List of illustrations; List of maps; List of tables; Introduction to the English edition David Der-wei Wang; Preface; Part I. Promise of New Opportunities: 1. Wangping Street – Fuzhou Road: change of the scene of Chinese literature; 2. Vernacular newspapers and transformation of the written language of literature; 3. Earliest intellectuals with global outlook; 4. The 'new literary style' movement, a political motion in origin; 5. Chronicle of literary events in the year 1903 (an era of literary accumulation); 6. The rising of urban popular novels in an emerging international trading centre; 7. Emerging elites of the south society; 8. From Suzhou and Yangzhou to Shanghai: literature of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly Literary School; Part II. The May Fourth Enlightenment Movement: 9. Introduction of spoken drama into China: the earliest theatre performances; 10. Building a bridge to world literature; 11. Incubation of a literary revolution home and abroad; 12. Rise of radicals from the New Youth and Peking University and Conservatives' Counter Claims; 13. Chronicle of literary events in the year 1921 (an era of literary enlightenment); 14. A literary niche created by newspapers, magazines and publishing houses of Beijing and Shanghai; 15. Leading breakthroughs in modern vernacular poetry and short stories; 16. A history of the dissemination and acceptance of 'The True Story of Ah Q'; 17. 'Yu Si', 'casual talks' and vernacular prose style; 18. Discovery of peasants and local colours by earlier native-soil literature; 19. Literary solace for urban citizens; Part III. The Coexistence of Diverse Types of Literature: 20. To the South: the return of literary centre; 21. Popularity, deepening and disputes of the left-wing literature; 22. Novels strongly characteristic of the era; 23. The successive boom of era-specific and individualized literary writings; 24. The graceful beauties of Belles-lettres by Beijing School Authors; 25. The new sensations of Shanghai School in the modern metropolis; 26. The literary horizon of two types of civilian society; 27. The professional theatre spoken drama in its mature stage; 28. Chronicle of literary events in the year 1936 (an era of diversification); 29. Interactions between cinematographic art and literature; 30. Timely and overall embrace of world literature; Part IV. Under the Clouds of War: 31. Forming of multiple literary centres under the clouds of war; 32. Intellectuals' economic conditions and their writing lifestyle; 33. Chongqing: national salvation literature, from boom to split; 34. Yan'an: from the wartime art and literature for the masses to the guiding principle of art and literature for workers, peasants and soldiers; 35. Guilin: the upsurge of theatre and publishing phenomenon of the wartime 'cultural city'; 36. Kunming: reflections on personal experience of the era; 37. Shanghai and others: the pain of homelessness and the roundabout development of urban popular literature; 38. Hong Kong and Taiwan: separation, autonomy and growth of new literature; 39. From peasants to urban citizens: new momentum for the development of popular literature; 40. Chronicle of literary events in the year 1948 (an era of transition); Select bibliography; Index.