Chinese Culture Reading List
- 4 minsChinese Culture Introductory Reading List
When I moved to China in 2015 I could not speak a word of Chinese and my knowledge of Chinese history and traditional culture didn’t go beyond the couple of pages of Confucius we read in High School. So I set out what I thought would be a couple of simple task: learn the Chinese language and gain a basic understanding of Chinese culture and history. Easy, right? Accordingly, I began to look through various sources to find a comprehensive list of the Chinese classics. Over the years as I read through the books the list has grown longer and longer as I learned more about the tradition and finally started reading some Chinese materials on the subject. Below is my current list of texts that I believe form a solid foundation for understanding, enjoying and investigating the Chinese tradition. They vary greatly in length with most of the literary texts being selections taken from an anthology on the subject some of which are quite short, the novels on the other hand are all multi-volumes works spanning thousands of pages and hundreds of stories.
Overall, I consider this list to be almost finished (I would like to add a collection of Chinese myths and possibly a book on Chinese architecture and maaaaayyyybe another book on modern Chinese history). The other element that could be added would be a text like 中国文化全知道 (Everything About Chinese Culture) which gives a good overview of subjects like dance and traditional Chinese medicine. However, I am still an introductory student of Chinese culture and any recommendations are more than welcome!
Philosophy
1. The Five Classics
a. The I’Ching
b. The Spring and Autumn Annals
c. The Book of Rites
d. The Book of Odes
e. The Book of Documents
2. Selections I: The Hundred Schools
a. Mozi
b. Zhuangzi
c. Huizi
d. Xunzi
e. Sunzi
f. Han Feizi
3. The Daodejing
4. The Analects
5. The Mencius
6. Selections II: A Female Confucianist
a. Ban Zhao
7. Selections III: The Han Synthesis
a. Dong Zhongshu
8. Selection IV: Daoism and Buddhism
a. Ge Hong
b. Xuanzang
9. Selections V: Song and Tang Thought - Neo-Confucianism
a. Han Yu
b. Dun Yi
c. Cheng Hao
d. Cheng Yi
e. Zhuxi
10. Selections VI: Song Science
a. Shen Kuo
11. Selections VII: Ming Contributions
a. Wang Yangming
b. Lu Jiuyuan
12. Selections VIII: Three Great Qing Philosophers
a. Huang Zhongxi
b. Gu Yanwu
c. Wang Fuzhi
13. Selections IX: Pre-Modern Thought
a. Kang Youwei
14. Selections X-XI: Modern Chinese Thought
a. Sun Yat-sen
b. Hu Shi
c. Mao Zedong
d. Feng Youlan
The Arts
General
15. The Arts of China
Calligraphy and Painting
16. Chinese Calligraphy
17. Beyond Representation
Music
18. 中国文化全知道 - 音乐
a. 音乐的起源 - 音乐荟萃，现代中国音乐
Theater
19. 中国文化全知道 - 戏剧
a. 戏曲概论 - 戏曲欣赏
Literature
General
20. 中国文化全知道 - 文学
Novels
21. The Three Kingdoms
22. Journey to the West
23. Water Margin
24. The Story of the Stone
Letters, Essays and Autobiographies
25. 3 Kingdoms and Northern and Southern Dynasties Letters
a. Yang Yun
b. Xi Kang
c. Tao Qian
d. Kong Zhigui
26. 3 Kingdoms and Northern and Southern Dynasties Essays
a. Lu Chi
27. Tang Essays
a. Han Yu
b. Liu Zongyuan
28. Song Essays
a. Ouyang Xiu
b. Su shi
29. Qing Essays
a. Li Yu
30. Qing Autobiographies
a. Shen Fu
b. Shen Congwen
31. Modern Essays
a. Wang Tie
Misc. Fiction
32. Tang Short Stories
a. Yuan Chen
b. Bai Xingjian
c. Du Guangting
33. Yuan Theater
a. Kang Jinzhi
b. Ma Zhiyuan
35. Ming Ghost Stories
a. The Jade Guanyin
b. Qu You
c. Ma Zhongxi
36. Ming Theater
a. Tang Xianzu
37. Qing Fantasy
a. Pu Songling
b. Yuan Mei
c. Li Ruzhen
38. Modern Short Stories
a. Lu Xun
b. Mao Dun
c. Eileen Chang
39. Modern Drama
a. Yao Shennong
History
40. Sima Qian
41. This Culture of Ours
42. Emperor of China
43. Mao’s China Before and After
44. On China
Poetry
45. Classical Chinese Poetry
46. The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain
47. 170 Chinese Poems
48. Anthology of Chinese Literature - Songs of the Yuan Dynasty
Fancy
49. The Ancient Art of Tea