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