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I want to tackle at least one of the chinese classics. I will read them on kindle and not abridged. How can I be sure of the right version and which one should I read first, does it matter?

Someone else exited about this?

I recently finished Outlaws of the Marsh a.k.a. The Water Margin. I picked it because I wanted to read all four in chronological order and according to the information on goodreads back then this one was the oldest - that turned out to be wrong though, as it mentioned Three Kingdoms at some point. The version I read was unabridged and it took me a few months to finish, reading other books on the side. At 2,2k pages it is VERY long, but I found it enjoyable. Remembering who is who was a little difficult since there are 108 main characters, each with their own story, and even more minor characters. I liked it enough to start The Three Kingdoms this summer. No idea how you can find out which kindle version is unabridged though.

No it's difficult. I think I just have to look at reviews and compare some pagenumbers maybe. Some editions of books says they're unabridged too.

Winter wrote: "I want to tackle at least one of the chinese classics. I will read them on kindle and not abridged. How can I be sure of the right version and which one should I read first, does it matter?..."

1. not 'excited' by it...kinda dry
2. it does matter.
3. very good you are reading classics.
4. e-readers: vomit

Okay??? If it does matter, which should I read first then?

And kindle isn't really vomit reason, they have saved my last year and a half. I have a shoulder injury and can only read a normal book for minutes at a time. Since reading is the only thing I can do almost though, kindle is my saviour and I get the books I want when I want them. Maybe just not for you.

Winter wrote: "And kindle isn't really vomit reason, they have saved my last year and a half. I have a shoulder injury and can only read a normal book for minutes at a time. Since reading is the only thing I can ..."

Agreed Winter, ereaders definitely have their place along with audio books. Whatever helps people read is a good thing.

Yup :) Not for everyone, I like both ereaders, ipodreading, paperbacks, hardbacks, audio... It just has different timing..

Winter wrote: "Okay??? If it does matter, which should I read first then?"

If you plan on reading them all I'd recommend reading them in chronological order, since they seem to reference each other. If you only plan on reading one or two, I'd say look at the synopsis and choose whichever sounds most interesting to you.

All for me :)

I'm reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1 currently. I think its fascinating. It takes awhile to get used to the large number of characters (all with similar names), but it's the political intrigue behind the constant battles that is worth reading.

That version has gotten a lot of pepper I read, is it unabridged? Do you read it on kindle? I have settled on versions for Journey and for Red mansion, but the other two are so hard. I hate abridged, and I want to know that I read a great translation.

and hesitant to spend so much on a translation where someone says they don't feel like the translator is a native speaker.

Winter wrote: "And kindle isn't really vomit reason, they have saved my last year and a half. I have a shoulder injury and can only read a normal book for minutes at a time. Since reading is the only thing I can ..."

Yeah, there is nothing wrong with e-readers. They have the same words in the same order as the print versions, they just don't weigh as much. I'd never have read War and Peace without one.

Winter wrote: "That version has gotten a lot of pepper I read, is it unabridged? Do you read it on kindle? I have settled on versions for Journey and for Red mansion, but the other two are so hard. I hate abridge..."

Winter, since you have done all of this research, do you mind posting which versions of these books you've settled on and why? I, for one, would really appreciate your knowledge and forethought when I decide what versions to read myself! I will also read at least the super large ones on kindle, so I should have access to the same books. Thanks!

Of course! Although I haven't bought them yet so I can only vouch for the impression I have gotten from reviews and information :)

I don't know how to link though.

I will most likely read the

Journey To The West that has Anthony C. Yu as translator and editor it is I think. It's the expensive one in four different volumes.

For A Dream of Red Mansion it seems best to read the Hawkes version, but the 5.99 with red cover version seems the next best.There's two of it, not sure why, one says 1500 pages the other 2400, so of I should read that I would check into it..
The version I want to read is the penguin classics thing. It's more than one volume and the first is not on kindle for some weird reason, but might buy it in paperback.A really want to put in a lot of work in this novels and then versions are important..:)

How are people doing with these Chinese Classics? I just finished Romance of the Three Kingdoms and really enjoyed it. I was going to start Water Margin, but i see a huge disparity in versions. The only ones I seem to be able to locate for kindle are the 800ish page versions which are a far cry from the 2200 page largest version. It seems as if different translators chose to include different numbers of stories, and i was just wondering how others dealt with this chunky read.

Fyi, it seems like Three Kingdoms and Water Margin are going to overlap somewhat in time, which is likely why there is no clear first one in time there.

Has anyone figured out the best versions for these. I've only covered most of the four books of Journey to the West at this point. (Someday I will update my 1001 on GR, but I keep it on a spreadsheet - easier to note what I have to hand etc.) I've not jumped into the other three and I'm just as confused as possible about the translations and editions. Help?

by Luo Guanzhong

Just finished Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel, Part 1 and 2 by Luo Guanzhong and translated by Moss Roberts.

I highly recommend this translation by Moss Roberts. The first complete translation of Three Kingdoms into English was done by Charles Henry Brewitt-Taylor and published in 1925. This translation was considered well written but did not contain any supplementary materials. In 1959, the book was reprinted and included maps and an introduction. Moss Roberts published an abridged translation in 1976 which was very reader-friendly and contained maps and illustrations. Decades later he completed the full translation in 1991 which includes an introduction, afterword, maps, and excellent notes from Mao Zonggang’s commentaries on the book and other scholarly sources.

Be careful when buying this work on Amazon. The Kindle version is an abridgement.

One of the best pieces of advice I found was to use the “Look Inside� feature on Amazon to check out the translation.

I also read the Moss Roberts translation of the Three Kingdoms. I got the version from the University of California Press, 978-0-520-22478-0 and 978-0-52--22503-9. It seems to be very complete (it is from a university press) and the translation was easy to read.

I bought the Sidney Shapiro translation of "The Outlaws of the Marsh" in two volumes from Silk Pagoda press, 1-59654-375-2 and 1-59654-376-0. This is the 100 chapter version.

I believe that there's a 120 chapter version and the last 20 chapters were written by another author. With a lot of these really old books, the author is unknown today and there were lots of versions over the years. So there might not be one definitive version.

I bought the Anthony C. Yu translation of "The Journey to the West", published by The University of Chicago Press. The ISBNs are 978-0-226-97132-2, 978-0-226-97134-6, 978-0-226-97137-7, and 978-0-226-97139-1. This is a full translation of the 100 chapter version of this story.

BTW, "Monkey" is an early translation and abridgement of this book. Sometimes the full version is also called "Monkey." There's lots of repetition in this book (lots of the stories are very similar), so I can see an abridgement being useful.

I bought the David Tod Roy translation of Chin P'ing Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase). This translation is published by Princeton University Press in five volumes, with the following ISBNs: 0-691-01614-3, 0-691-12619-4, 978-0-691-15018-5, 978-0-691-16982-8, and 978-0-691-16983-5.

This book is not on the 1001 list, but is often linked with the Chinese classics. It is not included in the main four because the rampant pornography kept it censored for most of its life. And yes, there's rampant pornography complete with copies of the wood-cut illustrations that are also pornographic. And yet it's a really good read.

BTW, it's 2,500 pages long, not including notes. And it's expensive and very heavy.

I bought the Penguin Classics version of "The Story of the Stone", sometimes called "The Dream of the Red Mansion or Chamber." It has five volumes with the ISBNs 978-0-14-044293-9, 978-0-14-044326-4, 978-0-14-044370-7, 978-0-14-044371-4, and 978-0-14-044372-1.

The first three volumes are written by Cao Xueqin and translated by David Hawkes. The last two volumes were written by Cao Xueqin, edited by Gao E, and translated by John Minford. IIRC, the last two volumes might have been written by Gao and attributed to Cao, but as with a lot of old books the original author isn't exactly known today.

This version is the 120 chapter version.

It's pretty easy to read and AFAIK complete.

My big read for 2021 is going to be Monkey: A Journey to the West, so I've been researching translations. Came across this 1983 review of Anthony Yu's translation which also reviews some of the other translations --

My edition of Journey was translated by W.J.F. Jenner
and published by Foreign Language Press in Beijing. It is 4 volumes, over 2200 pages and has some illustrations.

My copies of the other 3 are of Foreign Language Press as well, not sure if the translation was done by the same person for those as well.

I intend to read them in chronological order, intending to start this year. But they are quite intimidating... (That's why they've been on my TBR for so long, LOL!)

Grada (BoekenTrol) wrote: "My edition of Journey was translated by W.J.F. Jenner
and published by Foreign Language Press in Beijing. It is 4 volumes, over 2200 page..."

And yes, I know Wikipedia's not a scientific source of information😀

Grada (BoekenTrol) wrote: "My edition of Journey was translated by W.J.F. Jenner
and published by Foreign Language Press in Beijing. It is 4 volumes, over 2200 page..."

I've read Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Water Margin (also know as The Marshes of Mount Liang) and have enjoyed both. I read them slowly, only doing around ten pages a day. They both have a massive amount of characters.

Translation preferences can be very personal. I like to use Amazon's "Look Inside" feature to get a feel for the translation.

Agree with you on Wikipedia, but it does a fairly good job on classic and modern literature and can point you to additional resources.

I wonder if we could get a thread set up for Journey to the West. I'd really like to read this as well--I had volume 2, 3, and 4 for a long time, and just last year I finally found volume 1 (all translated by Anthony Yu).

I don't know when I could commit to a buddy read--I might very well read these once a quarter though, and stretch it out to a year (unless it's so captivating that I can't put it down. Possible, but that doesn't happen to me all that often.)

There is already a thread for the Chinese Classics including Journey to the West. I'm halfway through the Yu translation and love it. The Marshes of Mount Liang is waiting for when I get Journey done.

I've read Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West and The Dream of Red Mansions. The only one I haven't read is Outlaws of the Marsh.

Each book is a different genre, and appeals to a different set of readers. I loved Three Kingdoms, because I'm interested in history and military strategy, but I enjoyed Journey and Red Mansions too. Is Outlaws of the Marsh as good as the other novels? It seems to be the least popular of the Four.

Scott wrote: "I've read Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West and The Dream of Red Mansions. The only one I haven't read is Outlaws of the Marsh.

Each book is a different genre, and appeals to a different set of ..."

Like you, I have read Romance of the Three Kingdoms and loved it. I will never forget the Battle of Red Cliffs. I have read The Broken Seals: Part One of The Marshes of Mount Liang by Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong and the 4 following volumes (aka Outlaws of the Marsh), translated by Alex and John Dent-Young which is the 120 chapter version and the latest translation. The outlaws are somewhat more rowdy and irreverent than Romance of the Three Kingdoms and quite fun. I'm just starting A Journey to the West (after I get through the 100 page introduction).

That intro to Journey is not a fast read but well worth it. It greatly added to my enjoyment when I got into the story itself.

Has anyone read the version of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms from threekingdoms.com? They have the whole book for free on the website. It says it's the Brewitt-Taylor translation, with corrections and added commentary.

They also have a few ebook versions for sale on Kobo, which are significantly cheaper than most of the other versions (and it's really hard to tell which ones are complete and what translation they are). There's a for $4.88 and a for $3.01 per volume.

It looks like this could be a good affordable option for this book! Especially for those of us whose libraries don't have it.

Lianne (The Towering Pile) wrote: "Has anyone read the version of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms from threekingdoms.com? They have the whole book for free on the website. It says it's the Brewitt-Taylor translation, with correcti..."

I used the Moss Roberts translation and loved it! I checked out the threekingdoms.com website and it lists Robert's translation as the best. The Brewitt-Taylor translation is old and must be out of copyright if the website can offer it free. They say they have updated it.

If you can, go to Amazon and try out both translations with their "Look Inside" feature.

Lianne (The Towering Pile) wrote: "Has anyone read the version of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms from threekingdoms.com? They have the whole book for free on the website. It says it's the Brewitt-Taylor translation, with correcti..."

If you to Message 19, I did a review of both translations.

Karen wrote: "Lianne (The Towering Pile) wrote: "Has anyone read the version of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms from threekingdoms.com? They have the whole book for free on the website. It says it's the Brewit..."

I saw, thanks! My comment was more on the specific edition than about which translation they used. All the editions I've seen have been pretty pricey so I was excited to find one that was so cheap, even free if you want to read on a computer. (I would pay a few bucks to be able to read on my Kobo instead.) It almost seemed too good to be true.

Lianne (The Towering Pile) wrote: "Karen wrote: "Lianne (The Towering Pile) wrote: "Has anyone read the version of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms from threekingdoms.com? They have the whole book for free on the website. It says i..."

I usually like to read the longer books on my Kindle, so I was trying to remember why I didn't go with the Kindle version of Three Kingdoms. Turnd out, that version is abridged and it doesn't state it in the description. Lots about it in the comments though. Amazon now has a Kindle version of the Brewit-Taylor translation for $3.99. (Not competely sure whether its abridged or not.)