Yao Dan is Dean of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature in the School of Liberal Arts, China Renmin University. She is a member of the Society of Modern Chinese Literature and a special researcher of the Christian Culture Institute at China Renmin University. She has published a number of works on Chinese literature.

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• Foreword; Part I. Ancient Chinese Literature: 1. The book of songs: the earliest anthology of poetry; 2. Prose writing during the spring and autumn and warring states periods; 3. Qu Yuan: a romantic lyricist; 4. Records of the historians; 5. Literature in the Wei and Jin period; 6. Li Bai and Du Fu: the two summits of Tang poetry; 7. Ci poetry: poems to be sung; 8. Yuan opera: Guan Hanqing and Wang Shifu; Classical fiction in the Ming Dynasty: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh and Journey to the West; 9. Short stories of the Qing Dynasty; 10. A dream of red mansions: the pinnacle of Classical literature; Part II. Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature: 11. Lu Xun: founder of new vernacular literature; 12. Modern fiction: echo of the times; 13. New poetry finding a voice of their own; 14. Modern drama; 15. Literature in the new era; 16. Literature today; Appendix: chronological table of the Chinese dynasties.