In this ground-breaking book, Bonnie S. McDougall and Kam Louie present the first comprehensive, integrated survey of twentieth-century Chinese literature. The Literature of China in the Twentieth Century traces the development of Chinese literature from the Boxer Rebellion, when the strains of Western influence first emerged, to the Tiananmen Massacre, when dissident poets, such as Bei Dao, earned international acclaim and indefinite exile from the mainland.

Each of the book's three chronological sections contains individual chapters examining the poetry, drama, and fiction of the period and includes an introduction outlining the historical and social context of the individual writers and their works. By analyzing this captivating literary tradition in terms of subject, theme, language, structure, style, intended audience, and cultural impact, the authors present a vivid picture of this important literature and a unique window on twentieth-century Chinese society.