I could not stand Chung Kuo. But I am looking for a readable translation of Journey to the West, if anyone knows one.
Edit: First person to say ‘Dragonball’ or ‘Monkey Magic’ gets popped in the nose.
Try the Kai Lung books by Ernest Bramah. They’re not really novels, mostly just enough of a framework to give an excuse for a collection of little moral tales. “Asian-like” applies!
It’s not a book series, but the—excellent—animated Avatar: The Last Airbender deserves an honorable mention at the very least.
Guy Gavriel Kay recently released Under Heaven, set in an alternate, fantastical China. I haven’t read it yet, but if it’s up to the standards of his previous work, it promises to be incredible.
Kim Stanley Robinson’s “The Years of Rice and Salt” is an alternate-history novel that has large portions set in Asia, and uses fantasy (reincarnation) as a framing device.
Recommendations would be most welcome.
The Secrets of Jin-shei by Alma Alexander is set in a fictional empire that resembles China.
But isn’t heroic/sword & sorcery fantasy - which is what the OP seems to be looking for - essentially an anglophone genre? I don’t know many writers, Asian, European or American, outside the English-speaking countries active in the field.
Quite so. The only contemporary asian author who I’ve managed to find, that I enjoy, is Murakami.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is amazing. But, while it’s about modern (and WWII) Japan, it didn’t feel especially asian. Just… modern. Urban fantasy is urban fantasy. Still, it’s very good. It verges on literature. But then again, to have someone go to the expense of translation for a new market, it better be good.
Alessan: I can think of a few. But it’s mostly wuxia visual novels, so they’re not very… advanced. Potboilers at best. And even the most obvious one has never been translated.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is based on a wuxia novel pentology. But nobody’s bothered to translate it.
That’s what I came here to say. A great read, that series.
The Paladin by CJ Cherryh is set in a low fantasy Asian culture.
Seen it, loved it, just bought the “Art of…” book, can’t wait to see the movie. 
And that’s the issue at hand. I’m not necessarily asking for elves and orcs and such; if they’re in the story, so be it. But fantasy novels set someplace other than a European setting would be nice. Asia, mythological Persia/Middle East, India, etc. Anything from heroic/sword & sorcery fantasy to Neil Gaimanish stuff.
I’m*…a little less enthused about the movie, myself. And this is from someone who saw both Transformers films in the theater.
*For comedic effect, stretch the pronunciation of this “I’m” out to about 2¾ to 3 seconds.
If you’re looking for Persian/Middle East…
Try the Parsina Saga by Stephen Goldin. Wonderful, Arabian Nights flavor in a Persian analogue. And good writing.
Also, Tanith Lee’s Tales from the Flat Earth has a fairly strong Persian/Arabian flavor to it. And, it’s awesome.
Indeed! I was wondering if I should mention Tales from the Flat Earth. I decided against it, it being Arabian in nature.
If you’re familiar with the roleplaying game, Exalted, it takes much of its inspiration of setting from that series of stories.
I enjoyed When Gravity Fails and its sequels by George Alec Effinger. It’s a kind of cyberpunk detective story set in a near-future Arabic ghetto.
This is what I came in to mention. I highly recommend this book, very enjoyable.
The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, which can be described as the Napoleonic Wars except with dragons, is a mixture of the fanatsy and nautical historical genres. The main dragon character is Chinese and parts of the series, including most of the second book, take place in a fantacized Imperial China.
They are short stories, but try “Monkey Brain Sushi”. Besides being an interesting read in itself it may give you ideas of authors.
I really regret the local bookstores where I used to browse which have closed. They were a source of a lot of interesting finds.
You might also check Kinokuniya online. They have a book section although the search engine leaves a lot to be desired.
The above are Japanese centered, obviously. Happens to be my personal interest. I may need to pick up a few of those myself.