Books set in Beijing, China

Beijing

• 2008

  Beijing Coma

  2008 · Ma Jian · novelTiananmen Square, Beijing

  1989: shot at Tiananmen, a student lies in a coma for ten years as Beijing changes.

• 1993

  Loving Sabotage

  1993 · Amélie Nothomb · novelSan Li Tun, Beijing

  1970s: a diplomat’s little daughter wages war in Beijing’s San Li Tun embassy compound.

• 1988

  The Concert

  1988 · Ismail Kadare · novelalso Tirana

  Early 1970s: Albania’s alliance with Mao’s China begins to crack, seen from Tirana.

• 1937

  Rickshaw Boy

  1937 · Lao She · novel

  A country boy in Beiping saves for his own rickshaw, and the city keeps taking it.

• 1922

  René Leys

  1922 · Victor Segalen · novelForbidden City, Beijing

  1911: a young Belgian claims to know the Forbidden City’s secrets as the empire falls.