Fan Boqun (1931-2017) was a scholar of modern Chinese literature. He taught at Suzhou University and at the Chinese Classical Literature Research Center of Fudan.

List of figures; Introduction to the English edition Susan Daruvala; Introduction; 1. Buds of Chinese modern popular fiction; 2. The new trend of popular tabloids in Shanghai between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century; 3. The first wave of Chinese modern literary periodicals: from 1902 to 1907; 4. 1903: outset year of the late-Qing lovels of condemnation; 5. After 1906: popularity of the novels of sentiments and the novels of grievance; 6. The second wave of modern literary periodicals in China: from 1909 to 1917; 7. Relationship between the change of the dynasty and the thriving of historical romances; 8. 1916: introduction of problem stories and solicitation of Shanghai inside stories; 9. Fiction Monthly's reorganization and the third wave of the publication of popular periodicals; 10. A new way towards the humanization of brothel novels in the 1920s; 11. Novelists on martial arts in the early phase of the Republic of China in the 1920s; 12. Social novelists who left marks on urban legends in the 20s; 13. Urban local-colored novels: a characteristic of modern popular literature; 14. Craze for movies and pictorials in the 1920s; 15. Establishment of the Chinese-style detective fiction in the 1920s; 16. Rapid rise of popular literature in Northern China in the 1920s and the 1930s; 17. Martial arts novels in Northern China before and after the defeat of the Japanese invaders; 18. Social fiction writers of various levels from the 1930s to the 1940s in Shanghai; 19. Popularity of the new popular fiction in the 1940s; 20. Explorations needed into the historical experience and lessons; Appendix. From Chinese to English; Index.