Part 1. 1911-1949 -- Introduction to the republican era -- Preface to 'Call to arms' / Lu Xun -- A madman's diary / Lu Xun -- The butterflies / Hu Shih -- Dream and poetry / Hu Shih -- One smile / Hu Shih -- To the tune of Shengzhazi / Hu Shih -- The streets of heaven / Guo Moruo -- The sky dog / Guo Moruo -- The nirvana of the Feng and Huang: prelude -- How can I not miss her / Liu Bannong -- Paper thin / Liu Bannong -- The peanut / Xu Dishan -- I think / Xu Dishan -- A maze of stars (selections) / Bing Xin -- Spring water (selections) / Bing Xin -- The abandoned woman / Li Jinfa -- The expression of time / Li Jinfa -- Malady of spring nights / Yu Dafu -- For the love of her feet / He Haiming -- The moonlit lotus pond / Zhu Ziqing -- Second farewell to Cambridge / Xu Zhimo -- By chance / Xu Zhimo -- The dead water / Wen Yiduo -- Perhaps (a dirge) / Wen Yiduo -- Confession / Wen Yidou -- Miss Sophia's diary (excerpt) / Ding Ling -- Rainbow (excerpt) / Mao Dun -- Family (excerpts) / Ba Jin -- Rainy alley / Dai Wangshu -- I think / Dai Wangshu -- Border town (excerpts) / Shen Congwen -- Reading in the lavatory / Zhou Zuoren -- My country and my people (excerpt) / Lin Yutang -- Rickshaw (excerpts) / Lao She -- Evening / Bian Zhilin -- Dream of the old town / Bian Zhilin -- Fragment / Bian Zhilin -- Loneliness / Bian Zhilin -- Tales of Hulan River (excerpt) / Xiao Hong --

Part 2. 1949-1976 -- Introduction to the revolutionary era -- Changsha / Mao Zedong -- Mount Liupan / Mao Zedong -- Snow / Mao Zedong -- Quotations from Chairman Mao (excerpts) / Mao Zedong -- Wheelbarrow / Ai Qing -- Dayanhe: my wet nurse / Ai Qing -- On a Chilean cigarette package / Ai Qing -- The young man who has just arrived at the organization / Wang Meng -- Department (excerpts) / Wang Meng -- The unglovable hands / Zhao Shuli -- The red lantern: a revolutionary Peking opera in eleven acts (excerpt) / Anonymous --

Part 3. 1976-present -- Introduction to the post-Mao era -- The answer / Bei Dao -- Let's go / Bei Dao -- Notes from the City of the Sun / Bei Dao -- The red sailboat / Bei Dao -- City gate open up (excerpt) / Bei Dao -- A generation / Gu Cheng -- Nameless flowers / Gu Cheng -- Farewell, cemetery / Gu Cheng -- I'm a willful child / Gu Cheng -- Red sorghum (excerpts) / Mo Yan -- To an oak / Shu Ting -- A roadside encounter / Shu Ting -- Assembly line / Shu Ting -- Where the soul dwells / Shu Ting -- In search of the king of singers (excerpts) / Liu Suola -- Norlang / Yang Lian -- Burial ground / Yang Lian -- The book of exile / Yang Lian -- Masks and crocodile (selections) / Yang Lian -- Hut on the mountain / Can Xue -- Love in a small town / Wang Anyi -- Premonition / Zhai Yongming -- Hypnosis / Zhai Yongming -- The language of the '50s / Zhai Yongming -- Your hands / Hai Zi -- Facing the ocean, spring warms flowers open / Hai Zi -- Spring, ten Hai Zis / Hai Zi -- Thirteen ways to fold a paper hawk / Ma Yuan -- The night in the end / Che Qianzi -- Sign: inspired by a letter / Che Qianzi -- A Chinese character comic strip / Che Qianzi -- An antique style door screen / Che Qianzi -- File o / Yu Jian -- Night comes to Calabash Street / Chi Zijian -- On the road at eighteen / Yu Hua -- Raise the red lantern (excerpt) / Su Tong -- A starry moment / Zhang Zao -- Into the mirror / Zhang Zao -- Elegy / Zhang Zao -- On the other side of the river / Xi Chuan -- Blackout / Xi Chuan -- Far away / Xi Chuan -- If I have to die / Yu Xinqiao -- Epitaph / Yu Xinqiao -- The dead are mourning the living / Yu Xinqiao -- Self-introduction / Yu Xinqiao -- Soul mountain (excerpts) / Gao Xingjian -- Nothing to my name / Cui Jian.