Read Paper Republic

Read Paper Republic is a free online publication initiative for readers who wonder what new Chinese fiction in English translation has to offer and would like to dip a toe in the water. The stories are organized into series:

Read Paper Republic: Spotlight

Paper Republic is thrilled to announce the publication of Read Paper Republic: Spotlight, the newest installment in our series of free-to-read translated Chinese short fiction. Each Monday for the next four weeks, we will be publishing translations of the winning work from the 2025 Fubi Project, a new literary prize in China that awards ￥100,000 to talented emerging novelists to support the development of their first book.

The translators for this series are themselves emerging translators, who were selected through an open call for translation samples in spring 2026 and received editorial support from veteran translators Jacqueline Leung, Natascha Bruce, Nicky Harman, and Eric Abrahamsen. We hope that this series provides a foundation for fruitful future collaborations as these young authors and translators continue to grow in parallel. This series was produced by Paper Republic in collaboration with the Beijing-based literary brand Newriting 鲤.