Another reason why even expats studying Chinese may not know about these books could be because they are often referred to by locals in Chinese simply as: "四大名著" (sìdà míngzhù). There is rarely a need perhaps in the mind of a local to verbosely mention all four titles in their entirety. Therefore, unless an expat learning Chinese actually takes the time to look up: "四大名著" (sìdà míngzhù) perhaps they will never know what these four books are. Making matters worse, to the average Chinese student, if they didn't hear the world "书" (shū) which is the literal Chinese word for "book," they probably won't even realize the person is taking about four books, let alone know their titles!

The next possible barrier to widespread knowledge of the "The Four Great Novels" is apparent lack of distribution of the English versions of these books. Granted, some expats with advanced Chinese language skills may take on the challenge of reading these books in Chinese. However, this will definitely be a very finite group. To put this in perspective, a UK expat who has formally studied Chinese for 7 years and passed the old HSK level 10 has read two of the "four greats." Which two? He has read "Journey to the West" and "Tales of the Three Kingdoms" (a.k.a. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms). When chatting with this expat, he himself unprompted used the alternative title translation of "Tales of the Three Kingdoms." This drives home the point made earlier about the English title inconsistency. Title translation consistency is imperative to ensure greater recognition and notoriety within the non-Chinese community.

Back to the English translation versions of these books. This UK expat did recommend starting with the English versions as it will give "a good grounding upon which to tackle the original texts." He continued by saying about the Chinese versions: "In most cases it would require someone to help you through it, a book club lead by a Chinese bookworm, a tutor to guide you through the books specifically."

The Bottom Line

The Four Great Novels[Photo/JIN Magazine]

The phrase: 四大名著 (sìdà míngzhù) is widely known within the native Chinese community, including which four books it represents. Despite being required reading during adolescent years for the 1 plus billion Chinese, these books take a nose dive when it comes to popularity amongst the other 6 billion or so non-Chinese humans on the earth. Even within the China based expat community, many have not read these books. Some, don't even know what they are. Of the four American expats polled, three knew of the books, but only one of the three had "read the first Chapter of [Dream of the Red Chamber], in Chinese." The fourth didn't even know what the phrase meant in Chinese. Both expats from the UK knew of them, yet only one had read two of the four books. Another Canadian was aware of the novels, but had't read any of them. And, last but not least our Hollander didn't know what they were, let alone having read them. So there you have it, of the eight expats living, working, and studying in China all with some level of Chinese language ability, only one of them, has actually put a real effort into reading the so-called "Four Great Novels." It really says something in terms of his grasp not only of the Chinese language but also the culture. It is perhaps no surprise that he is part of a rather exclusive group of expat English-Chinese translators within China. For the rest of us mortals, looks like it is time to go back to Chinese class if we want to have any hope of tackling "The Four Great Novels." Plus, as was recommended by our UK linguist, do enlist the help of a native Chinese "bookworm."