Many of our readers are interested in selecting books based on the total number of different Chinese words used to tell the story. So I thought it would be useful to list all our fiction books and show the Chinese vocabulary total for each. The list is at the bottom of this post.
There’s quite a range in vocabulary size, from our beginning reader “Twenty Three Cats” with just 101 words, up to the complete “Journey to the West” volume with 2,238 different words.
They are grouped by subject: “Journey to the West, Individual Books,” “Journey to the West, Compilations,” “Last King of Shang,” and “Other Books”. In the first group the books are sorted by where each book is in the 31-volume series. The other groups are sorted by vocabulary size, with the smallest first.
Many of these books are available in both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, and in print and ebook formats. The vocabulary is the same, of course, regardless of language or format.
| Title | Vocab. |
| Journey to the West, Individual Books | |
| Rise of the Monkey King (JTW #1) | 507 |
| Trouble in Heaven (JTW #2) | 431 |
| The Immortal Peaches (JTW #3) | 524 |
| The Young Monk (JTW #4) | 517 |
| The Emperor in Hell (JTW #5) | 588 |
| The Journey Begins (JTW #6) | 559 |
| The Monster of Black Wind Mountain (JTW #7) | 572 |
| The Hungry Pig (JTW #8) | 699 |
| The Three Beautiful Daughters (JTW #9) | 641 |
| The Magic Ginseng Tree (JTW #10) | 629 |
| The Monster’s Secret (JTW #11) | 680 |
| The Five Treasures (JTW #12) | 684 |
| The Ghost King (JTW #13) | 691 |
| The Cave of Fire (JTW #14) | 776 |
| The Daoist Immortals (JTW #15) | 827 |
| The Great Demon King (JTW #16) | 861 |
| The Thieves (JTW #17) | 801 |
| The Country of Women (JTW #18) | 821 |
| The Angry Monkey (JTW #19) | 749 |
| The Burning Mountain (JTW #20) | 833 |
| The Rain of Blood (JTW #21) | 897 |
| The False Buddha (JTW #22) | 821 |
| The Monkey Doctor (JTW #23) | 916 |
| The Demons of Spiderweb Mountain (JTW #24) | 797 |
| Great Peng and His Brothers (JTW #25) | 891 |
| The Thousand Children (JTW #26) | 839 |
| The Monk and the Mouse (JTW #27) | 904 |
| The Dharma Destroying Kingdom (JTW #28) | 912 |
| The Nine Headed Lion (JTW #29) | 919 |
| The Lazy Monk (JTW #30) | 1,065 |
| The Last Trial (JTW #31) | 1,112 |
| Journey to the West, Compilations | |
| The Journey to the West, Books 1, 2 And 3 | 889 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 7, 8 And 9 | 940 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 4, 5 And 6 | 958 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 10, 11 And 12 | 1,036 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 28 and 29 | 1,200 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 13, 14 and 15 | 1,235 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 16, 17 and 18 | 1,340 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 25, 26 and 27 | 1,344 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 22, 23 and 24 | 1,357 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 19, 20 and 21 | 1,358 |
| The Journey to the West, Books 30 and 31 | 1,425 |
| The Journey to the West, Complete | 2,238 |
| Last King of Shang | |
| The Last King of Shang, Book 4 | 1,205 |
| The Last King of Shang, Book 1 | 1,210 |
| The Last King of Shang, Book 5 | 1,223 |
| The Last King of Shang, Book 6 | 1,293 |
| The Last King of Shang, Book 2 | 1,302 |
| The Last King of Shang, Book 3 | 1,396 |
| The Last King of Shang, Complete | 2,140 |
| Other Fiction Books | |
| Twenty Three Cats | 101 |
| Mulan, Woman Warrior | 233 |
| Hedgepig and Little Bird | 260 |
| Dragon Island | 359 |
| Ye Xian | 417 |
| The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl | 489 |
| Hulin and the Mad Goose | 566 |
| Learn to Read Chinese, Book 1 – Four Classic Folk Tales in Simplified Chinese | 566 |
| The Love Triangle | 654 |
| Learn to Read Chinese, Book 2 – Six Classic Folk Tales in Simplified Chinese | 694 |
| Learn to Read Chinese, Book 3 – Four Classic Love Stories in Simplified Chinese | 718 |
