World Canonical Texts
Last year I read Chinese Literature: A Very Short Introduction by Sabina Knight (2012). Afterwards, I wanted to type out all key authors / works she mentioned in the book that has accompanying Chinese character. In this list below, I excluded 4 authors not writing in Chinese, and also excluded literature works.
| Classic of Poetry (1100-600 BCE): "Crickets", "Don’t Push Onward the Great Carriage", "The Gourd Has Bitter Leaves", "Great Preface" |
| Biography of Mu, Son of Heaven (c. 4th c. BCE) |
| Classics of the Mountains and Seas (c. 320 BCE) |
| Qu Yuan (340-278 BCE): Encountering Sorrow |
| The Elegies of Chu |
| Mi Heng (ca. 173-98): "Rhapsody on a Parrot" |
| Nineteen Old Poems (later Han 25-220) |
| Cao Pi (187-226) |
| Cao Zhi (192-232): "Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess" |
| Ji Kang (223-62): "Nourishing Life" |
| Ruan Ji (210-63): Singing My Feelings (82 poems) |
| Li Mi (224-87):"Memorial Expressing My Situation" |
| Lu Ji (261-303): "Rhyme-prose on Literature" (3rd c.) |
| Gan Bao (fl. 320): In Search of Spirits, incl. "Han Ping and His Wife" |
| New Accounts of Tales of the World |
| Tao Qian (365-427): "Substance, Shadow, Spirit", "Returning to Dwell in Gardens and Fields", "Drinking Alcohol", "The Biography of Mr. Five Willows", "Record of the Peach Blossom Spring" |
| Xie Lingyun (385-433) |
| Liu Xie: Writing the Heart-mind, Carving the Dragon (5th c.) |
| Xie Tiao (464-99): "Jade Steps Lament" |
| Xiao Tong (501-31): Selections of Literature |
| New Songs from a Jade Terrace |
| Wang Han (687-726): "Song of Liangzhou" |
| Wang Zhihuan (688-742): "ClimbingStork Tower" |
| Wang Wei (699-761): "Deer Fence" |
| Li Bai (701-62): "Old Air Nine", "Drinking Alone by Moonlight" |
| Du Fu (712-70): "Spring Gazing" |
| Shen Jiji (ca. 740-ca. 800): "The World Inside a Pillow" (781), "The Tale of Miss Ren" (781) |
| "The Story of Yingying" (804, attributed to Yuan Zhen (779-831)) |
| "Du Zichun" (9th c.) |
| Wang Fanzhi (Tang) |
| Han Shan (Tang) |
| Li Gongze (770-850): "The Tale of Xie Xiao'e" |
| Li Shangyin (813-58): "On Merry-Making Plain" |
| Pei Xing: "The Tale of Nie Yinniang" (late 9th c.) |
| Sikong Tu (837-908): "Twenty-Four Categories of Poetry" |
| Extensive Records of the Era of Grand Peace (977-78) |
| Su Shi (1037-1101): "First Rhyme-prose on a Red Cliff", Two Poems on Reading Meng Jiao's Poetry" |
| Huang Tingjian (1045-1105) |
| Li Qingzhao (1084-1151): "To the Tune of 'Wuling Spring'" |
| Hong Mai (1123-1202): Records of the Listener |
| Yan Yu (ca. 1195-1245): Canlang's Remarks on Poetry |
| Wang Shifu: Story of the Western Wing (late 13th c.) |
| Guan Hanqing (ca. 1225-1302): The Injustice Done to Dou |
| Ma Zhiyuan (ca. 1250-1323): Yellow Millet Dream; Autumn in the Han Palace |
| Wu Zhen (1280-1354): Poem for Painting "Reed Bank and Fishing Boat" |
| Romance of the Three Kingdoms (14th c. MS, first published 1522, Mao Zhonggang (1632-1709)'s version with commentary in 1679) |
| Tales of Chivalrous Swordspeople (mid-16th c.) |
| Water Margin (c. 1550): Jin Shengtan (1608-61)'s abridgement to 70 chapters (1641) |
| Journey to the West (1592) (possibly by Wu Cheng'en, ca. 1500-82) |
| Tang Xianzu (1550-1616): Peony Pavilion (1598) |
| The Plum in the Golden Vase (1618) |
| Feng Menglong (1574-1646): Lasting Words to Awaken the World (1627), incl. "The Oil Peddler Courts the Courtesan" |
| Ling Mengchu (1580-1644): Pounding the Table in Amazement (1628, 1632) |
| Supplement to Journey to the West (1641) |
| Huang Yuanjie: "Written to Accompany a Small Landscape Painting" (early Qing) |
| Li Yu (1611-80):The Carnal Prayer Mat (1657) |
| Wang Duanshu: Extracanonical Poetry by Famous Women (1667) |
| Kong Shangren (1648-1718): Peach Blossom Fan (1699) |
| Wang Shizhen (1634-1711): "Remarks on Poetry" |
| Later Journey to the West (1715) |
| Wu Jingzi (1701-54): The Unofficial History of the Forest of Scholars (1750) |
| Pu Songling (1640-1715): Strange Stories from a Leisure Studio (1766), incl. "Lotus Fragrance", "Jiaona" |
| Dream of the Red Chamber (1792) (Cao Xueqin (1715-63) wrote the first 80 chapters; editor completed 120-chapter version) |
| Yuan Mei (1716-97) |
| Gu Taiqing (1799-1876): Shadows of Dream of the Red Chamber (1877) |
| Lu Xun (1881-1936): "What Happens When Nora Leaves Home?" (1923), "A Madman's Diary" (1918); "Kong Yiji" (1919); Call to Arms (1923) |
| Yu Dafu (1896-1945): "Sinking' (1921) |
| Xu Dishan (1893-1941): "The Merchant's Wife" (1921) |
| Wen Yiduo (1899-1946): "Dead Water" (1926) |
| Ye Shaojun (1894-1988): "A Posthumous Son" (1926) |
| Shi Zhicun (1905-2003): "One Evening in the Rainy Season" (1929) |
| Zhang Henshui (1895-1967): Fate in Tears and Laughter (1930) |
| Ba Jin (1904-2005): Family (1931); Ward Four (1946), Cold Nights (1947) |
| Wu Zuxiang (1908-94): "Young Master Gets His Tonic" (1932) |
| Mao Dun (1896-1981): "Spring Silkworms" (1932); Midnight (1933) |
| Xiao Hong (1911-42): The Field of Life and Death (1934) |
| Shen Congwen (1902-88): Border Town (1934) |
| Compendium of Chinese New Literature (1935) |
| Lao She (1899-1966): Rickshaw Boy (1937) |
| Zhang Ailing (1920-95): Love in a Fallen City (1943); "Lus, Caution" (1979) |
| Wu Zhuoliu (1900-76): "The Doctor's Mother" (1945) |
| Ding Ling (1904-86): The Sun Shines over the Sanggan River (1948) |
| Yang Mo (1915-95): Song of Youth (1958) |
| Ru Zhijuan (1925-98): "Warmth of Spring" (1959) |
| Jin Yong (1924-) |
| Jiang Gui (1908-80): Rival Suns (1961) |
| Hao Ran (1932-2008): Bright Sunny Days (1964-65); The Golden Road (1972-74) |
| Bai Xianyong (1937-): Taipei People (1971); "Eternal Snow Beauty" (1965) |
| Huang Chunming (1939-): "His Son's Big Doll" (1967) |
| Chen Yingzhen (1937-): "Roses in June" (1967) |
| Liu Yichang (1918-): "Intersection" (1972) |
| Ye Yonglie (1940-): Little Smart's Wandering in the future (1978) |
| Lu Xinhua (1954-): "Scar" (1978) |
| Zhang Jie (1937-): Leading Wings (1981); "Love Cannot Be Forgotten" (1979); "Remorse" (1979) |
| Cong Weixi (1933-): "Red Magnolias Beneath the Wall" (1979) |
| Dai Houying (1938-96): Humanity, Oh Humanity (1980) |
| Gao Xingjian (1940-): Bus Stop (1983) |
| Zhang Xianliang (1936-): Half of Man is Woman (1985) |
| Wang Anyi (1954-): Love on a Barren Mountain (1986); Love in a Small Town (1986); Love in a Brocade Valley (1987); Song of Everlasting Sorrow (1995) |
| Mo Yan (1955-): Red Sorghum (1987) |
| Chen Yingzhen: Zhao Nandong (1987) |
| Wang Shuo (1958-): Playing for Thrills (1989) |
| Yu Hua (1960-): To Live (1992); Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (1995) |
| Su Tong (1963-): My Life as Emperor (1992) |
| Hong Ying (1962-): Summer of Betrayal (1992) |
| Lu Tianming (1943-): Heaven Above (1995) |
| Mian Mian (1970-) |
| Wei Hui (1973-): Shanghai Baby (1999) |
| Jiang Rong (1946-): Wolf Totem (2004) |
| Yan Lianke (1958-): Dream of Ding Village (2006) |
| Ma Jian (1953-): Beijing Coma (2008) |
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