Begins with the linguistic and intellectual foundations of Chinese literature and moves successively through verse, prose, fiction, drama, and commentary and criticism; it then closes with popular and peripheral manifestations. A special feature is the focus on such contextual subjects as the history of popular culture, the effect of religion upon literature, the role of women, and relationships with non-Sinitic languages and peoples

Includes bibliographical references (p. [1105]-1152) and index.