Chinese literature thread

On a different note, do I lose anything if I read an abridged version of Dream of the Red Chamber? I was thinking about getting Franz Kuhn's German translation instead of a 2000 page long English one. (Though one day I intend to go trough the real deal)

Is it true China hardly has a literary canon and I should learn Japanese instead?

>Is it true China hardly has a literary canon
Are you mentally challenged?
China's literary tradition is one of the longest and most well preserved. (Most of it is written in classical Chinese though, so learning mandarin would only mean you can read the modern texts, not the "canon" ones, just as learning modern Japanese wouldn't let you read the old monogataris without being heavily annotated/Modernised)

>China: Old historical works, rip of japanese poetry, boring political rubbish. Now nothing left or of modern worth because china is a commie drab full of people who hate animals and children and have no goals

Japan: fresh, innovative literature and poetry for hundreds of years, plenty of creativity, don't hate dogs

no yu

>rip of Japanese poetry
IQ89 tier
Though, I agree, that Japanese literature has a certain kind of isolated magic that's missing from Chinese. But Chinese literature has the feeling of greatness and seriousness that the personal monologues and sufferings written by the japanese don't have.

Brewitt-Taylor is a much better read, but the Wade system just makes the names confusing

Tang poetry is literally the best in the world.

bump

No Yuan Shu

They ripped more from india, though

i like Mo Yan

Is there literally any reason why someone should read Chinese literature over the western canon that has been proved to give you everything that you could ever awnt in the terms of reading? Please convince me to dabble in something else besides western literature because as I see it--sure, there's glory to other cultures and I have to thank my main man Montaigne for reminding me of that--I have myself questioning whether chinese literature should ever be read.

Pound said somewhere that to learn Chinese is to learn another literary canon.

I wholly agree. You will have so many new experiences

Aren't you at least a little curious to sample something other than what you're used to?

i finished reading the western canon pleb

pound didn't even actually know chinese. he was a fraud.

Why must you say this in such a whiny way? If you are a bitch, then of course you don’t have to read it.
Read the western canon and nothing else, I’m sure it’s one hell of a ride.

Severely underrated

do not pursue

i'm not sure which translation it is that translates the chinese names into english names... but whichever it is, don't read that one.
Moss Roberts translates the chinese names, but without giving them english sounding names like "Thomas Baker".

There are pretty much two ways to translate the chinese names that still retain their chinese pronunciation.
e.g. Cao Cao, or Tsao Tsao
Sima Yi, or Ssuma I.

the latter way of spelling it is, perhaps "better" in that you are pronouncing the names in the way a chinese person would, but if you ever wanted to research the people on your own, it becomes more difficult since usually the names are spelled in the former manner. (incidentally, in video games the names are all spelled in the former manner too)

Three Kingdoms is better. Journey to the West is okay, but Three Kingdoms has more action and less monkeys, and if you've ever played Dynasty Warriors or Romance of the Three Kingdoms, reading the book will make reading it SO MUCH easier as you'll already be familiar with a lot of the names.

Nah, Pinyin's way better for pronunciation. T for D? T' for T? Why? Dumb old people.