Movements and schools
Chinese social realism
The great Chinese novel of the first half of the twentieth century, between satire and fresco.
A Beijing rickshaw puller saves for years to buy his own cart, and discovers what the city does to men who are alone: Lao She's Rickshaw Boy tells the China of the thirties in a single fate. Around him, Mao Dun follows the ruin of silkworm breeders, Ba Jin tells of three brothers stifled by the Confucian family, Ding Ling writes the diary of a young woman refusing an arranged marriage. These novels, written in the spoken language, take the side of those crushed by the old order and by war.
works 6
- Short storiesDiary of a Madman狂人日記Lu Xun · 1918A short story of 1918, the first signed by Lu Xun, which makes cannibalism the figure of the Confucian tradition.Literature
- NarrativeMiss Sophie's Diary莎菲女士的日記Ding Ling · 1928A narrative of 1927 in the form of a diary, whose frankness about female desire caused a sensation when it appeared in 1928.Literature
- Short storiesSpring Silkworms春蠶Mao Dun · 1932A short story of 1932 about an indebted family of silkworm farmers, the first part of a village trilogy.Literature
- NovelRickshaw Boy駱駝祥子Lao She · 1937Novel published in 1937, about a Beijing rickshaw puller who saves up to own his own rickshaw.Literature
- Novel長河Shen Congwen · 1945not translated into EnglishAn unfinished novel, written during the war, about a port in western Hunan where the “new life” is announced.Literature