Includes bibliographical references and websites (p. 121-130) and index.

Foundations: ethics, parables, and fish -- Poetry and poetics: landscapes, allusions, and alcohol -- Classical narrative: history, jottings, and tales of the strange -- Vernacular drama and fiction: gardens, bandits, and dreams -- Modern literature: trauma, movements, and bus stops.

"This Very Short Introduction tells the story of Chinese literature from antiquity to the present, focusing on the key role literary culture has played in supporting social and political concerns. Embracing traditional Chinese understandings of literature as encompassing history and philosophy as well as poetry and poetics, storytelling, drama, and the novel, Sabina Knight discusses the philosophical foundations of literary culture as well as literature's power to address historical trauma and cultivate moral and sensual passions. From ancient historical records through the modernization and globalization of Chinese literature, Knight underscores the close relationship between ethics and aesthetics, as well as the diversity of Chinese thought."--Publisher description.