10 Best Chinese Romance Novels
The Chinese romance novel is a literary genre that focuses on the love between a man and a woman, reflecting the psychology, state and events of love and social life through a complete storyline and specific descriptions of the environment. Over the years, romance has evolved into a separate genre and can be integrated into other genres of literature. Literature is a complex artistic discipline and often covers many different elements in a single literary work. Such as The Story of the Stone, one of China’s Four Great Masterpieces, is both a romance and social novel. In addition to being a martial arts novel depicting the fast and furious nature of the rivers and lakes, they also contain a large and enjoyable romance section.
So do you want to read some chinese romance novels? I know that you are here to read chinese romance novels. And here are 10 best chinese romance novels I would recommend. Let’s start!
1. Love in a Fallen City
In Shanghai in the 1930s, the Bai family, whose ancestors were once the most prosperous Hanlin family in the Qing Dynasty, has been in decline for years. When the sixth daughter of the Bai family, Bai Liusu, is married, the old lady raises money from all the houses in order to organize a decent wedding. After a failed marriage, Bai Liusu is left penniless and is ridiculed by her relatives. She meets a dashing bachelor, Fan Liuyuan, by chance.
She makes a bet on herself to travel to Hong Kong to win his love and secure a legal marriage. The two lovebirds “fight” at the Repulse Bay Hotel, and it seems that Bai Liusu has lost the battle. But as Fan is about to leave, the Japanese starts bombing Repulse Bay and Fan turns back to protect Bai. It is only when their lives are at stake that they are able to meet each other in good faith and make a promise that will last forever.
In Love in a Fallen City, Eileen Chang portrays the “pull” of love between a man and a woman. This is true for both men and women in love. At one time they are afraid of giving too much, at another time they are afraid of not giving enough. And they are torn between these contradictions, sinking deeper and deeper into the whirlpool of love. But for Bai and Fan in the book, because they have their own interests and goals, they cannot escape the pull. But they do not fall into the whirlpool.
Eileen Chang’s discussion of human nature, love and war is profound, as a war creates a love, in the sense that “the times make love”. Bai Liusu is fortunate in that her wisdom and resourcefulness, her stubbornness and bravery. These things enable her to take control of her own life. In the end, the war is a help to her. And she is the only one who can control her life.
2. A Single Swallow
On a bright and tea-picking day, A Yan and Liu Zhaohu, a pair of childhood sweethearts, are counting their thoughts in this spring and scenery. However, the sudden air raid by the Japanese army leaves this beautiful tea plantation with a heartbreaking crater and drains away the only leisure time in the whole book. The tragic death of her mother leaves A Yan alone in this perilous world. Since then, she has had to face a living, the abandonment of her lover, and the discrimination of all…
The establishment of a Sino-American cooperative training camp brings two Americans into A Yan’s life, a priest practicing medicine and an instructor at the camp. The entry of Liu Zhaohu into the camp makes A Yan’s relationship with these three men even more complicated. The chaplain takes her in and teaches her to practise medicine. It is with this skill that she eventually raises her head in the midst of a difficult life. And in the most critical of times, it holds a shelter for Liu Zhaohu from the elements.
A Yan is not passive or cowardly. It is precisely in this situation that Zhang Ling’s heroine demonstrates a woman’s patience in the face of shame and pain and her love for those around her. In the face of suffering and betrayal, A Yan’s final response is to “repay her grievances with virtue”. She uses the power of “love” to make all her suffering grow into new petals.
In this book, Zhang Ling tells a story of suffering, separation and growth during the war years. In the midst of the cruel and chaotic world, in the face of great family hatred, human feelings seem childish, impulsive and anachronistic. But it is the existence of the purest human feelings in those smoky years. It keeps the hope of survival and victory alive at all times, and reminds the world of the fear and hatred of war.
3. To the Sky Kingdom
In that life, on a deserted mountain in the middle of the wilderness, she met him for the first time. The peach blossoms were burning, the branches and leaves were thick, enchanting and hurtful to the eyes. She could forget her past life, but she could not forget the ten miles of peach forest. Nor could she forget the young man in the ten miles of peach forest. In this life, at the Crystal Palace in the East China Sea, they met unexpectedly. Not everyone can see through the intertwining of love and hate in these three lifetimes. But as long as you are still here, as long as I still love, then I will not be afraid of the mountains of sword and fire in this world. Some love, hidden in the mouth, hanging on the tip of the heart.
This book builds a world of immortals that is different from the one you have imagined before, with a very “human” touch. Like mortals, they have to “grow up” and go through heavenly calamities. Whether it is the fire and lightning or the love calamity, and if they pass it successfully, they will live as long as the sky. But if they fail, they will vanish.
Love does not need a reason, just like Tang Qi’s To the Sky Kingdom. Sometimes, it’s just a word, a phrase, a word that moves you. Three livetimes, three reincarnations, meeting different people, but always loving the same one. Have you ever loved someone? Have you ever hated someone? If you have, you will definitely understand.
4. The Golden Hairpin
In the 14th year of the Xiantong reign of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Zixia, the daughter of the Assassins of Shuzhong, becomes the murderer of her family overnight and is wanted by the sea. Li Shubai, the royal brother and King of Kui, is also caught up in a six-character prophecy. His fate becomes a mystery. Huang Zixia flees to the capital to seek justice, and Li Shubai agrees to investigate the murder of the Huang family. In exchange, Huang Zixia has to clear up the fog surrounding him and unravel the mystery. Together, they unravel the mystery and develop a beautiful love in the midst of life and death.
What I appreciate most about this book is that it doesn’t fall into the same old fairy tale path. It’s also of great character and talent, but it still has its own unique way of doing things. It has romance but doesn’t relegate it to the main line of the book. It has a cloud of suspicion but unlike previous works it gives you a painful announcement. And it is interlocking and tightly wound, leaving you wanting to know which case is next and if it has anything to do with the cursed talisman.
Does each case lead to the extermination of Huang Zixia’s family? The thing that made me comfortable with this book was the lack of too much emotion. Up until the second book, their feelings were only at the stage of having a crush on each other, which is not easy. Not every author has an appetite for suspense, and author can be said to have done that successfully.
5. Raise the Red Lantern
The novel tells the story of a wealthy merchant, Master Chen, who marries four women as his wives. In the eerie and secretive Chen Mansion, several women fight for a sliver of the man’s affection. When nineteen-year-old schoolgirl Songlian marries into the Chen family, she is naive and lonely, resigned to loneliness and eager to find herself. But she is forced to get involved in the women’s war. After witnessing the tragic fate of the women of the Chen family, Songlian is eventually destroyed and turned into a madman.
One of Su Tong’s early works, Raise the Red Lantern is a good example of the various aspects of Su’s writing and place of work. The setting is still the South, the declining large households, the deep courtyards of lust, rivalry, oppression and degradation. Desire is endless, twisted humanity is passed on to each character, and destruction and destruction are frequently played out. The story of polygamy in the courtyard is a delicate and flamboyant way of condensing the tragic fate of women over thousands of years. If women attach themselves to men, they will never be able to control their own destiny. There is no such thing as happiness in a marriage where men and women are not equal.
6. The Story of the Stone
The Story of the Stone is a story of people and events in a large feudal family of an unknown dynasty, with the emotional entanglement of Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai as the main characters. Through the descriptions of everyday events, the love-hate relationship of the women in Jia’s Grand View Garden, mainly the Twelve Hairpins of the Golden Palace, is reflected. At the same time, the subplot of the Jia Mansion’s decline from wealth and grandeur to decay reflects the decline of a large family and the ugly inner workings of this seemingly magnificent family.
The Story of the Stone differs from the common romance novels. In contrast to the thesis of the so-called talented couple, it gives a mythical cause to the love of Baoyu and Daiyu that transcends reality. A cause that began in a previous life and is brought to an end and repaid in this one. It adds a plausible reason for the “love without knowing where it started”. This love is no longer just love, but includes kindness and benevolence. And is not simply the love of a man and a woman in mortal life. It is because of this mythical cause that the romance between Baoyu and Daiyu is made even more mysterious, making their love different from that of ordinary people and even more touching.
7. Six Records of a Floating Life
The first four volumes of Six Records of a Floating Life, of the six original volumes, are now available. Volume 1 describes the life of the author and his wife as they live in leisure on the banks of the Canglang Pavilion. In Volume 2 the author describes his love of beauty in poverty. Volume 3 recounts the author’s turbulent life after leaving his family. His wife died of illness in another country, and unfortunately his father also passed away. When the author returns from mourning, his brothers lose their harmony and his family suffers great changes. Volume 4 tells of the author’s travels to the curtain and to the scenic spots, recording the beautiful scenery of each place.
The main story of the book is the love story of the author Shen Sanbai and his wife Chen Yun. The text is crisp and simple, and the style of the writing is sanguine, touching the heartstrings of love through the centuries. Through the text, one can truly feel the life and love of Shen Sanbai and Chen Yun. The sweetness and sorrows are like a beautiful piece of musicthat makes you smile when you listen to it. But when it ends, you can’t help but weep when you look at it. Six Records of a Floating Life depicts a different kind of light from that of the Red Chamber, where things are small but deep, words are short but meanings are long. It is inevitable that there will be regrets in a floating life. But in the end there will be no regrets because of one person.
8. The Song of Everlasting Sorrow
Wang Qiyao, a high school student, is an ordinary girl from an alleyway in Shanghai .But she is not ordinary. Because she is so beautiful that she has almost reached the level that no one can reach. After being chosen as Miss Shanghai, her fate changed and she became the woman of a senior official. Later, when Shanghai was liberated and the official was killed, Wang Qiyao became an ordinary alleyway girl again. She became entangled with several men in a complicated relationship and later. At the age of her destiny, Wang Qiyao had a perverse relationship with a man of her daughter’s age. At the end she was eventually killed by her daughter’s classmate’s boyfriend for money.
Wang Anyi’s The Song of Everlasting Sorrow depicts not just a city, but writes about the city as a vision that is difficult to feel in historical studies or personal experience. Such a masterstroke is rare in the world of fiction at present; it could be described as an epic.
It is a very realistic thing, in which the author writes about the fate of a woman. But in fact this woman is nothing more than the spokesperson of the city. What she wants to write about is in fact the story of a city, its streets, its atmosphere, its mind and its spirit.
9. The Peony Pavilion
Du Liniang, the daughter of Du Bao, the governor of Nan’an, went on a private trip to the garden and fell in love with the scene. After being sleepy, she dreamt of a rendezvous with Liu Mengmei, a scholar from Lingnan. Since then she fell ill and died of pregnancy. When Liu goes to the capital for exams, he finds a self-portrait of Du and falls in love with her. He finally reunites with the spirit of the person in the painting.
Liu is in love with Liniang and risks his life to open the coffin and Du was brought back to life. The two of them are united in love and go to Lin’an together. The two of them are married and go to Lin’an together, but Du Bao is promoted to the post of Prime Minister and refuses to acknowledge the marriage. In the end, the matter was resolved in the Golden Palace, then the two lovers are finally married.
The touching power of The Peony Pavilion lies in its strong romantic ideal of freedom of individuality and opposition to feudal rituals. This ideal emerges as the antithesis of the feudal system. Goodness and beauty both belong to Du Liniang. Tang Xianzu’s portrayal of Du Liniang’s beauty is successful, but those moments that depict Du Liniang’s feelings and ideals are even more fascinating. The Peony Pavilion writes that she died not from the destruction of love, but from a vain desire for it. Through the figure of Du Liniang, The Peony Pavilion expresses the call of the young men and women of the time for the liberation of their individuality, for freedom of love and autonomy in marriage, and exposes the destruction of people’s happy lives and beautiful ideals by feudal rituals.
10. Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio
The entire book is divided into the following categories: Firstly, love stories, which occupy the largest proportion of the book, with most of the main characters defying feudal rituals and bravely pursuing free love. Secondly, the stories attack the destruction of the scholarly people by the imperial examination system. Thirdly, the stories expose the brutality of the ruling class and the oppression of the people, and have social significance.
In reality, it is difficult for a couple to cross the boundary between life and death. In Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, however, it is not uncommon to find stories of lovers who cross the line between human and ghost and pursue love with persistence. Such is the case with the story of A Bao. The author uses fantastical imagery to bring together lovers separated by life and death, affirming the belief that both parties are unique in their love, pushing love to a deeper level.
The characters in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio are bold and passionate in their pursuit of love and marriage. They are unconcerned with the constraints of feudal rituals, pursuing it without reluctance, even believing that love can override physical desire and transcend the limits of life and death, thus highlighting the core of love.
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