Chinese-Inspired Literary & Genre Classics That Rejected 'Yellow Peril' Fearmongering

Asian and Asian-inspired works of fiction have experienced a renaissance in the English-speaking world in recent years as readers have discovered a new literary and cultural frontier to explore. In this video I highlight several Western authors who helped blaze the trail by penning works inspired by Chinese history, literature and mythology at a time when 'Yellow Peril' scaremongering was common in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Their works helped to inoculate readers against the fear and prejudice of that movement and to foster greater interest in the West's engagement with China over the past century.
Some of the works I discuss are more than a hundred years old, while others date back just a few decades. The literary, mystery, fantasy and thriller genres are represented, celebrating the spirit of the Chinese people, paying homage to Chinese literary pioneers, and emulating some of the fantastical elements of the Chinese storytelling tradition. They're books that deserve to be read and not forgotten.
1:10 Rural Peasant Striving
5:35 A Mystery Genre Pioneer
12:03 Ghostly Inspirations
14:09 The Lazy Bard
18:06 An Ancient China That Never Was
22:12 Retrotech Thriller...with Dragon?
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#fantasy #classics #booktube
Media credits:
Robert Van Gulik
Kaja Foglio
Fred Nguyen Khan
Judge Dee's Mystery
The Grapes of Wrath
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