Do any of you have some recommendations for some interesting and entertaining books about/set in China. I don't mind the genre or the nationality of the author that much, as long as it tells an interesting and authentic story of people set in China.
One book I enjoyed was Mr. China by Tim Clissold which is an autobiography about him entering the business world in China with a wallstreet banker (he had studied Chinese). It shows several developments and outcomes of joint ventures (many of which failed in very unpredictable ways:) and shows how many things changed in that area over the years.

However, apart from that book, I just don't seem to be able to find any tempting books in the list online bookstores show me when I enter "china" as a search word. The majority of the lists consists of legal works and Chinese beginner programs...

Any recommendations? Perhaps authentic and entertaining fiction in one of the dynasties?


Thanks

David

American Shaolin is a fun one. I remember liking Coming Home Crazy, but it's been a while. Neither are fiction, though.

Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjiang

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_Mountain

Oops. That's Goa Xingjian, not Gao Xingjiang.

You may want to check out the Shapiro translations of Outlaws of the Marsh and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. They're both very, very long, but Outlaws especially meets what you're looking for.

Mixture of novels and other. A short list of favorites providing perspectives on China:

Sterling Seagrave, The Soong Dynasty

Peter Hessler, River Town

Peter Hessler, Oracle Bones

Anchee Min, Becoming Madame Mao

Anchee Min, Red Azalea

Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Jung Chang, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

Rob Gifford, China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power

Amy Tan, Saving Fish from Drowning

Oops for me. I apparently wasn't logged in when I sent the previous message with book list, so getting a random avatar. Didn't mean to be anonymous. Anyway, happy reading everyone!

Wow..thanks for the list! If anybody can still think of any others, just keep them coming :)Have already bought three titels (they sadly don't have all of them in epub formats yet, but you know what they say...慢慢得来).

@Zach, I have actually already read the 4 classics, albeit in English....very educational, but sometimes definitely tough:) (maybe I didn't have the translation by Shapiro). When I asked my Chinese wife about any such books (historic authentic fiction set in China), she presumed that although there are many in Chinese, only the four classics would be considered worth translating into English:).....the more I think about it, the more I feel like reading 三国演义:)

"Oops. That's Goa Xingjian, not Gao Xingjiang."

Right, first time with Gao me thinks.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck is a must.

My absolute favorite is "Till Morning comes", from Han Suyin...

Anything Han Suyin is great.

Anything by Jonathan Spence - they are generally historical but with the onus on narrative.

Rene Leys (Victor Segalen)

The Inspector Chen Series (Qiu Xialong)

Xiaolu Guo is very good, I think. Try "20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth", "Village of Stone" and "A Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers".

Anchee Min Empress Orchid

Fictional account of life of Empress Dowager Cixi)

Anchee Min The Last Empress

(Sequel to above)

Gary Finnegan 'Beijing for Beginners: An Irishman in the People's Republic' Amusing

Wild Swans by Jung Chang is a must: fascinating, heartrending and educational.
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah gives a cultural picture, though with less history than Wild Swans.
(Chinese Cinderella is an abridged version of Falling Leaves).
The Good Women of China by Xinran is another haunting picture of China.

I don't think you could call any of these entertaining, but certainly interesting.

A Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo is entertaining in parts, but I didn't find it very interesting.

Rachael.

I definitely second Peter Hessler's River Town and Oracle Bones, the first is a must if you are a teacher in China or thinking of being one, the second I found more interesting in general and with a lot of fun cultural stuff if you have lived in China, though it could have perhaps used a little more editing.

Thanks for the other suggestions guys, keep them coming. I definitely want to check some of them out.

A quite readable and very unique history of China during WWII is "Two Kinds of Time" by Graham Peck.
I also enjoyed "The Last Days of Old Beijing" by Michael Meyer--another of the foreigner in China books, but with an eye to the traditional architecture of China. Not being an architecture buff by any means, I felt it gave me new eyes for not only looking at Beijing, but all neighborhoods.
Finally, I highly recommend "Remaking Beijing: Tiananmen Square and the Creation of a Political Space" by Wu Hung. It's about how the changing design of Tiananmen Square through the ages, especially the modern age, reflects the government and people's desires. It sounds dry, but I found it to be engrossing and extremely informative, especially the first four or five chapters. The last portions are about modern art, and I was less compelled by them.

Although a different aspect taking a more economic view is "Dragons at your door", about the cost cutting strategies of Chinese companies. It gave me some good insights.
Alex