As 2024 draws to a close, we are glad to find more diverse works from Chinese authors reaching English-speaking audiences through translation. Among them are established contemporary literary icons such as Su Tong and his somber narratives of the recent past, and bestselling horror writers such as Xu Lei (better known as Nanpai Sanshu). From novels highlighting the forgotten history of WWI to short stories depicting modern family life and fiction based on painful personal trauma, this year’s translations also featured female Chinese authors who brought their unique literary voices to the forefront.

This year also saw notable expat or former expat writers offering their insights into contemporary Chinese life, while diaspora writers delved into their personal and family histories, which are deeply intertwined with broader political and economic contexts. Here’s our list of the books of the year:

Midnight Stories

Originally published in Chinese in 2018, Midnight Stories, a short story collection by one of China’s most celebrated contemporary writers, Su Tong, is now available to English readers. This latest collection brings together 10 darkly comic tales of small-town life. From a business scheme featuring a Madonna lookalike to a disastrous roof repair and a gruesome murder over a mis-sold watermelon, Su Tong masterfully weaves cruelty and kindness into surreal narratives that are both nightmarish and lyrical. Born Tong Zhonggui, Su Tong is often referred to as China’s “King of the Novella,” and describes the short story form as “fairy tales for adults.” Read our review here.

The Unfilial: Four Tragic Tales from Modern China

The Unfilial is a collection of four short stories by the Shanghai-based writer Yao Emei that closely examine modern Chinese family life with a special focus on women as wives, girlfriends, older sisters, and, in some cases, mistresses. The original Chinese version published in 2021 has a score of 8.5 out of 10 from over 8,000 users on China’s biggest book review platform, Douban. Chinese readers praised the book for painting a grim yet accurate picture of how different women’s destinies are shaped by the troublesome men around them. “The four short stories capture the experience of millions,” writes one reviewer. Read our review here.

Sinophagia: A Celebration of Chinese Horror

While ancient China boasts a rich tradition of horror folklore, with classics like Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, the modern Chinese horror genre remains largely unfamiliar to Western audiences. Curated by acclaimed writer Xueting C. Ni, Sinophagia presents 14 captivating horror stories that explore the darker facets of contemporary Chinese life, which prove to be just as chilling as ancient tales. This anthology features renowned authors such as bestselling horror writers Cai Jun and Xu Lei (better known as Nanpai Sanshu, author of the horror fantasy series Grave Robbers’ Chronicles), alongside bold emerging voices like Fan Zhou and Chuan Ge. For the very first time, these works are made accessible to English-speaking readers.

Other Rivers: A Chinese Education

Peter Hessler gives an intimate and revelatory look at China’s education system in his new book. Hessler, an American journalist, first came to China in 1996 to teach English at a local teacher’s college in Sichuan province, which he chronicled in his Kiriyama Prize-winning memoir River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. Over 20 years later, upon returning to teach at Sichuan University in Chengdu, the provincial capital, he encountered an entirely different generation of Chinese college students. At the same time, he enrolled his two children in a local state-run elementary school, providing him with unique insights into the Chinese education system. Other Rivers uses this educational context to explore China’s fast growth over the past decades, offering a nuanced perspective amid growing anti-Chinese rhetoric and reflecting on broader themes relevant to both China and the American education system.

Souls Left Behind

Set against the historical backdrop of WWI, when over 140,000 Chinese laborers were sent to Europe to support the Allied war effort, Fan Wu’s fictional tale follows the journey of one such worker in France. Choosing to remain long after the 1918 armistice, Zhang Delun (who changes his name to David) builds a new life in a foreign land far from home, and navigates challenges such as rampant racism. Souls Left Behind highlights the overlooked contribution of Chinese workers to the Allied victory. Though a work of fiction, Soul’s characters and plots echo the real history of the Chinese Labor Corps, based on extensive research. Read our review here, and an interview with the author here.

Fang Si-Chi’s First Love Paradise

Lin Yi-han’s debut novel is based on her experience of sexual trauma. Devastatingly, it was also her last work, with the Taiwanese author taking her own life soon after its publication in Chinese in 2017. The novel tells the story of 13-year-old Fang Si-Chi, who is sexually assaulted by her literature teacher, a serial predator who lives in the same building and offers free tutoring sessions to girls. Fang, unable to cope with or understand the situation, convinces herself to fall in love with her assailant. Only by loving him can she find the strength to keep living. The book and Lin’s suicide sparked much discussion on sexual violence against children and women’s rights in China.

Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir

Tessa Hulls’s graphic memoir traces the journey of three generations of Chinese women: her grandmother, mother, and herself. Sun Yi, the grandmother, was a journalist in Shanghai before relocating to Hong Kong with her daughter in the 1950s. Using the earnings from her memoir commissions, Sun financed her daughter Rose’s education at an elite boarding school. Rose reciprocated by bringing Sun along while pursuing her studies in the US. Tessa, however, sought solace by distancing herself from the family. Now in her 30s, Tessa begins to reconnect with the two women who shaped her life. Hulls’s deeply personal narratives illuminate the intricate relationship dynamics between mothers and daughters, marked by both pain and salvation.

Missives from the Masses

Missives from the Masses is a collection of 11 newly translated short stories across the 40-year career of renowned Chinese writer Su Tong. Often carrying a dark overtone, many of these tales depict mundane lives thrown into disarray and fates upended by seemingly trivial events. Translated by Josh Stenberg, it offers readers a new perspective of Chinese life from the 1990s to 2010s. The stories in the collection encompass both rural and urban settings and chronicle lives in fictional Chinese communities that Su modeled after his hometown of Suzhou, Jiangsu province. Read our review here.

The Mountains Are High

Dali, a town in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, has evolved into a diverse community of people from different backgrounds and age groups. Hippies, dissidents, and digital nomads have flocked to the town, nestled between the Cang mountain range and the shores of Erhai Lake, in hopes of escaping the speed and pressure of city life. Writer and editor Alec Ash is among those who moved to Dali, leaving Beijing in 2020. Mountains is a candid recount of how he took a leap of faith to transform his life. Ash, who lived in China from 2008 to 2022, also authored Wish Lanterns (2016), a nonfiction that follows six young Chinese in their journeys to professional and personal fulfillment, which was listed as a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.

River East, River West

This intimate family drama unfolds against the backdrop of China’s political history and economic growth after market reforms in the 1980s. The narrative alternates between the perspective of a 14-year-old girl who is raised in Shanghai by her American mother and her soon-to-be Chinese stepfather. It’s a story that reverses the traditional East-to-West immigrant narrative, examining issues such as race and class, cultural identity, and the often unrealistic promise of the American Dream. River East, River West marks a fascinating debut by French-Chinese-American writer Aube Rey Lescure, who spent her childhood in Provence, northern China, and Shanghai.