PagineConfucius and Laozi, the Monkey King of Journey to the West, Lady Murasaki’s Tale of Genji, Tagore’s songs and Rumi’s poems — the Asian classics are among the oldest and most-read books on Earth. Here are 74 essential books from China, Japan, India, Persia and the Arab world, with short guides to the great Asian authors, where to start, and many free to read online in English.
New to Asian literature? Begin with one of these — or follow our step-by-step guide, What to Read for Asian Classics →
Full books, free in the Pagine e-reader on any phone, tablet or computer — no download.
Short biographies, what to read first, and every book of theirs on this list.
Confucius (Kong Fuzi, “Master Kong”) was a teacher and minor official whose ideas about virtue, family, ritual and good government shaped Chinese — and East Asian — society for over two thousand years. His sayings were collected by his students in the Analects, short exchanges such as “Do not do to others what you would not want done to yourself.”
Where to start: The Analects
On this list: The Analects
Laozi (Lao Tzu) is the legendary author of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing), the founding text of Taoism. Tradition says he was an archivist at the Zhou court who wrote the book’s 81 short chapters as he left China for the west. Whether or not he existed, the book — about the Way, simplicity and the power of softness — is one of the most translated works in the world.
Where to start: Tao Te Ching
On this list: Tao Te Ching
Cao Xueqin grew up in a wealthy family that lost everything, and spent his last years in poverty writing Dream of the Red Chamber (also called The Story of the Stone). The novel follows the decline of the aristocratic Jia family and the love between Jia Baoyu and his cousin Lin Daiyu, with hundreds of characters. Published in 1791 with a completion by Gao E, it is widely considered the greatest Chinese novel.
Where to start: Dream of the Red Chamber
On this list: Dream of the Red Chamber
Lu Xun studied medicine in Japan but decided that China needed its mind healed more than its body. His “A Madman’s Diary” (1918) was the first major short story written in modern vernacular Chinese, and The True Story of Ah Q (1921) is a savage satire of national weakness. He is regarded as the father of modern Chinese literature.
Where to start: The True Story of Ah Q
On this list: A Madman’s Diary · The True Story of Ah Q
Murasaki Shikibu was a lady-in-waiting at the imperial court of Heian Japan. Around 1000–1010 she wrote The Tale of Genji, the life and loves of the “shining prince” Genji, in 54 chapters of subtle psychological observation — often called the world’s first novel. Her diary is a vivid record of court life.
Where to start: The Tale of Genji
On this list: The Tale of Genji
Matsuo Bashō turned the short, playful hokku into an art of stillness and insight — what we now call haiku. His most famous poem, about an old pond and a frog jumping in, is perhaps the best-known short poem in the world. The Narrow Road to the Deep North (published 1702) mixes prose and haiku from a long journey on foot through northern Japan.
Where to start: The Narrow Road to the Deep North
On this list: The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Natsume Sōseki studied English literature in London before becoming Japan’s great modern novelist. I Am a Cat (1905), narrated by a sardonic cat, and Botchan (1906), about a hot-headed young teacher, are comic classics; Kokoro (1914), a quiet story of friendship, guilt and loneliness, is still a bestseller in Japan. His portrait was on the 1,000-yen note for twenty years.
Where to start: Botchan
On this list: I Am a Cat · Botchan · Kokoro
Rabindranath Tagore — poet, novelist, composer, painter and educator — reshaped Bengali literature and music. His own English versions of his songs, Gitanjali (1912), made him in 1913 the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He wrote the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh, the novel The Home and the World (1916), and stories such as “The Kabuliwala,” and founded the university at Santiniketan.
Where to start: Gitanjali
On this list: Gitanjali · The Home and the World
Munshi Premchand is the most loved writer in Hindi and Urdu. A schoolteacher who wrote some 300 short stories and a dozen novels, he portrayed village life, poverty, caste and the struggles of ordinary people with warmth and realism. Stories such as “Idgah” and “The Chess Players” are read in Indian schools, and Godaan (1936), the story of a poor farmer’s dream of owning a cow, is his masterpiece.
Where to start: Idgah
On this list: Godaan
Jalal al-Din Rumi was a Persian scholar and Sufi mystic who settled in Konya in Anatolia. After a life-changing friendship with the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz, he poured out thousands of poems of divine love, and the six books of the Masnavi, which has been called “the Quran in Persian.” His followers founded the Mevlevi order of “whirling dervishes,” and in translation he is one of the best-selling poets in the world.
Where to start: Masnavi
On this list: Masnavi
9 of these are free to read in Pagine right now (📖 Read free). The rest link to a free public-domain edition or to Open Library, where many can be borrowed free.
Print it, save it as a PDF, email it to yourself or share it with a friend, book club or class. Every copy links back to pagineapp.com, and the free Pagine app tracks every book you finish.
iPhone & iPad
Android10 free books by Asian authors in Pagine — including titles beyond this list.
Every title on the list links to the free sources that may have it. Public-domain books are free to read and download; newer books can often be borrowed free.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber are the pillars of Chinese fiction — each enormous, each endlessly retold in opera, film and games. Start with an abridged Journey to the West (often published as Monkey). Many ancient Asian texts — the Analects, the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita, the Arabian Nights, Rumi and the Rubaiyat — are free in older English translations; Pagine also hosts thousands of free Indian-language picture books from StoryWeaver.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin (Outlaws of the Marsh), Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber (The Story of the Stone).
It is often called the world’s first novel. Written by Murasaki Shikibu around 1000–1010 in Japan, it is a long, psychologically subtle story of court life.
Rabindranath Tagore of India, in 1913, for Gitanjali.
Yes. Older English translations of the Analects, Tao Te Ching, Art of War, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Arabian Nights, Rubaiyat and Tagore’s works are in the public domain and free online.
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