historical fiction books by chinese authors

Forbidden City by Vanessa Hua

Summary: A teenage girl is selected from her rural village to serve Mao Zedong in the final years of his reign, only to discover the dangerous power dynamics and political manipulations of the Chinese Communist Party.

Themes: Power, coming of age, gender, revolution

Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang

Summary: Set in 1930s and ’40s Shanghai and Nanjing, this poignant love story follows two star-crossed lovers whose romance is thwarted by familial duty, societal pressures, and personal sacrifice.

Themes: Family, gender, class, unfulfilled love

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Summary: Four Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters navigate generational and cultural divides as they reconcile past traumas with present identities through storytelling and shared memory.

Themes: Family, generational trauma, identity, immigration

Red Sorghum by Mo Yan

Summary: Told across three generations, this epic story explores rural life in Shandong province during the Second Sino-Japanese War, weaving together violence, folklore, and resilience in the face of brutality.

Themes: War, generational trauma, love, identity, survival

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Summary: In a sweeping reimagining of the founding of the Ming dynasty, a peasant girl takes on her dead brother’s identity to escape her fate and rise to power — no matter the cost.

Themes: Power, gender, destiny, rebellion, queer retelling

To Live by Yu Hua

Summary: A once-wealthy Chinese man loses everything due to his own recklessness and is swept into decades of historical upheaval — from the Chinese Civil War to the Cultural Revolution — as he struggles to survive and find meaning.

Themes: Survival, loss, resilience, fate