Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1.1 History 1
1.2 Children’s Literature 7
1.3 The History of Chinese Children’s Literature 14
Chapter 2: The Prehistoric Period (until the Late Qing Dynasty) 19
2.1 Overview 19
2.2 Folklore: The Cradle of Children’s Literature 20
2.3 Mengxue: Traditional Chinese Reading Materials 31
2.4 Classical Literature Suitable for Children 36
Chapter 3: The Gestation Period (Late-Qing Dynasty to
Early Republican Period) 45
3.1 Overview 45
3.2 Liang Qichao and Huang Zunxian 53
3.3 The School Songs Movement 58
3.4 Sun Yuxiu and the Children’s Tales Series 66
3.5 The Impact of Zhou Zuoren 70
Chapter 4: The Birth Period (1917-1927) 75
4.1 Overview 754.2 Outside Influences: The Translations of Mao Dun, Zheng
Zhenduo and Others
88
4.3 Beyond the Book: Li Jinhui’s School Musical Productions 92
4.4 Early Attempts at Fairy Tales: Ye Shengtao’s The Scarecrow 97
4.5 Reluctant Recruits: Yu Pingbo’s Memory poems, and Bing Xin’s
Letters to Young Readers
101
4.6 Fei Ming and the Beginning of the Child’s Perspective 107
4.7 Adjacent Figures: Hu Shi, Chen Hengzhe, Lu Xun and Wang
Tongzhao
111
Chapter 5: The Development Period (1927-1937) 119
5.1 Overview 119
5.2 Zhang Tianyi’s Dalin and Xiaolin and Other Children’s Books 129
5.3 Ling Shuhua and Feng Zikai’s Works for Children 132
5.4 The Fairy Tales of Shen Congwen, Ba Jin, Lao She and others 142
5.5 Lu Xun’s Children’s Literature Activities 149
5.6 Ye Gang, Mao Dun, Chen Bochui and others 154
5.7 The Science-Literature-Art Movement: Dong Chuncai, Jia
Zuzhang and Gu Junzheng
164
Chapter 6: The Setback Period (1937-1949) 169
6.1 Overview 169
6.2 Solitary Island Children’s Literature 172
6.3 Alternative Stories about the Second Sino-Japanese War: Ling
Shuhua’s Chinese Sons and Daughters
177
6.4 Yan’an, the Cradle of Contemporary Children’s Literature 179
6.5 The Resurgence of Postwar Children’s Literature 182
6.6 “Should Children’s Books Depict the Dark Side of Life?” 183Chapter 7: The Rebirth Period (1949-1959) 187
7.1 Overview 187
7.2 The Secret of the Magic Gourd and “Next Sailing” Harbor 193
7.3 The Poetry of Lu Bing, Ke Yan and Ren Rongrong 195
7.4 Guo Feng’s Nature Literature 198
7.5 Ren Daxing and Ren Dalin’s Children’s Novels 200
Chapter 8: The Fracture Period (1960-1978) 203
8.1 Overview 203
8.2 Key Writers and Their Works 208
Chapter 9: The Reconstruction Period (1978-1999) 215
9.1 Overview 215
9.2 The Development of Realist Children’s Literature 219
9.3 Lyrical Novels: Cao Wenxuan, Dong Hongyou and Others 224
9.4 The Poetry of Jin Bo, Xu Lu and Others 232
9.5 Lively and Lyrical Fairy Tales 236
9.6 The Motifs of Nature Literature 240
9.7 The Role of Prose 243
Conclusion 246
Afterword 249
