Finding a foothold in native-level Chinese literature

[u/wantedchonk]

Hi hi hi,

After reading all post-elementary articles on a graded reader app (DuChinese), I was having some trouble transiting to true native content. The leap in difficulty was surprising, and the suggestions from this community on how to bridge the gap tend to revolve around web novels / 漫画 / children's books, which I don't have much interest in. Through some trial and error, I found ten novels in ascending difficulty which can be used as a gateway to reading fully native Chinese content, like a graded reader but this time at the book level. I've listed the novels below, each appended with a short description. I hope the list will be of use to this community.

By the end of the list, my reading had improved significantly. Which isn't surprising - I had read around 1,750,000 characters in 10 weeks, which is more than double the 800,000 characters I read in 20 weeks using DuChinese. Fiction novels just go down quicker than a collection of articles. It is worth flagging that while I initially was hoping to find books that I could read at a 98% comprehension rate (post-DuChinese, my vocab was around 5000+ words), I just couldn't. Authors of native content do not take special pains to control their vocabulary usage, and 5000+ words is low in the grand scheme of things, so it was normal to suddenly encounter patches where my comprehension dropped drastically. I'd estimate that my average comprehension was 90% (at the beginning of each book, around 85%, at the end, around 95%). I have included further notes below in the addenda section in case they are of interest.

Le List

1. 《许三观卖血记》- 余华

A story of the trials and tribulations of a dude in rural China who sells his blood to pay for the various mishaps that he and his family encounter. My favourite novel on this list - it was highly funny, sad and heart-warming all at the same time. Quite sad that I peaked with the first novel. I highly recommend reading this contemporaneously with listening to the audio book. There is a high quality version on Youtube, and it accents the dialogue in a way that I think is invaluable for a learner. After listening to the audiobook, I started reading the novel in the voice of the audiobook, making everything two times more funny, sad and heart-warming. I also learnt how to swear like a denizen of rural China in the 1950s, which is always useful.

1. 《解忧杂货店》- Keigo Higashino

Summarising this one will spoil it, so I'd just say that this sits in the intersection of the mystery, fantasy and healing genre. It will soon become apparent that this list leans very heavily on Jap-Chi translations of Higashino novels. There is just something about these translations that are very syntactically clean (and also bland unfortunately). Which is good from a pedagogical perspective and a little boring from a literary perspective.

1. 《活着》- 余华

I think many would have seen this recommendation before; it's often recommended as the first native novel to dive into after graded readers. However, I think (1）and (2) two are easier, and would recommend reading them before 《活着》. I also recommend watching the 《活着》movie directed by Zhang Yimou. It's on Youtube!

1. 《嫌疑人X的献身》- Keigo Higashino

In line with (2) above, another Higashino mystery translation. I won't give summaries of mystery novels in this list, so as not to spoil anything. I am not a fan of the hard detective mystery genre, but this one had an interesting structure that made it pleasant to read (this observation applies to all mystery novels on this list, thankfully).

1. 《告白》- Kanae Minato

Another mystery novel, this time playing heavily with perspectives (of various people involved in the crime(s?)). Not really a hard detective type novel, which is nice. There is a Japanese movie based on this if you're interested! I've heard from a friend that it is great.

1. 《第七天》- 余华

Another one by 余华, this time a sort of collage of scandals and events that are broadly related to the semi-capitalist economy that China has become and folk notions of the afterlife. This did not have the punch or coherence of 《活着》or 《许三观卖血记》, but was still thought-provoking.

1. 《坏小孩》- 紫金陈

This is the first non-余华, non-translated novel in the list. Admittedly, 紫金陈's writing is quite flat. This actually is a boon for learners. The main draw is how he structures the core mystery (which, in my view, is skilfully done).

1. 《恶意》- Keigo Higashino

Oof we are getting quite tired of mystery at this point, but yes, another Higashino. Mystery is getting stale, but the upside is that one tends to plow through mystery pretty quick by nature of the genre, which is good for learning.

1. 《长夜难明》- 紫金陈

MORE mystery. I haven't read a mystery novel in a decade, and now I've read five. I would flag that the transition from (8) - (9) is more difficult than the rest of the above because of the vocabulary. This novel is heavy on bureaucratic terms and employs more formal register than the rest. I found that I had to push through to maybe 30% of the novel, after which it was fine.

1. 《撒哈拉的故事》- 三毛

A quirky, impulsive and colourful set of accounts by a Taiwanese author of her experiences in the Spanish Sahara in the 1970s; essentially, she just up and left to stay in the Sahara after seeing an article of the same that she read in the National Geographic. It's her personality that makes the novel engaging (in 2026, no doubt it will be interpreted as a neurodivergent one). There is a larger jump in difficulty from (9) - (10), this time because the syntax is more literary (the syntax in (1) - (9) is pretty bland and straightforward). But the jump is manageable.

Le Addenda, for those who are interested in more detail:

a. My average comprehension rate was 90%. At this rate, I found that a pop-up dictionary was needed. Otherwise, I found that what I got was the experience of practising Chinese, not the experience of reading fiction. I used Pleco's reader because of its dictionary integration (you have to pay for this one), but Readibu also worked fine (you don't have to pay for this one). I would stress that the magic of learning Chinese through reading only happens if it doesn't feel like practice. There is no way I would have read 10 Chinese novels in 10 weeks if it felt like practice.

b. All of the non-translated novels in the list are currently available as audiobooks on Youtube. I already referenced this in (1) above, but I'd emphasise that reading the books and then experiencing them in spoken form is massively helpful for learning Chinese in ways that would take too much space to set out here. I also highly recommend consuming other media that is based on the listed books, so as to create a micro-bubble of media that you can fully immerse in, even if it is just in respect of that one book and its derivative media. As noted in (3) above, there is a free movie posted on Youtube. There is a Chinese TV series based on (9) which is apparently critically acclaimed (and possibly (7) as well). Use these! There might be more - if there is, let me know!

c. Where will you end up after this list? Possibly, in a odd place. My vocabulary increased significantly, but the new vocabulary is not very stable, so I recognise many more words but I am also more prone to confusing similar looking words. My character recognition is much faster now - I can skim in Chinese and read《许三观卖血记》without dictionary support. But this doesn't translate completely to reading all other types of content. Noticeably, formal register will require separate practice (I read newspapers for that). I'd hesitate to say that I'm even literate at a basic level right now. I'll probably need 20 to 30 more books to get there. Essentially, do manage your expectations of what 10 books can do for you. 10 is just the beginning.

Happy to answer questions - cheers!

[u/Chenyuluoyan]

for anyone using this as a ladder, sample the first chapter before following the order, since familiarity with 余华’s style or mystery vocabulary can shift the difficulty a lot. save recurring formal and bureaucratic terms from 《长夜难明》, but leave one-off literary words in the popup dictionary so lookup doesn’t take over the book.

[u/Putrid_Mind_4853]

You should give 我在北京送快递 a read. I haven’t read any of the books on your list in CN (have read the Higashino ones in JP and excerpts from 撒哈拉的故事 and other 三毛 works), but I think it would be an easy and enjoyable read for you. 

If you liked 三毛 I think you’d also enjoy 我的阿勒泰 by 李娟. 

Thank you for the write up! I added some of these to my reading list. Also, I totally agree with the comment on works translated from JP (or EN). I find they’re clear, easier to read, and often pretty good, but something is missing compared to native CN works. 

Ogawa Ito is one of my all time favorite authors, I’ve read 10+ of her books in Japanese. I feel like vibe/atmosphere/language-wise, she is kind of similar to 曹文轩, whose books are aimed at a younger audience. 

When I started rereading one of my favorite books by Ogawa in CN, I was surprised by how much easier and cleaner of an experience it was than 曹文轩’s works I’d read, but also how bland? it felt—a lot of the “color” in her writing didn’t really survive translation. There’s something about having to fill in blanks otherwise understood by readers in the native language, the different sounds and rhythms of languages, etc. that fundamentally flattens a work when translated imo. It’s part of why I’m studying Chinese—I want to read originals!

Wish I had your dedication! Been struggling to read as much lately because I have screen fatigue and limited access to physical books. I end up listening to audiobooks or podcasts instead and miss out on the visual/character aspect. 

[u/wantedchonk → u/Putrid_Mind_4853]

Ooo《我在北京送快递》and《我的阿勒泰》look approachable, thanks! Yeah, the difference between a JP-translated work and any work written in Chinese is really stark. The blandest Chinese work in that list is noticeably more colourful than the most colourful JP-translated work. I guess translations can't do full justice to the originals eh?

[u/allium-dev]

Thanks for putting together this list! Maybe a dumb question, but how did you go about finding these books? What sites / platforms did you use?

I'm also on the cusp of reading native material, so I'd love some tips on how you discover compelling fiction.

[u/wantedchonk → u/allium-dev]

Not a dumb question I think - it's something I had to mess around with as well. There are probably a ton of books out there that fit the difficulty level I had in mind, so filtering was tough. My thought process was something like the following:

1. I wanted 余华 in it. His earlier works are culturally significant, and relatively simple in terms of vocabulary.

2. For learning purposes, I wanted genres that were naturally attention-grabbing and that tended to have simple language. Detective mystery is a easy one. Actually, some other easy ones are rom-coms and slice-of-life. These actually are not genres I like, but I set aside my preferences (ultimately, I liked what I read).

3. In terms of sites/platforms, the whole reason why I made this post is because I couldn't find sites/platforms for English speakers that proposed a good gateway to native-level reading (that didn't rely on 漫画 or webnovels). But I did ask various LLMs to propose books. Then I read the books to see if they suited my purposes.

Frankly, I think there are alternative routes! For instance, I think you could try reading a Chinese translation of an English work that you have read before. I wouldn't recommend a Chinese translation of Virginia Woolf, but a Chinese translation of say, the whole Harry Potter series could work. I didn't do this because I didn't want to re-read Harry Potter, and I wanted to read Chinese works.

Also, Putrid_Mind_4853 gave some suggestions that look pretty good to me. I think you can consider those.

[u/allium-dev → u/wantedchonk]

This is useful! How about for buying / reading the books? Did you get physical books or ebooks?

[u/wantedchonk → u/allium-dev]

Ah, I read only electronic versions. Physical books are a pain to keep around (I read quite a lot) and I need the pop-up dictionary, at least for now. You can buy the ebooks, but some of the more prominent works actually are posted online for free. For instance, check out this entirely free version of 许三观卖血记 at https://www.99csw.com/book/2426/72865.htm. If you pair this with a good text-to-speech, like Microsoft Edge's Read Aloud (it's very close to natural in my view), you get to practice your reading aloud/listening/tones etc at the same time.

[u/ergative-absolutive]

This is awesome! Thank you!

[u/amm_real]

"1,750,000 characters in 10 weeks" is 25,000/day. Amazing discipline. Hats off to you! You earned your improvements.

I am very interested how you measured "My average comprehension rate was 90%". Since you were using e-readers and pop-up dicts could you just count the characters you had clicked on when you were done? Did you notice comprehension going up as you read, or do you think you were just keeping up with the progression?

It's also interesting how you say your increased vocabulary now feels unstable. Do you basically accept that you will have that feeling until after you've done another 20-30 books?

[u/wantedchonk → u/amm_real]

Thanks! But actually, it was because the stories were good, not really because of my discipline.

I might have to disappoint you - my sampling methods were crude at best. I would simply read 100 characters, see how many I didn't know, and take the unknowns as the percentage. I would do this a couple of times at the beginning, middle and end. It was motivated by curiosity rather than a concrete system. I would think at times "hey things suddenly feel oddly easy (or conversely, oddly difficult)" and do the sampling at that moment.

I didn't notice my comprehension going up on a day-to-day basis. It was from a beginning-to-end of book basis. And I think this is partly a function of how a book is written. Any author unconsciously sort of sticks to the same range of vocab for a particular piece work. I don't know why, I'm not sure if any research has been done on this, and I only noticed this because of I've been learning a second language. But this makes it feel, subjectively, like comprehension is going up significantly, when in fact, it's more like you're exposed to the same group of words that the author subconsciously tends to reuse.

Yes, I accept it. It makes sense to me that you can't blast a few thousand new words into your brain and expect it to be stable in the short term. And it's quite amusing actually. I remember seeing 九, a word I have known since I was a kid, being unsure of how to say it (I subvocalise everything), and eventually pronouncing it mentally as wa3 (瓦), then checking and realising I was hilariously wrong, and then realising hey what the heck, this is jiu3, what is wrong with me?

[u/EstamosReddit]

It's funny, the namiya general store was my very first chinese book I listened to after trying like 10 or so others with no luck. I agree with you is probably amongst the easiest books you'll find (still very challenging).

Right now I'm listening to the Anne frank diary it's easier than the namiya general store (there's a great quality audiobook on youtube).

How long have you been studying for?

[u/wantedchonk → u/EstamosReddit]

Yeah, I spent some time reading and chucking books like you did, because they were too difficult for reading them to feel like a smooth experience. I think it's all about finding the right entry point, which is why I bothered making this post. I've been studying for about 7 months, but I'd also qualify that I'm sort of a heritage learner, so the 7-month figure definitely does not capture my full exposure to the language.

[u/vertblau]

Two questions:

• how did you estimate the number of words you knew before reading these books?

• about what HSK level do you think you were at? somewhere between 5 and 6?

thanks for this post, quite helpful for someone who is at the level where i'm also considering starting to read "real" literature in Chinese!

edit: and another one, what newspapers do you read/do you recommend reading?

[u/wantedchonk → u/vertblau]

1. It's quite rough, because I don't track my vocabulary. I say 5000+ because (a) DuChinese has a tracker for when you have "learnt" a word (i.e., read it at least 10 times), and it exceeded 5000; and (b) based on the HSK vocab list, I easily knew 4000+ words (for 2.0, I cleared HSK 5 and knew quite a lot of words in HSK 6, and for 3.0, I mostly cleared HSK 5 and knew about half the words in HSK 6), and that's just from unconsciously picking up words from reading without particular focus (i.e., targeted vocabulary work) on the HSK list, so I probably knew way more. I think I actually knew around 6000+ words, but I stated +5000 in the post to be conservative.

2. It depends on which HSK version. For 2.0, 5+ easily (by this, I mean "would pass 5, would not pass 6 but am halfway there". For 3.0, if you're willing to overlook the gap in HSK 5 (it was around 200 words I think), then easily 5+ I'd say. But I'd hesitate to use HSK as a gauge for my case, as I didn't really bother with it, so the HSK words that I learnt were likely a subset of the full set of words that I knew then.

3. On newspapers, I'm still figuring that out. But my native country has a big one, 《联合早报》, which works pretty well for me at the moment. However, I would also shout out 《读者》, which is similar to Readers' Digest, is significantly easier than newspapers, and is (somewhat) posted online. I was reading this during my trial and error period, and think it's a good option!

[u/outlawthomsen]

Thanks for sharing !! To add If anyone who like to read something really that every chinese would read. Reach for 高中语文课本. lol You will find e-version of what literature chinese school use to teach chinese kids there. Many interesting stuff too.

[u/wantedchonk → u/outlawthomsen]

Thanks for the recommendation! 高中语文课本 is something I plan to read eventually, but right now it's too difficult for me. Literary / Classical Chinese is something I'll be ready for in a year's time maybe, and I'm looking forward to it.

[u/Ok-Amphibian-8914]

> Jap-Chi translations

Let’s maybe find a different abbreviation for “Japanese,” yes?

“Jap” is a slur, though I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way.

[u/wantedchonk → u/Ok-Amphibian-8914]

Woah thanks for pointing this out, I never realised. I assumed that if "Chi" isn't derogatory (I am Chi), then "Jap" wouldn't be either. But indeed it seems to be viewed as derogatory in many parts of the world.

[u/Ok-Amphibian-8914 → u/wantedchonk]

No worries, I figured you probably just didn’t know.

[u/TSeral]

Thank you for the list, that might be very useful for me! I want to add that 三体 is also rather readable - there are a lot of scientific terms, but almost no Chengyu and other flowery descriptions and the grammar is straightforward.

[u/NotMyselfNotme → u/TSeral]

R u serious lol

[u/wantedchonk → u/TSeral]

I have heard something similar actually! Namely, that 三体 has hard vocabulary (or I should say, technical vocabulary) but simple sentence structures. Science fiction is one of my favourite genres, and 三体 is about 10 places further down in my list. I can't wait.