This collection of over seventy prose or essays by 20th century Chinese authors aims to open a new window to the complex and glamorous Chinese literati world during the long and tumultuous century. It includes great authors like Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, and Lao She, but it does not exclude those who might be less well-known yet with stunning talent and whose works have spread far and wide in the Chinese speaking world. One principle of the selecting is to foreground some distinctive features and characteristics of Chinese literature and Chinese culture, with a tentative aim to reconstruct and reform the canonical landscape of Chinese literature, at least as Chinese prose or essay is concerned. Many people, including literary critics, would acknowledge that Chinese prose and essay is a special genre of literature, nothing like the essay style familiar to Western readers. With its free style and unrestrained thinking, with its subtle expressiveness and penetrating depth, with its bold revealing of human emotions and feelings, the editors are sure that this collection will surprise the readers as well as please them.
