| Illustrations | 
        
        
          | Acknowledgements  | 
        
        
          | Preface  | 
        
        
          | Skeleton Chronology  | 
        
        
          | Introduction  | 
        
        
          | Zhuge Liang (181 — 234)  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          To Lead out the Army | 
        
        
          | Tao Qian (365 — 427) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Requiem for Myself | 
        
        
          | Han Yu (768 — 824) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Address to the Crocodiles of Chaozhou | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Goodbye to Penury | 
        
        
          | Liu Zongyuan (773 — 819) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Whip Vendor | 
        
        
          |   | 
          My First Excursion to West     Mountain | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Small Rock Pool West of    the Hillock | 
        
        
          | Lu Guimeng (? — ca. 881) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          A Monument to Rustic Temples | 
        
        
          | Ouyang Xiu (1007 — 1072) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Old Toper's Pavilion | 
        
        
          | Su Shi (1037 — 1101) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Terrace over the Void | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Master Table Mountain  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Red Cliff: One | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Inscription for the Temple of Han Yu at Chaozhou | 
        
        
          | Su Che (1039 — 1112) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Pavilion of Elation | 
        
        
          | Fang Xiaoru (1357 — 1402) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Mosquito Dialogue | 
        
        
          | Gui Youguang (1506 — 1571) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          My Mother: A Brief Life | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Xiangji Studio | 
        
        
          | Yuan Hongdao (1568 — 1610) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Tiger Hill | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Rewards of Stupidity | 
        
        
          | Zhang Dai (1597 — 1684) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Full Moon Festival at the West     Lake | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Wang Yuesheng | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Liu Jingting: Storyteller | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Jades of Yangzhou | 
        
        
          | Li Yu (1611 — 1680) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Pleasant Diversions: Judging Beauty | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Pleasant Diversions: Accomplishments | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Pleasant Diversions: Literacy | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Pleasant Diversions: Clothes | 
        
        
          | Fang Bao (1668 — 1749) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Life in Prison | 
        
        
          | Yuan Mei (1716 — 1797)  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Thoughts on Master Huang's    Book Borrowing | 
        
        
          | Lun Xun (1881 — 1936) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Three Summer Pests | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Evolution of the Male Sex | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Ah Jin | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Confucius in Modern China | 
        
        
          | Zhou Zuoren (1885 — 1967)  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Relentless Rain | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Reading in the Lavatory | 
        
        
          |   | 
          On 'Passing the Itch' | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Ageing of Ghosts | 
        
        
          |   | 
          In Praise of Mutes | 
        
        
          | Xia Mianzun (1886 — 1946) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Ornamental     Iron Mountain | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Winter at White Horse     Lake | 
        
        
          | Ye Shengtao (1894 — 1988) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Three Kinds of Boat | 
        
        
          |   | 
          My Own Patch of Green | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Intellectuals | 
        
        
          | Feng Zikai (1898 — 1975) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Eating Melon Seeds | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Autumn | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Bombs in Yishan | 
        
        
          | Yu Dafu (1896 — 1945)  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Village School and Academy | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Winter Scene in Jiangnan | 
        
        
          | Zhu Ziqing (1898 — 1948)  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The View from the Rear | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Traces of Wenzhou | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Lotus Pond by Moonlight | 
        
        
          | Liang Shih-ch'iu (1902 — 1987)  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Sickness | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Haircut | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Listening to Plays | 
        
        
          | Liang Yuchun (1906 — 1932)  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          On the Road | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Well-meant Words
  | 
        
        
          | Lu Li (1908 — 1942)  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          A Temple Lodging | 
        
        
          | Yang Jiang (1911 — )  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Art of Listening | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Cloak of Invisibility | 
        
        
          | He Qifang (1912 — 1979) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Elegy | 
        
        
          | Ch'i Chun (1917 — ) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Chignon | 
        
        
          | Eileen Chang (1920 — 1995) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Religion of the Chinese | 
        
        
          |   | 
          A Beating | 
        
        
          | Wang Ting-chün (1925 — ) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Last Word in Beauty and Ugliness | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Footprints | 
        
        
          | Yu Kwang-chung (1928 — ) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Thus Friends Absent Speak | 
        
        
          |   | 
          My Four Hypothetical Enemies | 
        
        
          | Zongpu (1928 — ) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Call of the Ruins | 
        
        
          | Koarnhak Tarn (1934 — ) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          The Countryside of the Past | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Today's Countryside | 
        
        
          | Huang Chunming (1939 — ) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          We Can't Bring Back the Past | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Waiting for a Flower's Name | 
        
        
          | Yu Qiuyu (1946 — ) | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Shanghai People | 
        
        
          | Zhang Xingjian (1959 — )  | 
        
        
          |   | 
          Goodwives | 
        
        
          | References | 
        
        
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