Finishing China’s Four Classic Novels as a foreigner: redemption, ambition and insecurity
<p>Justifiably so — the above lines concluded my reading of “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and “Journey to the West”, two of the lengthiest ancient Chinese literary works.</p>
<p>Spanning nearly 2,000 pages of vernacular and classical Mandarin, the two books constitute half of China’s Four Classic Novels, cherished yet daunting even for the educated Chinese. For someone like myself, who only commenced their study of Mandarin at 21 years old, delving into these tomes was equivalent to moving to London without the gift of English, and then devouring “Ulysses” and “Canterbury Tales”.</p>
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