20th Century Chinese Literary Classics

Author: Wu Xiuming et al. (Editor-in-Chief)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-09-01
Features:
1. The purpose of this book's selection. Looking back at a century of Chinese literature, this book selects some outstanding works to reflect, from a certain perspective, the achievements of 20th-century Chinese literature.
2. The nature of this book's selection. This book is a result of years of teaching experience accumulated by teachers from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Zhejiang University who teach modern and contemporary Chinese literature. Therefore, it is primarily a concise and practical teaching tool: it provides a compact and concise anthology of 20th-century Chinese literary works for humanities students and those receiving humanities education, to adapt to the ongoing renewal of university education concepts and curriculum knowledge system reforms; it also provides a classic text showcasing the personality and charm of modern Chinese literature for an increasing number of international students studying Chinese and Chinese studies in China. At the same time, it is suitable for reading and collecting by a broad audience of literature enthusiasts.
3. The scope of this book's selection. Representative Chinese literary works since the 20th century are the objects of selection in this book, including poetry, prose, fiction, and various modern literary forms. Due to space constraints, the texts published in this book are primarily short and medium-length works. Most of the selected long novels and dramas are appended in a reference form for readers to find and read independently; some longer works that cannot be included must be excerpted.
4. The principles of this book's selection. The selected works take into account both their literary status and their representativeness in literary trends and schools, while placing greater emphasis on the acceptability and communicability of the texts themselves, i.e., the rich connotations within the texts. We believe that a simple yet substantial text serves as a self-sufficient space for teachers to express their academic interests and showcase their academic personalities, while also being conducive to students' free and quick immersion in the texts. At the same time, it can become the primary platform for communication and dialogue between teachers and students. Therefore, this book does not include author introductions or work reviews to guide readers back to the original texts themselves, thereby reflecting our teaching philosophy of extensive, close, and in-depth reading of texts.
5. The order of this book's compilation. The works are arranged in chronological order according to their initial creation and publication dates. Of course, as everyone knows, an anthology of over 300,000 words cannot fully reflect the entirety of 20th-century Chinese literature; and our selection principles and the works chosen may not be all-encompassing or universally applicable. It is merely a summary of our teaching experience in literary education and our understanding of "classic texts." We hope that readers will, while appreciating and using this book, provide constructive and valuable feedback.