Introduction: The Literary and Cultural Significance of Chinese Prose

In Western-language (Sinological) studies of Chinese literature, an extraordinary lacuna has eluded the attention of most scholars: the absence of any comprehensive anthology of artistic, nonfiction prose (hereafter just prose). In China, prose is an independent literary genre privileged (with poetry) over fiction and drama. Compounding this neglect, all general anthologies of Chinese literature in translation, to date, have relegated prose to the margins. Monograph studies of Chinese prose are practically nonexistent. The rich heritage of Chinese prose art has been reduced to mere samples of famous prose works in unguided translations. Thus, as a first step toward restoring prose to its rightful place in Sinological literary studies, we created this comprehensive guided anthology.