modern Cinderella stories

[ansileran]

Hi !

I'm looking for books to read in Chinese, in particular those so-called modern Cinderella stories : romance in highschool / university, where the girl is usually poor or just a regular girl and she ends up going out with the school idol, or a very rich guy... I heard this kind of story is pretty popular among teenage girls in China, but I've trouble finding any title (in Chinese). Either novel, short stories or mangas is fine, in books or published on the web.

I'll give a few examples of what I put in this category :

Books :

- Twilight

- The Vampire Diaries

Mangas :

- Hana yori dango (boys over flower)

- Hana kimi

Dramas :

- Why why love (not exactly since they are not at school but I also like this kind of stories)

- Down with love

- Romantic princess

- Devil beside you

Any ideas ?

[fanglu]

I think books like that are usually called 校园小说

[skylee]

Take a look at this manga (Japanese translated to Chinese) -> http://www.dm5.com/Type.aspx?id=2486

I am re-reading it and I think it is superb.

[ansileran]

Thank you very much for those answer, I'll try looking for those 校园小说 as soon as I get home...

I'm trying to find books from Chinese authors but I'll take a look at this manga Skylee ! I'll probably read it in English though, since I have to read a translation anyway...

[skylee]

Is there an English translation? I will be interested in reading it.

[ansileran]

I don't know yet because I'm at work currently and I can't open the link you sent : the website is classified as "Amusement"... I'll look for it tonight. I just know that most japanese mangas are translated into English...

[ansileran]

Skylee, if I got the title right, an English translation is available at http://www.onemanga.com/Nodame_Cantabile/

Tell me if it's the same manga !

[Jane_PA]

emm, why not read the Dream of the Red Chamber? Don't worry the beginning or any boring parts which you can always skip. The novel has love, family, Chinese traditions, food, etc. The book is the greatest Chinese book and you would impress any Chinese that you know the story and you have read that book.

[xiaocai]

emm, why not read the Dream of the Red Chamber? Don't worry the beginning or any boring parts which you can always skip. The novel has love, family, Chinese traditions, food, etc. The book is the greatest Chinese book and you would impress any Chinese that you know the story and you have read that book.

Because OP asked for "modern Cinderella stories"? Maybe he/she just wants to read some books for fun instead of impressing anyone?

BTW, イタズラなKiss has been one of my favourite and many of my classmates had an instant crush on 柏原崇, who played the male protagonist, after watching the TV drama.

[skylee]

Re #7. Oh yes it is. Thanks for posting. It looks great.

But wouldn't reading the English version contradicts with "I'm looking for books to read in Chinese"?

[ansileran]

Hi everyone !

I do want to read in Chinese, but my reading is very very bad... I can watch and understand dramas without subtitles or read books for Chinese learners which have pinyin written under the characters so I'm looking for something fairly basic. I'm not trying to impress anyone, just to improve my reading... I know from experience with other languages that this kind of books are usually easier to read than crimis or, worse, fantastical novel.

I'm also a fairly lazy person, so if a book is written by an author who is not Chinese, and if there is an English translation available, I'll end up reading the English translation...

Thank you very much, Fanglu, this really seem to be the kind of books I'm looking for.

Jane_Pa, I'm afraid this book you talk about might be to hard for me to read right now, but I'll keep this title in mind so I can look at it later.

Xiaocai, I've read that manga in English already, it was great. I haven't seen the drama yet. Is it a Chinese adaptation or is it dubbed from Japanese ?

Thank you again !

[Jane_PA]

Oh, yes, I missed the morden part... But Hong Lou Meng is a very good story and great fun regardless it was in the Qing Dynasty. But it might be the taste difference. I never find fun when reading 言情小说。I am not sure which are good in 校园小说。I think the OP asked about like 言情小说，not 校园小说。校园小说seems not Cinderella stories... just remember, 海岩 has some novels are very dramatic love stories also with 侦探 involved. I like some TV series from his books， like 永不瞑目. It is about a college student who fell in love with a female police officer, and a drug dealer's daughter fells in love with this college student...

[xiaocai]

Xiaocai, I've read that manga in English already, it was great. I haven't seen the drama yet. Is it a Chinese adaptation or is it dubbed from Japanese ?

If you have a look at the side bar to the left of the page on wiki, it actually tells you that there are Japanese version in Japanese (duh) and Taiwanese version which is in Mandarin. I've only seen the Japanese one (with subtitle of course) which I liked a lot, but apparently that the Taiwanese one is closer to the original manga. Might give it a try when I have time then.

[ansileran]

Thanks for all your answers !

@Xiaocai :

I checked the drama but stopped after a few episodes... I really don't like Ariel Lin so it kind of ruined it for me...

@Jane_Pa :

It's not really a question of taste, merely that the dictionary I carry around only cover modern vocabulary. I tried reading some children book about the Three Kingdoms a while ago and had to give up because the words weren't listed in my dictionary... I don't know that many words and when they start talking about royal court, bandits, rebellion... I tend to get buried by words I don't know... That's why I'm sticking to modern, realistic stories right now.

@Fanglu :

This really helped ! Not exactly Cinderella stories, but at least I can read these books and pretty much understand what they are about. I just have to find a way to get them in France now... Do you know if it's possible to buy them as Ebooks and download them then ?