Xiao Kui Posted January 22, 2019 at 09:30 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 at 09:30 AM I'm looking for a good and safe website for downloading Chinese ebooks in pdf form. I am a little overwhelmed by the internet and baidu wenku. I'm wary of clicking on links that may be unsafe. Perhaps pdf's are safe files but I'm not sure. (I did a search in the forums but a lot of the threads were pretty old.) Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabiothebest Posted January 22, 2019 at 10:02 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 at 10:02 AM well, it depends if you want to pay for it or not. I'm not sure links to paid books available on some websites as free download are allowed on this forum. Since you are careful about clicking on links that may be unsafe (for good reason), it'd be recommended that at least you scan the pdf files before opening them if you doubt about their safety. Also pdf files can contain malware (I'm a security researcher also dealing with malware analysis :P). 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiao Kui Posted January 22, 2019 at 10:25 AM Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 at 10:25 AM Thanks. I guess I have assumed that some works in Chinese are in the public domain maybe because I am accustomed to the fast and loose treatment of copyright laws in the mainland. In the past a lot of links to sites that had books available for free download were available on these forums. I am especially looking for 平凡的世界 and 家。I also don't mind paying for books since Chinese books are usually pretty cheap at least compared to the US. Also thanks for the warning about pdf files - nice to know I'm not paranoid after all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted January 22, 2019 at 11:52 AM Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 at 11:52 AM 1 hour ago, fabiothebest said: I'm not sure links to paid books available on some websites as free download are allowed on this forum. Our policy is (and has been for a very long time) that we don't allow links to pirated Chinese learning material (ie, a learner's dictionary, a graded reader, an advanced listening course) but links to mass market Chinese media (a copy of 读者, the latest Feng Xiaogang movie uploaded in 14 ten-minute parts to Youtube) is usually fine. Although we might query if something is easily available at a reasonable price. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beelzebro Posted January 22, 2019 at 12:56 PM Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 at 12:56 PM I just type the book name plus "txt" into google and click one of the first couple of links. Hasn't failed me yet. I assume the same works for pdf versions but I haven't tried. I like txt format so I can easily read it in pleco document reader or use chinese text analyser on it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luxi Posted January 22, 2019 at 01:14 PM Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 at 01:14 PM 2 hours ago, Xiao Kui said: I am especially looking for 平凡的世界 and 家。 China seems to be flexible when it is older books like those, especially if they are in the schools' reading curriculum as those are. If you don't mind reading on-line (usually chapter by chapter, which you could of course print to pdf), here is a site for 平凡的世界. http://www.pingfandeshijie.net/ 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawei3 Posted January 22, 2019 at 07:25 PM Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 at 07:25 PM 9 hours ago, Xiao Kui said: links that may be unsafe I can't recommend any links, but as Fabio noted, you are correct to be careful. It's amazing the way cyber criminals can use seemingly safe ways to get into your computer. Just last week, a cyber security webinar by KnowBe4 showed how just clicking a link can give hackers a path to hack into your system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted January 22, 2019 at 11:04 PM Report Share Posted January 22, 2019 at 11:04 PM 10 hours ago, Beelzebro said: I just type the book name plus "txt" into google and click one of the first couple of links This is what I do too. I don't search for pdfs because in my experience you are more likely to find .txt files than you are to find pdfs. 12 hours ago, Xiao Kui said: In the past a lot of links to sites that had books available for free download were available on these forums. I am especially looking for 平凡的世界 and 家。 This site has been pretty reliable for me recently, and it has both the books you mention. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiao Kui Posted January 23, 2019 at 04:04 AM Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2019 at 04:04 AM Thanks for all the suggestions. Yes, maybe I need to look for txt files as well. I often read in iBooks so I thought pdf was better for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyJonesLocker Posted January 23, 2019 at 07:40 AM Report Share Posted January 23, 2019 at 07:40 AM Why not just use some of the well known APPS like 百度阅读 ， 咪咕阅读. 华为 Kindle etc I suppose you need a form of RMB payment though and perhaps only works well inside China. Not sure. Why are you specifically looking for PDF? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted January 23, 2019 at 11:25 AM Report Share Posted January 23, 2019 at 11:25 AM You could try Project Gutenberg, depending on what you are looking for. Everything is copyright free and consequently usually old but there are some gems in that group. Lots of old sci fi which can be fun too. Available in different languages including Chinese. If you know what you are looking for it is worth a search, not always fruitful but worth a try. Also good for a general browse and coming across something you didn't know existed, or rediscovering an old favorite. This was the result of a one word search, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=chinese P.S. Please note there 356 entries and 13 pages in my link so don't be fooled that there is only one page. P.P.S There is a good choice of formats too, if you choose one for an example you will see all the formats for example .txt , ePub, kindle and more. Happy browsing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members billionaire philanthropist Posted January 23, 2019 at 09:07 PM New Members Report Share Posted January 23, 2019 at 09:07 PM https://www.marxists.org/chinese/ the website above has an abundance of texts, essays, books, even some fiction (including the complete works of lu xun) often in both web/html and pdf forms all of an obvious ideological bent obviously, but it can be an interesting way to practice your reading skills while also learning a little something about how the chinese communists of the 20th century saw the world the author Xue Yiwei once said that students of mandarin can determine whether or not they've reached an early intermediate level by seeing if they can comfortably read Mao Zedong's short essay "In Memory of Norman Bethune" - which can be tested out here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiao Kui Posted January 25, 2019 at 03:39 AM Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 at 03:39 AM Thanks for all the additional resources and recommendations. Quote Why are you specifically looking for PDF? I like to access them in iBooks. I just want to read 家, but I am actually practicing literary translation with 平凡的世界 ， just as a hobby. I work on it paragraph by paragraph, so it is no big deal to copy and paste a paragraph at a time into a word doc. I have been learning casually yet consistently for 21 years now, so can already read comfortably at this level, don't have any issues with reading 20th century Chinese literature. (if anyone knows of an existing English translation for Ordinary World I can look at for comparison, please do let me know.I did an online search recently but didn't find anything, but maybe i need to start another topic for that... ) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungouk Posted January 25, 2019 at 07:44 AM Report Share Posted January 25, 2019 at 07:44 AM 4 hours ago, Xiao Kui said: I like to access them in iBooks. If you happen to be using an iPad, I can recommend getting a copy of GoodReader. It's much faster at rendering very large PDFs than anything else I've used, plus it seems to be the only iPad APP these days that will display pages 2-up, which for books like LonelyPlanet is great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiao Kui Posted January 26, 2019 at 04:01 AM Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2019 at 04:01 AM 20 hours ago, mungouk said: If you happen to be using an iPad, I can recommend getting a copy of GoodReader. Ha - i think i actually got the paid version of GR years ago and deleted it cause I was using other apps such as PDF Annotator, and now PDF Expert more. Maybe I'll give it another whirl - thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murrayjames Posted February 3, 2019 at 05:50 PM Report Share Posted February 3, 2019 at 05:50 PM @Xiao Kui, some of the websites I use to find Chinese literature are: http://www.kanunu8.com http://www.xiabook.com http://www.99lib.net http://www.ixdzs.com I prefer to read on paper and like supporting good art. So I buy physical books, too. Usually I first download a text, then copy and paste it into @imron’s excellent Chinese Text Analyser. If the language is not too difficult, I buy the book. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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