Contemporary Chinese Stories

Toward the end of the last century modern Chinese fiction emerged as part of a general movement for reform. Intellectual leaders of the time saw in fiction a powerful weapon for political agitation. In contrasts to the traditional Chinese tales, therefore, these stories are starkly realistic. They turn the searchlight of truth on the dark side of modern China’s life, on the poverty, the superstition the incubus of tradition. And they presage the new world for which the people of China are now fighting, and the heroism of the battle. This anthology covers the period from 1918 to 1937.