First published in 1961, and reissued in new editions several times, A History of Modern Chinese Fiction is the pioneering, classic study of twentieth-century Chinese fiction. It covers some sixty years, from the Literary Revolution of 1917 through the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76.
C. T. Hsia examines the major writers from Lu Hsun to Eileen Chang and selected works of representative importance since 1949 from both mainland China and Taiwan.
Professor David T. Roy hailed the book in the Christian Science Monitor when it was first published, and his comments are as relevant today as they were then:
"The publication of C. T. Hsia's book is an event of the first importance. It has the distinction of being the first serious study of modern Chinese fiction in English. It also has the rarer distinction of being the best study of its subject available in any language. No more ambitious attempt to apply the principles of modern Western literary criticism to the study of Chinese literature has ever been made. Not only the specialist, but every reader who is interested in China or in literature will find it of interest..."