Fiction Archives | Page 2 of 3 | China Books Review

Ep. 28: Chinese Horror with Xueting C. Ni

Horror writing has an unsavory reputation in China, but comes with a long history and is full of biting social commentary. The translator of a...

New Fiction from China

2025 has seen a bumper crop for Chinese literature in translation. We recommend five recent titles, from gritty tales of the northeast to conjoined fiction...

Yu Hua: Fictional Cities

The bestselling Chinese novelist foregrounds individual suffering in the chaos of modern Chinese history. In his latest novel in translation, gratuitous violence shows the limits...

No Country for Women

Women in China have suffered abuse, silencing and erasure — despite Communist Party slogans about women's liberation. Two novels by the Chinese writer Fang Fang...

The Storytelling Robot

A science fiction story by Fei Dao, translated by Alec Ash — plus a Q&A with the author on the importance of Chinese sci-fi.

Ep. 23: Mark Kitto on Shanghai in the 2000s

The author and former media mogul explains why he chose fiction as the best way to capture Shanghai’s go-go years in his new novel.

Ep. 21: Jenna Tang on Taiwan’s MeToo Movement

We talked to the translator of a novel that helped launch #MeToo in Taiwan, about why both the movement and the book are having a...

Yan Geling: Crossing the Red Line

The acclaimed novelist and screenwriter built an audience in China for her powerful historical narratives. Then, somewhere, she crossed a line. What is it like...

Short Chinese Fiction

Short stories are all the rage in Chinese, but get short shrift in the West. We picked five recent translated collections, from riveting horror tales...

Found in Translation

An award-winning novel set in Japanese-ruled Taiwan explores the relationship between colonizer and subaltern, translator and translated — and how some distances can’t be closed.