Monthly Short Story Reading

[moderntime]

I would be very interested in this. Afraid I don't have any recommendations, but it sounds like a great way to develop my Chinese reading skills and read more Chinese literature in the original language rather than in translation.

[renzhe]

May sounds good, I should be finished with my current reading by then.

[Meng Lelan]

Why not?

Well, I could start up a French social group, but really, I think the Chinese language and literature should eclipse all other languages and literatures under the sun....

[msittig]

I'd join.

[Meng Lelan]

I'd join.

You're welcome to join this group in the meantime.

As for the French group, let me get going with this group first and see how it goes.

[abcdefg]

Would it be possible to include a short story every now and then which is suitable for elementary readers, such as myself?

[Meng Lelan]

abcdefg,

The vast majority of the stories we're planning so far would range from advanced-intermediate to quite advanced level, something a Chinese high school senior should be able to handle. That's why roddy may be moving this thread over to Art and Literature once he thinks out his remodeling work on these Forums.

I can't think of any short stories on the elementary level but if anyone here can propose elementary short stories, I can certainly go post up those stories along with a link to the story and a very brief intro to the author, as long as they are short stories originally written in Chinese.

The first elementary level story that is coming to my mind right now is a very brief story about the author's uncle, who was none other than Lu Xun. It is in a sixth grade reader in Chinese, if my memory is correct.

[Meng Lelan]

Oh, I just thought of another story...the other day ago I summarized this story in American sign language for my class of deaf middle schoolers and they were amazed that girls in China could be treated like in this story - anyone here read it or would be interested? It is

远去的粉蝴蝶 （刘云生).

[abcdefg]

The vast majority of the stories we're planning so far would range from advanced-intermediate to quite advanced level, something a Chinese high school senior should be able to handle.

Tha's OK. As my reading level improves I'll drop in again and have a look.

[Meng Lelan]

Just to give me an idea of what elementary is, how many characters can you read now and what kind of textbooks/readings are you doing now? It might give me a better idea of how far "up" I should go if I look at elementary level stories.

[abcdefg]

This is embarassing. I can converse fairly well, but as far as reading goes I'm a total retard. I learned Chinese all backwards, not the way proper students do. Currently in class 我的课本就是汉语教程，第一册,下。Probably read about 1,500 words.

I find lots of Chinese people read English better than they can speak it. My situation is the reverse and it's difficult for them to grasp that fact. Girl I met recently lent me 红楼梦 and I just stared at it in awe. But I'm persistent and hope to eventually get things balanced out.

I appreciate your kind interest.

Edited April 24, 2009 at 02:06 PM by abcdefg
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[Meng Lelan]

Girl I met recently lent me 红楼梦 and I just stared at it in awe.

To give you an idea of the level that 红楼梦 involves, that's normally introduced as selections in fourth year Chinese. The story coming up in May is on the level of third year Chinese.

[roddy]

The People's Educational Press has elementary school language readers online. Start with the very first year one piece here (actually maybe not a great place to start as it's more of a chant, skip forwards) and work your way through to the end of year six. There's lists of new characters and . . . actually, the rest is a bit dull.

[skylee]

There are a number of suggestions now. So how does this monthly reading work?

[renzhe]

There is a world of difference between something like a short story by 萧红 and 红楼梦. Giving you a copy of that indicates a total lack of any idea about learning Chinese.

Generally, I find modern short stories from the early 20th century the easiest "real" literature in terms of language level. The most difficult stuff you can read and still call it vernacular Chinese are probably real historical classics like 红楼梦. 红楼梦 is for people who are really comfortable with reading Chinese.

Still, even for the easier stuff (like Ba Jin), you'll need about 2000 characters and about 5000 words under your belt to read it comfortably. With the 1000 most common characters and a few thousand words, you could probably work your way through a short story given some explanation or guidance and reading would probably be great learning practice (though somewhat challenging). Anything easier than this will be stuff for children or learners.

[Meng Lelan]

So how does this monthly reading work?

Ok, good question skylee and I appreciate your asking and I have it worked out.

Over this weekend I am going to start posting the online links to the May Short Story of the Month which is 我没有自己的名字 in case any of you have got the plan to go for a head start even though it's not even May. (skylee I think your recommended story will be on for June, we'll see)

Also I will post a brief introduction to the author of this story and the reasons for selecting this as the May Short Story of the Month. I will forewarn you folks that this story is disturbing, as least for me, but I am not going to go totally into that right now.

So we spend most of May reading the story, going over any problem vocabulary and grammar, our impressions of this story, how does this fit in with Chinese society and culture, etc. I may even post some very specific questions about whether you see this short story as a reflection of Chinese culture and literature as it is today. Most of the discussion will be coming from you folks, whether in Chinese and English.

Like what roddy said, this will be haute culture so to speak.

[Meng Lelan]

Here it is, the May Short Story of the Month.

The title is 我没有自己的名字 by 余华.

Yes, this May selection comes a week early, so you speedy ones can get a head start. The others can straggle in during the month of May after finishing up final exams, business deals, HSK mock exams, teacher evaluations, budget analyses, forums restructuring, etc etc.

This story was first published in 收获 literature magazine in 1995. It describes the cruelty and humiliation endured by this story’s mentally retarded protagonist.

Why I chose this story: I have spent most of my life working with the deaf, blind,

and deaf-blind both in the US and in China. The disabled in China experience discrimination in general, though it seems to me that the mentally retarded face greater challenges than other disabilities in China. Another reason for choosing this story is that his writings break away from conventional Chinese fiction and that he was influenced by the writings of Kafka.

About the author: Yu Hua, male, born in 1960 in Hangzhou. He worked as a dentist from 1978 to 1983. Yu Hua began to write fiction in 1983, then got a master’s degree in Chinese Language and Literature from Beijing Normal University in 1991. The film “To Live” was based on his novel of same name.

You can either input the story’s title into your favorite Internet search engine to find a copy to read online, or you can use the link that I found where you can read the online copy of the story:

http://www.xiaoshuo.com/readbook/0013081_3259_1.html

So now it’s up to you to read and discuss the story. Remember that this is more of an art and literature type of thread, although I trust that all of us can help each other with the more difficult words, sentence structures, and literary background involved in this month’s selection.

I hope you folks find this enlightening reading.

[Shadowdh]

Thanks for the link Meng Lelan... I actually did a bit on Yu Hua for my uni degree in the culture class... but the story we read was a darn site more graphic...

I have made a .doc file and a utf8 .txt file for those who might want to read it on their pda type device... sure I know I should be studying for my two written exams I have this week but bugger it a man needs a break...

余华短篇小说 我没有自己的名字.doc

余华短篇小说 我没有自己的名字.txt

[Meng Lelan]

Which "graphic" story did you read, may I ask?

Many thanks for making up those files.

You are welcome to "straggle in" here sometime in May when you're done with exams.

[Shadowdh]

I think it was called 1986 about a guy who disappears in the cultural rev and then reappears later as a madman who mutilates himself in all sorts of ways, some VERY cringe worthy, especially if you are male...

No problems and I will do... just two more written Chinese exams to go... then a third thats mainly in english and about what I think of the things I have read... so that one is not too bad, but the Chinese ones... sigh...