Top 10 Books About Chinese Literature

1. Anthology of Chinese Literature: From Early Times to the 14th Century

by Cyril Birch (Editor), Donald Keene (Editor). Grove/Atlantic. From the publisher: "Internationally renowned Chinese literature scholar Cyril Birch was the first to assemble the finest translations of these seminal pieces in his now classic and still definitive anthologies."

2. The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature

by Victor H. Mair (Editor). Columbia University Press. From the publisher: "Including works of varied genres from fiction and poetry to folk stories and elegies, travelogues and jokes to criticism and theory, this wide-ranging collection brings together more than two thousand years of great works in one portable volume."

3. Early Chinese Literature

by Burton Watson. Columbia University Press. From the publisher: "Watson's account of Chinese writing from the time of the Chou dynasty (1100�� B.C.) to the Latter Han (25-220) is accompanied by a chronology, biographical information, and a selected list of translations."

4. The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature

by Joseph S. M. Lau, Howard Goldblatt (Editor). Columbia University Press. From the publisher: "Howard Goldblatt is Professor of Chinese Literature at the University of Colorado. With a generous selection of new translations commissioned for this book, readers will find the best short fiction, poetry, and essays from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong in this first comprehensive collection."

5. Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations

by Joseph S. Lau (Editor). Columbia University. From the publisher: "The selections include poetry, drama, fiction, songs, biographies, and works of early Chinese philosophy and history rendered in English by the most renowned translators of classical Chinese literature: Arthur Waley, Ezra Pound, David Hawkes, James Legge, Burton Watson, Stephen Owen, Cyril Birch, A. C. Graham, Witter Bynner..."

6. Chinese Literature, Ancient and Classical

by Andre Levy, William H. Nienhauser,Jr. (Translator). Indiana University Press. From the publisher: "Andre Livy provides a picture of Chinese literature of the past. He does so not in lengthy dissertations, but by blending the colors of approximately 120 vivid translations with his personal insights, and then framing these readings in innovative historical accounts."

7. Articulated Ladies: Gender and the Male Community in Early Chinese

by Paul F. Rouzer. Harvard. From the publisher: "This volume analyzes the representation of gender and desire in elite, male-authored literary texts in China dating from roughly 200 B.C. until 1000 A.D."

8. Three Chinese Poets

by Vikram Seth. HarperCollins. In this slim volume, Vikram Seth offers translations for three eighth-century Chinese poets: Wang Wei, Li Bai (or Li Po), and Du Fu (or Tu Fu). Seth's aim in creating these translations is to be consistent to the form and language of the Chinese poets, not focusing as much on the poetic flow of the lines.

9. The Columbia History of Chinese Literature

by Victor H. Mair (Editor). Columbia University Press. From the publisher: "Comprehensive yet portable, this account of the development of Chinese literature from the very beginning up to the present brings the riches of this august literary tradition into focus for the general reader."

10. Translating Chinese Literature

by Eugene Eoyand, and Lin Yao-fu (Editor). Indiana University Press. From the publisher: "In this fascinating volume, world-famous scholar translators talk about their craft from a variety of perspectives, confronting key issues of both theoretical and practical nature."