COUNTRY · CHINABooks set in China
33.774, 115.775
54 books · 36 authors · 1792–2025
54 books here
Most-set authors
Mo Yan (6) · Yan Lianke (3) · Lisa See (3) · Peter Hessler (3) · Liu Cixin (3) · Lao She (3)
Genres
literary fiction (13) · mystery & crime (2) · science fiction (1) · fantasy (1) · thriller & suspense (1) · historical fiction (1)
Books set here
Set in China (42)
Dream of the Red Chamber
Cao Xueqin
Interesting Times
Terry Pratchett
feudal empire parody setting
Serve the People!
Yan Lianke
rural China during Great Leap
The Four Books
Yan Lianke
rural China Great Leap famine
The Good Earth
Pearl S. Buck
rural farming village setting
Beijing Comrades
Bei Tong
Beijing underground gay scene
Beijing Doll
Chun Sue
Beijing youth counterculture
Four Generations Under One Roof
Lao She
Wartime hutong family saga
Rickshaw Boy
Lao She
Rickshaw puller city life
The Bear and the Dragon
Tom Clancy
Chinese Politburo war planning
The Dark Forest
Liu Cixin
Beijing and Trisolaris discovery
The Teahouse
Lao She
Yu Tai teahouse setting
The Three-Body Problem
Liu Cixin
Beijing during Cultural Revolution
Red Crag
Luo Guangbin
KMT prison camp setting
Wolf Totem
Jiang Rong
Inner Mongolia grasslands
Brothers
Yu Hua
Fictional town across four decades
River Town
Peter Hessler
Peace Corps teaching post
Big Breasts and Wide Hips
Mo Yan
Northeast Gaomi Township
Frog
Mo Yan
One-child policy village setting
Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out
Mo Yan
Gaomi County reincarnation saga
Red Sorghum
Mo Yan
Northeast Gaomi Township
The Garlic Ballads
Mo Yan
Garlic farming village uprising
The Republic of Wine
Mo Yan
Fictional wine province setting
River of Smoke
Amitav Ghosh
Fanqui Town foreign enclave
Dream of Ding Village
Yan Lianke
AIDS village blood scandal
Exciting Times
Naoise Dolan
expat teacher love triangle
Love in a Fallen City
Eileen Chang
Wartime Hong Kong romance
The Bourne Supremacy
Robert Ludlum
pre-handover chase setting
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Lisa See
19th-century village women
Waiting
Ha Jin
fictional northeast China city
Around the World in Eighty Days
Jules Verne
Death of a Red Heroine
Qiu Xiaolong
1990s police procedural
Empire of the Sun
J.G. Ballard
wartime occupied city
Five Star Billionaire
Tash Aw
Malaysian expats in boom Shanghai
Homeseeking
Karissa Chen
childhood & wartime origins
Shanghai Blues
Wang Anyi
Shanghai longtang and neighborhoods
Shanghai Girls
Lisa See
1930s Shanghai sisters departure
The Diamond Age
Neal Stephenson
nanotechnology-era phyle city
The Song of Everlasting Sorrow
Wang Anyi
Shanghai longtang life 1940s-1980s
When Red Is Black
Qiu Xiaolong
post-Cultural Revolution murder
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Dai Sijie
Cultural Revolution reeducation
Soul Mountain
Gao Xingjian
Sichuan forest journey start
Also featuring China (12)
Dreams of Joy
Lisa See
rural commune during Great Leap Forward
Oracle Bones
Peter Hessler
Ancient oracle bone excavations
Beijing Coma
Ma Jian
Beijing after 1989 crackdown
Country Driving
Peter Hessler
Road trip base city
Death's End
Liu Cixin
future Beijing simulation
Wild Swans
Jung Chang
Sichuan University, famine scenes
A Loyal Character Dancer
Qiu Xiaolong
missing woman village
The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan
Suyuan's WWII escape
China Rich Girlfriend
Kevin Kwan
elite social scenes
The Leopard
Jo Nesbø
Harry Hole exile opening
Red Azalea
Anchee Min
labor camp near East China Sea
The Hong Kong Widow
Kristen Loesch
wartime refugee backstory