"The great virtue of this book is that it provides a practical acquaintance with the writing itself by means of copious passages of translation from representative novels." —New York Times Book Review

"C. T. Hsia's book is by now an acknowledged classic. It truly opened up a new field and prepared the way for generations of American scholars to do research. We are all in his debt." —Leo Lee

This pioneering, classic study of 20th-century Chinese fiction covers some sixty years, from the Literary Revolution of 1917 through the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76.