Any original chinese book by westerners?

[Guest Yau]

I can hardly think of any, except the books written by Matteo Ricci. Anybody here tried to write a chinese book ever?

[yonglan]

I believe Richard Hartzell has. He is also the author of the English book _Harmony in Conflict_ which is a sort of a primer on Chinese culture. A long primer.

My understanding is that he wrote the Chinese book(s) first, endeavoring to explain Western ways to Taiwanese/Chinese. I first heard of his Chinese books (I think there were a few, but I don't know) from a Taiwanese classmate.

Keep searching, you're bound to turn up some more.

[Bob Dylan Thomas]

i think the scholar Geremie Barme writes in Chinese (as well as english)and he certainly has a Western name, though not knowing for sure i can only guess he isn't chinese.

meanwhile, a plug: one of my classmates is working on the stunning semiautobiographical Chinese novel 外男国女, a rollercoaster tale of cross-cultural love, keep your eyes peeled for its forthcoming release! (and subsequent banning due to the suggestion of pre-marital s*x between a Chinese and a foreigner)

[yonglan]

Sounds cool! Um, this is a tale of him and one lady or (I hope, hee hee hee) a tale of him and his harem? When's it coming out? Self-published? Will it have been proofread by a native speaker competent in editing?

[Lu]

And if there are such books written in Chinese by foreigners for --I assume-- a Chinese public, do such books count as Chinese literature?

[skylee]

If it is foreigners, not westerners, then I know of at least one.

Her name is 新井一二三, a Japanese journalist who writes in Chinese. I have one of her books.

You can read some of her writing here -> http://www.appledaily.com.tw/template/twapple_sub/catkeycol.cfm?loc=TP&showcol=84851&sec_id=20

Here is her background -

新井一二三

生長於日本東京，早稻田大學政治學系畢業。大學期間以公費到中國大陸留學兩年，期間遊走雲南、東北、蒙古、海南島等各地，回到日本擔任「朝日新聞」記者，後移民加拿大，在約克大學、懷爾遜理工學院修習政治學與新聞學，並開始用英文寫作。

九四年到香港，任職「亞洲週刊」中文特派員，同時在「星島日報」、「蘋果日報」、「明報」等多份中文報刊上發表散文及小說。

目前新井一二三定居日本東京，專職於中文寫作，出版過《新井，心井》、《東京人》、《櫻花寓言》、《可愛日本人》、《讀日派》、《東京的女兒》、《１２３成人式》、《東京時刻八點四十五》。

[Guest Yau]

新井一二三 就是 "一支小百合" 嗎?

她用字好像小孩子, 但寫文章挺通順啊.

似乎日本會寫、會說中文的人倒不少.

[skylee]

新井一二三 就是 "一支小百合" 嗎?

I don't think so. But I don't know who the latter is. And I think 新井's writing is fine.

[skylee]

Yau, I think you meant to say "一條小百合" (支 vs 條 )

Her background -

一條小百合生於日本，在日本大學就讀期間開始接拍三級片；拍了五十五部以後，於八六年買下七十年代著名脫衣舞孃「一條小百合」藝名，成為第二代「一條小百合」，九一年曾來港參演電影《聊齋艷談之五通神》，兩年前赴廣州學習中文，由九九年起於《明報》及《蘋果日報》撰寫專欄，成為目前唯一以中文在報章發表文章的日本女作家。

[Quest]

有相片看吗？可以帮助认识认识。

[aristotle1990]

Professor Guy Alitto of the University of Chicago has apparently written at least two articles and a book in Chinese. Academic stuff.

Old hand, this guy -- was the chief interpreter for Nixon when he went to China 1972. More about him here.

Edit: heh, watch the video; he's got this hilarious, old-timey Chinese accent.

Edited January 4, 2010 at 02:12 PM by aristotle1990

[Daan]

That is a great accent!

[eatfastnoodle]

Judge Dee series, written by Robert van Gulik (高罗佩), is highly popular in China, probably the most popular Chinese novels written by a non-Chinese. I know at least two very popular Chinese TV series based on Robert van Gulik's novels.

[Daan]

But I don't think those were originally written in Chinese, or were they?

[eatfastnoodle]

I'm not sure, I think at least one of them was originally written in English, it was later translated into Chinese by Robert van Gulik himself, so in certain sense, you can say the Chinese version is "original" as its involves far more than literal translation to fully capture all the cultural and linguistic nuances. I read the whole series in Chinese and felt it looked more like works of modern Chinese writers than those of a foreigner. I also read English versions of some novels of this series, my overall feeling was that it doesn't matter if the series were originally written in English or not, English version of the novels I read felt extremely weird. Maybe because there is such a huge difference between China and the West and Chinese and English, for example, in English version, the word "torture" was repeatedly used, we all know "torture" carries quite a negative connotation; in Chinese version, however, a more or less literal translation of "torture" was used，namely, the phrase "用刑“, ”用大刑“ or some other similar terms, I'm no expert, but I don't feel in China, especially in Chinese literature dealing with law and order, in particular law and order of ancient times, these terms give out any negative vibes, they're more or less neutral terms utilized to describe a means to an end.

So yeah, personally, I think these novels, I mean Chinese version, are better reflections of what Robert van Gulik knew about China, Chinese culture, Chinese history, his attempts to inject Western ideals about hero into a series set in ancient China and what he really wanted to express as a writer. Another analogy I think applies here is that the Chinese version feels like a depiction of ancient times written by people living in modern society, it's a hugely distorted picture that I'm sure has nothing to do with how things really worked back in Tang Dynasty, nonetheless, it's a work done by a Chinese writer using Chinese perspective trying to express modern Chinese values. Not value of ancient times, yet still Chinese enough to feel it belongs (Judge Dee, in Chinese version, is humorous, smart, athletic, principled yet flexible human being as opposed to a personification of justice so often seen in traditional Chinese detective novels. He's strictly a follower of traditional Confucius value yet having lots of traits more commonly associated with people not bound by traditions, basically, a guy I don't mind working for or having a beer with.) The English version, however, feels like it's an show about ancient China done with an all white crew, maybe it's more original, maybe in certain sense, it's a better reflection of how ancient times should feel to a guy living in 21st century, it just feels really weird. (Judge Dee, in English version, feels like he's rigid, ruthless, aloof, etc. Not a guy I wanna hang out with.)

Just my personal 2 cents, please take it with a big big big grain of salt as my problems with the English version and my appreciation for the Chinese versions may simply a reflection of the fact that Chinese is my 1st language while English isn't.

[Daan]

Interesting to hear your thoughts. I suppose I'll have to read one in Chinese sometime then. Would you happen to be able to post the Chinese title of whichever of the books you prefer?

[eatfastnoodle]

you can read all of them on-line for free. Check it out

http://www.shuku.net:8082/novels/zhentan/gaoluopei/glp.html

For the most part, the longer ones are better, like 迷宫案 or 黄金案

[Meng Lelan]

Someday I'll join the rank of westerners writing original works in Chinese because my goal in life is to write trashy love stories in Chinese.