Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lenin’s Kisses | 2003 | Yan Lianke | Buy |
| 2 | Serve the People! | 2005 | Yan Lianke | Buy |
| 3 | Dream of Ding Village | 2005 | Yan Lianke | Buy |
| 4 | The Four Books | 2013 | Yan Lianke | Buy |
| 5 | The Explosion Chronicles | 2013 | Yan Lianke | Buy |
| 6 | The Day the Sun Died | 2015 | Yan Lianke | Buy |
| 7 | Hard Like Water | 2021 | Yan Lianke | Buy |
| 8 | Heart Sutra | 2023 | Yan Lianke | Buy |
Yan Lianke’s standalone novels number eight, spanning from 2003 to 2023 in their English translations. Lenin’s Kisses is a long satirical novel about a village of disabled residents, while Serve the People! is a shorter, darkly funny novella set during the Cultural Revolution. Dream of Ding Village draws on real events in Henan province to tell a story about the devastating consequences of commercial blood collection.
The Four Books and The Explosion Chronicles both appeared in 2013 and represent Yan Lianke at his most ambitious. The Four Books uses multiple narrative voices to depict life in a political re-education camp, while The Explosion Chronicles traces a village’s transformation into a city through several decades of Chinese history. The Day the Sun Died (2015), Hard Like Water (2021), and Heart Sutra (2023) continue his exploration of Chinese society through fiction that blends realism with surreal and mythical elements.