Best chinese literature books according to redditors
We found 76 Reddit comments discussing the best chinese literature books. We ranked the 19 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 76 Reddit comments discussing the best chinese literature books. We ranked the 19 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Why is nobody mentioning the sci-fi Three Body Problem?
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
This book - it's pretty wild.
It's sci-fi, not fantasy, but Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem seems pretty big and it even made President Obama's reading list.
My recommendations from books I read in the last year or so (yes, these are all VERY STRONG recommends curated from ~100 books in the last year) -
​
Science fiction-
Derek Kunsken's The Quantum Magician (I would describe it as a cross between Oceans Eleven with some not-too-Hard Science Fiction. Apparently will be a series, but is perfectly fine as a standalone novel).
Cixin Lu's very popular Three Body Problem series (Mixes cleverly politics, sociology, psychology and science fiction)
James A Corey's The Expanse Series (which has been made into the best sci fi tv series ever!)
Hannu Rajaniemi's Quantum Thief series (Hard science fiction. WARNING - A lot of the early stuff is intentionally mystifying with endless terminology that’s only slowly explained since the main character himself has lost his memories. Put piecing it all together is part of the charm.)
​
Fantasy-
James Islington's Shadow of What was Lost series (a deep series which makes you think - deep magic, politics, religion all intertwined)
Will Wight's Cradle series (has my vote for one of the best fantasy series ever written)
Brandon Sanderson Legion series (Brandon Sanderson. Nuff said. Creative as always)
​
Manga -
Yukito Kishiro's Alita, Battle Angel series (the manga on what the movie was based)
​
Non-Fiction-
Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind - Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (and how we are not as rational as we believe we are, and how passion works in tandem with rationality in decision making and is actually required for good decisionmaking)
Rothery's Geology - A Complete Introduction (as per title)
Joseph Krauskopf's A Rabbi's Impressions of the Oberammergau Passion Play, available to read online for free, including a fabulous supplementary of Talmud Parallels to the NT (a Rabbi in 1901 explains why he is not a Christian)
​
Audiobooks -
Bob Brier's The History of Ancient Egypt (as per title - 25 hrs of the best audiobook lectures. Incredible)
​
Academic biblical studies-
Richard Elliot Friedman's Who Wrote The Bible and The Exodus (best academic biblical introductory books into the Documentary Hypothesis and Qenite/Midian hypothesis)
Israel Finkelstein's The Bible Unearthed (how archaelogy relates to the bible)
E.P. Sander's Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63BCE-66CE (most detailed book of what Judaism is and their beliefs, and one can see from this balanced [Christian] scholar how Christianity has colored our perspectives of what Jews and Pharisees were really like)
Avigdor Shinan's From gods to God (how Israel transitioned from polytheism to monotheism)
Mark S Smith's The Early History of God (early history of Israel, Canaanites, and YHWH)
James D Tabor's Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity (as per title)
Tom Dykstra's Mark Canonizer of Paul (engrossing - will make you view the gospel of Mark with new eyes)
Jacob L Wright's King David and His Reign Revisited (enhanced ibook - most readable book ever on King David)
Jacob Dunn's thesis on the Midianite/Kenite hypothesis (free pdf download - warning - highly technical but also extremely well referenced)
I'm looking forward to The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, out in November. First in a trilogy, this is reputedly the shit in China, & has spawned an SF trend there.
It's interesting because Chinese fiction has to pass Chinese censorship, which often makes it unpalatable for readers outside the firewall. But this series has a western publisher and some impressive resources, so the hype is on.
Here you go
You should obviously join Mikraite. You could be working for one of our businesses making millions legally screwing over humanity instead of wasting your time with the moronic scum on reddit. And our god killed more people than any other god, which is why we love him.
I also recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032/
I just have to make another reply because the amount of ignorance in this post is just simply staggering.
More on Mao, many people do not worship Mao. Those who look at him favourably are also divided on the opinion. On one hand Mao is acknowledged as the person who liberated China from colonial meddling and division. He's the one who united a fragmented China.
On the other hand, the general consensus is that while he was a great general, he was a terrible ruler.
His great leap forward and cultural revolution were utter failures. Even the current government acknowledges it and moved on from Mao's policies.
Nowadays, it isn't a crime to criticise the cultural revolution, discuss or WRITE about it in a best selling novel. Case in point, in 2006, a chinese author by the name of Liu Cixin published a sci-fi novel named "Three body problem", in the first two chapters he unapologetically portrayed the failure and brutality of cultural revolution.
The book became the best selling sci-fi novel in China. In 2015 it was translated into English in the west and won the prestigious Hugo award for best novel. Obama read it and recommended it as his favourite book to read during his presidency.
Proof:
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500440486&sr=8-1&keywords=three+body+problem
August 30th... though it says April here.
Anyone who enjoys this comment; I highly recommend you read this:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063
The less spoilers you know about it, the better.
If you're interested in non-Western sci-fi, I'd recommend the Three Body Problem and its sequels. I'm reading the first book now and it's quite good.
Favorite series of all time is The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. It's extremely dense reading, but thought it was worth it for how the author handled the world.
I graze across everything without having a strong preference for anything other than quality of world-building. I generally cannot get into a universe that doesn't have well defined rules and frameworks that map back to the characters. I'm the type that will just throw down a book if there's a dues ex machina.
Really really like Asimov. I, Robot. Foundation Series (particularly the first book).
Here are some quick recommendations from my list of favorites for those who are interested (I hope mods are OK with links to make looking easier, otherwise I'll happily remove them). These books engaged and inspired me and my imagination:
The Alchemist:
>The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho continues to change the lives of its readers forever. With more than two million copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has established itself as a modern classic, universally admired.
>Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found.
The Three Body Problem is a Chinese Science Fiction novel that has recently become popular in the West thanks to a good translation (I recommend reading my synopsis and not the Amazon one, to avoid spoilers):
>Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project looks for signals in space from alien civilizations. Meanwhile, in the present day, a physicist joins a grizzled detective to investigate why famous scientists are all committing suicide.
Fahrenheit 451:
>Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.
The Art of Happiness (by the Dalai Lama):
>Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and a hugely sought-after speaker and statesman. Why is he so popular? Even after spending only a few minutes in his presence you can't help feeling happier.
Snow Crash:
>Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse.
http://smile.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063
The Three Body Problem http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063
I'd appreciate it, but you certainly don't have to go through all that trouble! Do you know if this translation is any good?
Here are several books written by mass murderers. Here's one by a rapist. All are routinely taught in university courses. All are available for ready purchase at bookstores throughout the world. Does this bother you? Should their purchase be banned?
Psychiatry isn't a pseudoscience, but a lot of the stuff done in its name ("suppressed memories," classical Freudian and Jungian analysis, lobotomies, etc) is.
呐喊 - 鲁迅
> Published in 1922 by Lu Xun, one of the greatest writers in 20th-century Chinese literature. This collection of short stories is one of the first and most influential modern works written in vernacular Chinese and would become part of the New Culture Movement.
> Includes Lu Xun's most famous and influential stories:
呐喊 自序Preface to Call to Arms
狂人日记 A Madman’s Diary
孔乙己Kong Yiji
药 Medicine
明天 Tomorrow
一件小事 An Incident
头发的故事 The Story of Hair
风波 Storm in a Teacup
故乡 Hometown
阿Ｑ正传 The True Story of Ah Q
端午节 The Double Fifth Festival
白光 The White Light
兔和猫 The Rabbits and the Cat
鸭的喜剧 The Comedy of the Ducks
社戏 Village Opera
source
I count ~82000 characters total and 2742 unique characters.
This collection is divided into a lot of short stories. I read Kong Yiji which is a very easy read. The "Madman's Diary" starts with a short introduction in classical Chinese (so... very hard to read) but the rest is in vernacular Chinese. Since the work of Lu Xun is very popular it's very easy to find analysis and translations a bit everywhere.
Speaking of Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices) the 2nd ebook is free on Kindle Unlimited:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B2SK96R
The story takes some time to get going, but it's well worth the time investment. The 4th book should be releasing in May. =)
You might really enjoy The Three Body Problem, a Chinese sci-fi book that explores the hungry eyes situation brilliantly.
English version of the final book releases tomorrow.
https://www.amazon.com/Deaths-End-Remembrance-Earths-Past/dp/0765377101/
Top 3:
Runner ups cause they don't quite fit your list but they are mostly there:
There's also an entire sci-fi trilogy based on that premise. Highly recommended.
As soon as I saw this post I immediately thought of this.
First contact is a whole subgenre of scifi, and it is one of my favorites!
​
In regards to your request. I have, but haven't read Artemis because it doesn't look that interesting. Rendezvous with Rama, is good, albeit kinda boring. If you like it, but wish it had more action, read Ringworld by Larry Niven.
​
Here are some of my favorite first contact books (with oversimplified plot summaries):
​
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - Humans discover an alien spaceship and set out to find the source.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu - Chinese centric first book in a trilogy of aliens invading. One of the best I have read in recent years. Don't want to give away too much. Features alien aliens, like in The Gods Themselves!
​
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge - Humans discover an alien race and race to be the first to make contact with them.
​
Damocles by S.G. Redling - Humans discover alien life and launch an expedition to make first contact. Follows the story from the point of the humans and the aliens. Very good hard scifi, but easy to read. The language barrier is a major plot piece.
​
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Humans are looking for a new home and stumble across a planet with alien life. Trouble ensues. No spoilers here. The sequel comes out in only a couple of weeks!
All I could find is this
https://www.amazon.com/Journey-North-Ethnohistorical-Annotated-Translation/dp/0520058097
but yeah, $50 is a bit much.
Is it The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei?
https://www.amazon.com/Borrowed-Chan-Ho-Kei/dp/0802125883
Nice writing prompt. I won't spoil it, but in the Three Body Problem series, similar subtleties of human communication play a big role in deciding the fate of the human race. Definitely worth a read.
It's actually called the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Cixin Liu. It's apparently pretty big in China. But I've kept myself pretty ignorant about what it's about because I want to be surprised.
Here's the Amazon page with a description for the first book.
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032
This is a central plot point of the awesome sci-fi series that starts with The Three-Body Problem
This one is probably the best translation to date.
There are four volumes of around 500 pages each, though, so good luck
Yes, but there's a classic 16th-century novel "Journey to the West" that is based on those myths, and is the version of the story that most adaptations are based on.
Here's an English translation. It's a very interesting read.
https://www.amazon.com/Journey-West-Revised-1-ebook/dp/B00C85V7CU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503267232&sr=1-1&keywords=journey+to+the+west
Here's another I've heard pretty good things about, which I plan to read once I finish Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (which is fucking long holy shit only halfway done.)
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Was told this was a difficult read but close to the original. I have not read any English version. Just note that this is the first of a multi volume set. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00C85V7CU/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00C85V7CU&linkCode=as2&redirect=true&ref_=as_li_tl&tag=thepanegyrist-20
What books?
There are easy and hard books in every languages in terms of vocabulary and grammar.
The first book I read in Chinese was
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sherlock-Holmes-Curly-Haired-Company/dp/1941875017/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464085663&sr=1-1&keywords=sherlock+curly
I have no idea what HSK level it is but I would guess 70-75% of the words are in the HSK 1 & 2 word lists, and the rest are in a glossary at the back (around 400 - 500 chars in total).
I definitely started with HSK word lists and these "1000 most common used char" they give you some useful words but you also pretty quickly realise what they are missing.
Obviously you want to learn question words etc which may or may not appear in those lists.
Grab the app Dechiper. All of the articles have a hsk level on them so you can gauge a rough idea of your progress. I would guess im around hsk 3 after 4-5 months of daily study. I take it "semi-seriously" (every day, but maybe just for an hour).
I think Grey would really enjoy Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu (Amazon) and its Sequel The Dark Forest.
...Brady described the "empty" sky as an abandoned city (see Vanilla Sky)...as the sequel's name says, you might also describe it as a Dark Forest where humanity is the only guy lighting a big fire and clumsely searching for more wood and stuff, not particulary caring who or what might be watching and evaluating options (for example: our technology advances exponentially, what would somebody ahead of us think of that if they can only advance linear?)
...the books are not without flaw but very original and interesting in their style.
Do Amazon’s “Kindle电子书” not satisfy your needs? You can also set “Kindle商店” as the search category and look for specific books. For example: 沈从文’s 边城, ￥2.99.
Not only is there an English version, it won the Hugo Award.
The Three Body Problem
Written by: Cixin Liu
Translated by: Ken Liu
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032
http://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu-ebook/dp/B00IQO403K/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416202375&sr=1-1
Though it certainly isn't perfect, based on your response I would recommend you read [The Three Body Problem].(https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032)
Though it goes off on some tangents, I believe it may be fairly accurate when it comes down to intelligent life in the galaxy.
Not sure about scifi movies, but there's a book, The Three Body Problem that has won the Hugo award. The title refers to the famous three-body problem in physics, which is known for having no closed-form general solution. People around this sub generally agree that the original Chinese version is better than the translation, no surprise there; but many English readers I've asked say they still liked the translation. It also has 2 sequels, so it's a trilogy really. And they're coming out with a film adaptation next year.
"Monkey" is the only abridge version of Journey to the West I can recommend.
I own a revised edition of Journey to the West that I picked up early last year. It's the most modern version of Journey to the West. Alex Yu's translation is the best one out there. Wu Cheng'en's translation used to be recommend. If you were to compare both translations together, Wu Cheng'en's is a bit dated.
Library in the other end of the room. And it is three:
http://www.amazon.com/Shake-Hands-Devil-Failure-Humanity/dp/0786715103
http://www.amazon.com/Clash-Civilizations-Remaking-World-Order/dp/1451628978/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375278381&sr=1-1&keywords=clash+samuel
http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Ding-Village-Yan-Lianke/dp/B005FOG3X4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375278398&sr=1-1&keywords=ding+village
> Liu Cixin
Are you talking about this? http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765377063
that book is fiction.
Well, I use the Chinese Link textbook series. I have a private tutor. Plus, I live in Hawaii, so Chinatown is here as a big resource. Also this app and this app plus the Pleco dictionary app all on my iPad. And don't forget /r/ChineseLanguage ! Hope this helps!
So here's some of the textbooks I read (and still own) from my Asian History courses at college. All are worth reading over, but you'll also want teachers to help you, to talk with historians from China, and eventually just to go to China and see a lot of stuff for yourself.
The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, by Patricia Ebrey.
Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook, edited by Patricia Ebrey.
Quotations from Mao Tse-Tung, written by the man himself.
Fiction:
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie.
The Outlaws of the Marsh, by Shi Nai'An and Sidney Shapiro.
The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu and Ken Liu.
These are a relatively good start to help you get a grounding in China's history. Everyone in this thread has also given some good suggestions. And visit /r/askhistorians; they'll have some better sources you can check out.
If you like Arrival (which you should!), I highly, HIGHLY recommend
reading the book series 'The Three Body Problem'.
The first book in the series won The Hugo Award for best sci-fi novel last year, and balances so many things well, like the Cultural Revolution, exploration, sociology, SETI, and hard sci-fi. Very original and unpredictable.
Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032/
In the sci-fi book, The Three-Body Problem, they used this very idea to communicate long distances.
For sure this textbook. There's several levels to it, and it also has traditional versions. I also have this. And this book us great to help with grammar, etc. As for online, the first textbook comes with an online website here for listening practice. Also, Duolingo is going to have Chinese soon I believe. I can't much help with online. You could try Livemocha. I really enjoy this program for the computer.
Around 16 months? I'm not so sure, however, Mandarin is a language where immersion for at least a year is key. So for that 16 months, plus some time in China or Taiwan you'll be fluent I'm sure!
I thought of this while reading Death's End, and it helped me figure out what the hell was going on.
First, I'm a bit agnostic when it comes to characters. You'll often find me on the other side when the argument that Chinese could never go full romanization. I just hate it when people say that using characters is stupid or wrong.
> Show me the article that says there's currently an epidemic of otherwise literate adults forgetting how to write basic words in English.
Mere anecdote but it reminds me of the ongoing blurring between there, they're, and their.
> I mean, there's "effective" and there's "optimal", right?
You mean letting better be the enemy of good? Using optimal in opposition to effective is a bit disingenuous as well, especially when we're using the clearly suboptimal orthography of English to discuss the matter.
At the same time, China had been exposed to an alphabet (or at least an abugida) when they imported Buddhist texts, and they still felt that Chinese characters were a more effective way of recording their thoughts. That might have been cultural inertia, but the choice was made. At the same time, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese all made use of the characters in the past. Part of that may have been because of cultural and prestige factors, but it was seen as an effective as a way of recording information for a number of languages over centuries. Sure, it's not perfect, but few writing systems are (unless you listen to the Korea-philes who claim Hangul is).
> I'm not sure what you mean here.
You're getting caught up on the specific meanings rather than seeing it as an example of a larger trend in English. Many of the specialty words that are in common use come from three main sources : Germanic, Latin and Greek. While related, the links are not always clear in their expression. The example of doctor, medic and physician shows words from different roots that are used in a way to distinguish different roles in a single field where the links are not clear from the words used. A doctor studies medicine. In Chinese, an 医生 studies 医学。 In English the related nature of the two words is not as clear as it is in Chinese. Even the idea of study (学/学习） is more closely linked to medicine.
> Ehhhhh, again, technically true, but so what? It's not even that big of a difference. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in English is 309 pages while in Chinese it's 242. This is not that much value-added.
That's because you're looking at the language through the perspective of the modern language. If you go back and look at the Analects or the Art of War, they are tiny slivers of books. You can easily fit the text of the Art of War on 4 or 5 letter-sized pages. When the language was establishing itself, and was being written on bamboo slips, brevity made a lot of sense.
And it would be better to see how the length looks from Mandarin to English. The Three Bodies Problem is 302 pages in Mandarin, and 400 in English. Ask any publisher or environmentalist if 98 pages (per book) makes a big difference. Even the 67 pages that you're dismissing as "not that much value-added" is a reduction of over 20% of the length of the English novel, which is nothing to sneeze at.
> Arguing that Hanzi has some benefits over romanization
I am not trying to argue that Hanzi is better than romanization; I'm arguing that Hanzi shouldn't be dismissed by learners who are coming at it from a romanized background. They overlook some of the qualities that helped it endure for centuries. I do not consider it perfect. I can't imagine, for instance, trying to write computer code in it. But I am sure going to push back against the people who say that it's dumb.
> It just strikes me as a pride thing.
looks in mirror
laughs
I guess you think I have some sort of cultural connection with China and Chinese characters. That would be wrong.
Answers contained within: The Three-Body Problem
It is indeed a book
Obviously you would need to make consulting the oracle a daily practice. Other than that, read the Tao Te Ching, by Laozi. I'd get the James Legge translation. Then I would move onto reading Ta Chuan, it's a commentary on the Yijing that was written during China's warring states period.
http://www.amazon.com/Ta-Chuan-Treatise-Stephen-Karcher/dp/0312264283
http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Ching-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486297926
The Three-Body Problem od nekog kineza, ako neko voli znanstvenu fantastiku, toplo preporučam.
Are you excited about the Three Body Problem translation coming out? I hear it explores the idea of why intelligent civilizations would be (radio) quiet.
There was a pretty interesting sci-fi book about this called "The Three Body Problem". It is also what I'd been assuming was behind the erratic seasons on Planetos.
I have to admit, I'm certainly more left fiscally, but possibly more right socially. I think the opposition to free speech on public campuses is a somewhat uncomfortable shift too far to the left. If you want a really interesting (fictional) look at what moving too far left does to speech, I highly recommend reading the first few chapters of The Three Body Problem, a scifi novel writen by Cixin Liu, a chinese guy, whose focus (before coming to the present day) is on the Chinese communist revolution.
As far as I know, the two main English translations of Journey to the West are Anthony Yu's version and Arthur Waley's version
Its a great story and its an awesome read. Waley's version (just called "Monkey") is a bit more abridged, but its easier to read, and I'd recommend starting with that one.
You referring to this? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IQO403K/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
I am interested in this.
I'll start us off.
If you're into science fiction, do yourself a favor and read the three book series that starts with The Three Body Problem. Fucking mindblowing. I don't recommend reading the whole description/overview. Just know it's an awesome book and jump in.
You guys ever use Kodi+ add-ons? Free TV shows/movies/live-sports. High quality, streaming. It's insanity
It is somewhat hard SF and not Japanese, but I recently enjoyed The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Three Body Problem Trilogy by Cixin Liu. Link is for first book:
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032/ref=sr_1_1?crid=XPRZ0BKYWBX6&keywords=three+body+problem&qid=1557605024&s=gateway&sprefix=Three+body%2Caps%2C531&sr=8-1
You won't regret it. Read the original edition if you know some Chinese.
*Edit*
I'm an active reader of SFs but I'm not that into the traditional ones that read more or less like a history book (think Dune, Foundation, etc.).
I'm currently reading The Wolf in the Whale by Jordana Max Brodsky. It is an amazing book, I love the fact that she uses Native Inuit myths along with Norse Myths. It's just a good story. I love good stories.
I have a lot of Kindle books on my Kindle wishlist. The book I really want on there is called The Three-Body Problem, it's the first book in a trilogy by a Chinese sci-fi author. I have heard awesome things about this trilogy and I can't wait to read it.
BQ: I literally just finished The Three Body Problem Trilogy last night. It was pretty interesting. At first glance you might think it is super sci-fi like Star Wars, but it isn't. The books are essentially about how people, and society as a whole, react to the discovery of alien life. So, although the environment is Sci-Fi, the main plot is very much about sociology.
---
I finally caved and got YNAB. I've spent a few hours this morning trying to figure out what I'm doing.
It's also 'Medieval' just like there is also Ancient China along with the roughly equivalent European time period(which always varies anyway depending on who you ask). Think of the Warring States or Spring and Autumn Period as periods in Chinese Antiquity in the same way the Hellenistic Age or Imperial Roman period are within European Antiquity.
Edit: http://www.amazon.com/Early-Medieval-China-A-Sourcebook/dp/0231159870# For example, this book is discussing 'Early Medieval' China and using the years 220-589, I don't think there's any set dates though.
You might want to read The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. This series provides some interesting thoughts on your question.
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Remembrance-Earths-Past-ebook/dp/B00IQO403K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493667787&sr=8-1&keywords=rememberance+of+earths+past
there is the first book, it is fantastic. I ended up burning through the whole series in about 3 weeks, I absolutely couldn't put it down! I'll check out that blog if it is still available.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
Scifi and not really about the country and it's people - but the actions of the protagonists are very much an outcome of the culteral revolution.
I'm at a really basic level as well, so IDK much about learning in the long run, but I got The Chairman's Bao as well as this: https://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Curly-Haired-Company/dp/1941875017/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482680117&sr=8-3&keywords=Mandarin+Companion There's a few other in that series on different skill levels: I can comprehend MOST of it, and I have it on a Kindle so I can just touch any character I don't know/understand in that context. Good luck!
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032