》座谈会

http://www.ewen.cc/books/bkview.asp?bkid=85490&cid=217295

An abridged version, which stops with the fall of the Qing in 1912, has now been published in the mainland.

http://www.ewen.cc/books/bookspec/view.asp?id=0202010000022929

《追寻现代中国：1600～1912年的中国历史》

著者：[美]史景迁

编译者：黄纯艳 译

丛书名： 美国史学大师史景迁中国研究系列

出版社： 上海远东

ISBN：7806614117K.10

版次：01版01次

开本：32开

装帧：平装

页数：319

[fenlan]

John King Fairbank's book on Chinese history is also available ini Chinese.

[百變星君]

That's a convenient way to simplify matters! just cut out everything after the Qing Dynasty. I imagine that makes Spence's book a much shorter read.

[chenpv]

I am just starting a new book, 《丛林故事》written by an english writer 吉卜林。

The jungle book written by R. Kipling. So sorry that i cant get an english version.

[roddy]

What about this? Should be complete, but I haven't checked.

[skylee]

Here is the English version of "The Jungle Book" -> http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext95/jnglb10.txt

Read it on line or download/print it.

You can find lots of free e-books on the Project Gutenberg website.

[chenpv]

Thank you all for your help!

[Lu]

Just returned from a summer school with two classes of English literature. Discovered Angela Carter, of whom I had never heard before but who is a great writer.

And I came across a translation of Jin Yong's 雪山飞狐. The translation is not so great but then, Jin Yong is virtually intranslatable so the effort should be appreciated. And I liked the book a lot, had never read something like that before.

[badatpool]

I still remember the ending of 雪山飞狐, it is impressive as many endings of Jin Yong’s novels.

[skylee]

I like 苗人鳳 a lot ...

[Lu]

Skylee, me too. He was one of the very few decent people in that novel.

Badatpool, I wonder about that ending. I wasn't expecting an open ending in this kind of novel (but then, I had nothing to compare it with). What do you think Hu did, did he kill him or not?

I think he didn't, how would he be able to face his fiancee if he had killed her father? Whereas if he let him live, he would at least still be a hero in her eyes.

[bhchao]

Jonathan Spence also has an interesting book called Treason by the Book, about the dialogue between the ill-fated scholar Zeng Jing and Emperor Yongzheng.

Here is Spence's foreword in case you're interested:

http://vh.shu.edu.tw/~abc/corner/culture/treason_foreword.htm

讀史其中一個用處就在於提醒吾人。事情可以匪夷所思到什麼程度。曾靜謀反的奇案，還有他們兩人最後合力完成了《大義覺迷錄》，似乎正是這句話的註腳。但是讀史另有一個用處，就在於讓吾人看到，人可以實事求是地回應這匪夷所思的外在環境到什麼程度。曾靜與雍正又再一次說明了這點.

在一七三○到一七三○年代之間，清朝的儒士或目睹此事、或在其間推波助瀾，並以驚人的細密面對之，因此留下極為龐大的檔案，見證這段歷史。從如雪片般呈稟朝廷的奏摺，可以大致勾勒出各地封疆大吏遇事決斷的梗概。也可窺知奏摺往返遞送且有皇上批語所依循的流程，還可看到官員為博聖眷而附上所掌握到的謀逆材料。這些文件是由朝廷主掌檔案的官員世世代代保管，對史家彌足珍貴。一九一二年，清朝覆亡，這些文件每每得在遭受戰火波及之前裝箱封存，輾轉流落各地。到了二十世紀末，這些檔案終究得以分別藏於臺北、北京兩地，溫濕度受控制的場所，出奇逃過接二連三席捲中國的政治革命洪流的摧殘.

曾靜一案始於一七二八年，在一七三六年由朝廷終審了結。但是幾乎在案發之初，此案的原委便可上溯至遙遠的過去，部份是在十七世紀中葉明末清初的軍事衝突與智識論辯中，部份則可遠溯至古代，甚至迄於孔子之前中國哲學、歷史文本粗貝雛形的年代。同樣地，朝廷終審結案之後，迴響仍久久不衰，不僅歷經了清末民初的分崩離析，而且還延續到我們所虛的年代：中國有一家出版社於一九九九年集結出版了本案重要原始檔案的抄本，滿足觀眾在看了「雍正王朝」電視劇之後所產生的好奇心

曾靜案所講的不只是皇帝與其死敵的故事；它還旁及《大義覺迷錄》這奇書。此書幸賴朝廷的飭令，得以在一七三○年代初風行天下、廣為摘引。而拙著在某種程度上，也是一本有關書籍如何被書寫、刊行天下，有關巡迴駁斥，有關自我宣傳，有關眩惑聽眾與大肆抨擊的書

這則離奇的故事講的是十八世紀的中國人，他們一方面汲汲營營於儒士的名位，另一方面又身陷於科考的迷惘之中；他們一方面皓首窮經，但又得對上位者所做在他們看來是專橫、負面的決斷逆來順受。在文士菁英圈內失敗者之中，有許多人打心底否認他們是上位者所斷言的那種知識份子，曾靜就是這類的典型，而許多無端被牽連進曾靜這個案子的人也是其中之

在另一個層面上，本書講的是那個我們大多數都已失去聯繫的世界；在那個世界裡，陌生人闖入居里所在的村子常常引人側目，總要被竊竊私語、左思右想個幾年。在這類的世界裡，譬如整個案子發生的湘南丘陵間的孤村，里市有如天高之遠：從京裡的信使總是會受到重視。珍饈華宅，餽贈絡繹不絕於途。因為京師乃是臥虎藏龍之地。一如從檔案所見，這也是個流言滋繁，充斥各種奇譚異誌的世界：迂腐蒙昧，極為不安全，總是有種輕率的寬宏大度。

當我寫作本書時，發現這將會是一本有關審案過程的書，這是我當初始料未及的。調查曾靜案所採取的手段，唯有在記憶不易受到牽絆且市井小民皆能費心、逐步再現過去事件的社會裡才可能存在。同時，他們習慣添枝加葉、言不由衷。往往會使得這個世界裡的記憶在個人想像的土壤中歧散、孕育、滋養。有鑑於審理官吏的百折不回、殫心竭慮，手中又握有龐然物力人力，實情雖然詭譎多變，卻也不至於讓他們在通往真理的道路上進退維谷。即使他們誤走歧路，皇帝也會適時將他們喚回正途。為了與蘊含個人色彩的在地記憶搏鬥，審理案子的官吏不得不旁敲側擊，採行各種可能奏效的媒介：牆上的告示和傳單，成冊的詩文，編纂的箴言，以及諱澀的諷喻和夢境。他們用的審案技巧包括不斷對有戒心的目擊者施以壓力，重複鞫訊，要求撰述自白，大刑伺候或威脅動刑，親人規勸，孤立，詐騙，佯裝稱兄道弟，背棄盟誓，甚至散播嫌疑犯的畫像。

對今天的我們而言，這些辦案手法仍與現代相互輝映，並喚醒吾人對邇來中國和其他地區政權的記憶。但這樁離奇案子的來龍去脈和枝微末節終究有其時空的侷限性，是因著像曾靜、雍正這類的人而展開的。他們倆人素未謀面，彼此也稱不上熟識。他們帶給對方的徵兆雖隱晦不明，卻總是可以撥開層層迷霧。他們倆人對社稷、自我的信仰，努力想瞭解對方的意圖，竟奇蹟般地至今猶存。所以只要吾人摒除纏繞的枝節，在黑暗裡凝視，無論時代如何悠遠，總是能進入他們倆人的內心世界面探索這整個過程的蛛絲馬跡。