Journal: What I'm Reading

I think one thing that can really benefit a language learner is to read lots. In fact, since I'm teaching an extensive reading class this semester I have made book-reading a compulsory component, in the hope of cultivating a "reading habit" in my students. Luckily for them, there is a small but fairly good quality range of graded english readers available in China. I suppose I'm lucky too, in a different way: if I want to read chinese, I have a huge range of authentic material to choose from. But I have to search hard to find something that suits my ability. Here are some books that I've have had a stab at:

Stories from Pilgrimage to the West was the first thing I read that had any resemblance to a book, apart from a few earlier attempts at comics. In fact, I bought this book in Australia. It's compiled especially for foreigners learning chinese, and contains several chapters from Pilgrimage to the West which have been rewritten in simple, modern language. There are novels, and then there are novels, and then there are The Four Famous Novels (available in boxed sets from every book shop in China) of which Pilgrimage to the West is one. This ancient story has spawned countless adaptations, one of which has graced Australian television screens: a Japanese-produced series which went by the name of "Monkey". The book is about a monk travelling to India to fetch Buddhist scriptures, accompanied by a monkey king. It's been a favourite with children for centuries, and no wonder. It's a great story! On one hand I enjoyed reading it, and on the other hand I learnt the name of a monkey which I think every Han chinese on the earth is familiar with.

Eagle-shooting Hero is an awful sounding translation of the title, but I can't think of anything better. There is a genre in China called wuxia which I had heard a lot about, and I was keen to read one of these novels because they are part of the shared cultural background of many young chinese. A friend assured me that, "Wherever there are chinese, there are wuxia novels by Jin Yong." Furthermore, I wanted to test my theory that these books are a chinese equivalent to fantasy novels. I put this theory to my class once, and they were quick to reject it, although their knowledge of the english fantasy genre was limited to Lord of the Rings the movie. Having read Eagle-shooting Hero, I can now say that although there are many differences in the conventions between fantasy and wuxia, the spirit of the writing is quite similar. Martial arts film buffs are probably already familiar with wuxia conventions, because the genre long ago made the transition to the silver screen. Even the uninitiated might have been lucky enough to see the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is highbrow but nevertheless quite faithful to its wuxia roots. I enjoyed Eagle-shooting Hero, but it turned out to be a hard slog of more than a month of holiday reading. I was hoping that the book would limit itself to the teenager vocabulary of a generic fantasy novel, but that is apparently not Jin Yong's style. I have to confess that I only read the first volume in a series of five, and although the book ends with a cliff-hanger I don't intend to resume reading in the near future.

I hope I haven't given anybody the impression that I actually understand every word that's written in these books. I could keep a dictionary close at hand and check every character I don't know, but in that case I would sacrifice not only the pleasure of reading but also the possibility of ever finishing the book during this lifetime! Even in Stories from Pilgrimage to the West I had to skip some words. In Eagle-shooting Hero some passages went over my head completely, but I managed to follow the basic storyline. However, I wasn't able to work up any sort of momentum in my reading. I knew that in order to cultivate a line-by-line (rather than character-by-character) reading style I would have to find something much simpler. Maybe I'll read a children's book next, I joked to my friends.

Me and My Shadow is about a primary school student who discovers that his shadow can talk to him, and do some other pretty amazing things too. I bought this book because the name rang a distant bell, maybe an off-hand comment that somebody made many months ago. And it turned out to be both interesting and humourous—a good read, even though it's written for children. It's interesting to see how the story reflects chinese culture. For example, in one chapter the main character Li Dami contrives to invite a famous movie star to the school on Children's Day. The book makes a big deal about the principals from other nearby schools being impressed, and I think the implication is that Li Dami's triumph is gaining honour for his school, rather than for himself. Indeed, when the school shows their gratitude to him he is very anxious to appear humble. I have to wonder, though, which of these cultural values could be found in real ten-year-olds, and which values have been planted in the thoughts and actions of his characters by the more mature author.

Teahouse is lit-er-at-yure, but that's not why I picked it up. I wanted to read either a modern play or a film script, figuring that this way I could improve my reading and learn some colloquial chinese at the same time. What I found was this play, which I now know is well-known in China (by name at least). Set during the first half of the 20th century, the cultural and historical background is the most interesting feature of this story. Another lucky buy.

I keep hearing about the ex(+in)tensive English reading courses, but never any actual titles of the books (or whatever) on the syllabus. Could you enlighten us with a few titles pls? Admire your identification with the travails of your students - your Chinese reading skills can only get better, but how about some grunge lit? Found any?

Ian A [] 02.10.2003 , 15:02

ian - apparently grunge lit is out there but it's pretty bannned. funny, grunge music isn't. i could go into it but i won't right here.

daniel [homepage] 03.10.2003 , 04:46

Ian, I guess you mean novels or such that the students are required to read. There are none, not unless they take the English Literature stream in 3rd year and even then I think they focus more on summaries and commentaries than the actual works. "Intensive reading" is actually the core of the english course - each chapter in the textbook has a text, but is complemented with lots of grammar exercises and vocabulary learning. The "Extensive reading" class is also based on a textbook, containing both fiction and non-fiction texts. There are "real" english books available for learners who are interested, mostly the classics. Contemporary novels would have to be imported, and would thus be very expensive.

Todd 16.10.2003 , 20:44

Hello, I have been trying to search to buy pilgrimage to the west book set, do you know where I can find this classic novel to purchase? I appreciate any information you can forward my way on this novel. Sincerely, Jennifer Peng

Jennifer Peng [] 30.12.2003 , 10:03

Hi, there! I'm also really interested in extensive reading. It really helped me learn Japanese while I was in college, and now I'm teaching an extensive reading class for advanced buxiban students in Taiwan. Is there a Cave's book store in mainland China? I've found quite a few great books for my students there, particularly some Sherlock Holmes adaptations that the kids love. Also, can you point me to anyplace online where I can buy easy, or better yet language learner, Chinese reading material? A lot of kids books in Taiwan have zhuyin fuhao, but for a foriegn guy like me who can't yet speak fluently, they are still kinda hard.

Mark [] 21.07.2005 , 02:54

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