Read the "Time" magazine review about "the most significant Penguin Classic ever published."

In the early twentieth century, as China came up against the realities of the modern world, Lu Xun effected a shift in Chinese letters away from the ornate, obsequious literature of the aristocrats to the plain, expressive literature of the masses. His celebrated short stories assemble a powerfully unsettling portrait of the superstition, poverty, and complacency that he perceived in late imperial China and in the revolutionary republic that toppled the last dynasty in 1911. This volume presents Lu Xun's complete fiction in bracing new translations and includes such famous works as "The Real Story of Ah-q," "Diary of a Madman," and "The Divorce." Together they expose a contradictory legacy of cosmopolitan independence, polemical fractiousness, and anxious patriotism that continues to resonate in Chinese intellectual life today.

The essays included in this Capturing Chinese Reader are some of the best from revolutionary China. Reading the great literature of Lu Xun, Hu Shi, Zhu Ziqing, Zhou Zuoren, and Lin Yutang is essential for a comprehensive understanding of Chinese history, and literature.

Due to its complex writing system, Chinese is one of the most difficult languages in the world. Full literacy of Chinese requires a working knowledge of three to four thousand Chinese characters and breaking into reading Chinese literature is a daunting task. "Capturing Chinese Stories: Prose and Poems by Revolutionary Chinese Authors" presents some of the most influential works of modern Chinese literature as a comprehensive tool to help students of Chinese read Chinese literature in its original form.

Footnotes highlight the more difficult vocabulary and pinyin is provided for the entire text. There is no need to constantly consult a dictionary or to look up difficult characters by radical. Historical events, people, and places are explained throughout. The text used in this book is in simplified characters.

Full story unabridged in simplified Chinese
Pinyin for the entire text
Definitions for difficult vocabulary
Historical explanations and summaries
Author illustrations
Free MP3s read by two native speakers

Free audio files of "Capturing Chinese Stories: Prose and Poems by Revolutionary Chinese Authors" are also included with the purchase of this book and are available for download from the publisher's website. The audio files include both a woman and male speaker. (coming soon)

Lu Xun, the father of modern Chinese literature, is an essential read for the intermediate and advanced student of Chinese. A New Year's Sacrifice is one of Lu Xun's best works from his second collection of short stories, Wondering. Due to its complex writing system, Chinese is one of the most difficult languages in the world. Full literacy of Chinese requires a working knowledge of three to four thousand Chinese characters and breaking into reading Chinese literature is a daunting task. Capturing Chinese: Lu Xun's A New Year's Sacrifice presents one of the best works of modern Chinese literature as a comprehensive tool to help students of Chinese read Chinese literature in its original form. Footnotes highlight the more difficult vocabulary and pinyin is provided for the entire text. There is no need to constantly consult a dictionary or to look up difficult characters by radical. Historical events, people, and places are explained throughout and illustrations recreate the scenes. The text used in this book is in simplified characters. An English translation of the story is included and helps readers gain a full understanding of the story. * Full story unabridged in simplified Chinese * Pinyin for the entire text * Definitions for difficult vocabulary * Historical explanations and summaries * English translation * Illustrations throughout * Free MP3s read by two native speakers Free audio files of Lu Xun's A New Year's Sacrifice are also included with the purchase of this book and are available for download from the publisher's website, www.CapturingChinese.com. The audio files include both a woman and male speaker.

Due to its complex writing system, Chinese is one of the most difficult languages in the world. Full literacy of Chinese requires a working knowledge of three to four thousand Chinese characters and breaking into reading Chinese literature is a daunting task.Capturing Chinese: Lu Xun's The Real Story of Ah Q presents one of the best works of modern Chinese literature as a comprehensive tool to help students of Chinese read Chinese literature in its original form. Footnotes highlight the more difficult vocabulary and pinyin is provided for the entire text. There is no need to constantly consult a dictionary or to look up difficult characters by radical. Historical events, people, and places are explained throughout and illustrations recreate the scenes.The text used in this book is in simplified characters.Free audio files of Lu Xun's The Real Story of Ah Q are also included with the purchase of this book and are available for download from the publisher's website. The audio files include both a woman and male speaker.

In the thirty years from the literary revolution of 1919 to the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China experienced a great flowering in literary creativity. The present selection comprises twenty-four outstanding short stories by twenty-four of the most talented writers of this period. The stories reveal the sufferings of the Chinese people in the years before liberation and show also the revolutionary course taken by them in their search for a new life. They also demonstrate the high level of writing achieved in this period: each is a valuable contribution to the treasury of modern Chinese literature. In compiling this collection, the editors have taken into account both the position of the author in modern Chinese literary history and the representativeness of the story in the author's creative work. For the convenience of the readers, each story is followed by a brief biography of the author.

Edition bilingue. "Reveiller les morts" est extrait du dernier recueil de nouvelles de Lu Xun "Histoires anciennes, revisitees." Cette edition bilingue s'adresse au lecteur de chinois de niveau intermediaire souhaitant progresser dans la lecture de textes litteraires relativement aises. Etre a (presque) soi tout seul le fondateur d'une philosophie et le precurseur d'une grande religion n'autorise pourtant pas toutes les fantaisies ni tous les caprices, et Tchuang Tseu apprend a ses depens que tous les ressuscites ne seront pas forcement reconnaissants... Sous la forme d'une petite piece de theatre en un acte court, critique anachronique des charlatans se revendiquant du taoisme et de la soumission au pouvoir, l'auteur s'attaque au mepris des gourous et des intellectuels pour le petit peuple. Lu Xun s'empare des mythes et legendes les plus anciens de la Chine traditionnelle pour denoncer avec une feroce ironie les nombreux travers de sa propre epoque et de ses contemporains... Les huit recits tires de "Histoires anciennes, revisitees" sont celebrissimes en Chine mais beaucoup moins connus en Occident que le reste de son oeuvre de fiction.