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The book dates from before the Cultural Revolution and that means the final section on communism and the (dis)continuities doesn’t add up anymore. This is interesting as a book that captured the post-war ideas on late imperial China and its modernisation conundrum, probably still containing valuable departure points and there is the occasional incisive insight to probe further (e.g why Christianity could not replace Confucianism, or the different kinds of conservative/traditionalist approach, and the implications for the difference between Japanese and Chinese trajectories toward the 20th century) The writing style and contents are heavy at times, and it is not aimed at newbies of Chinese history

Got this from a colleague at work and picked it up to read on the train. Our understanding of Chinese literature has evolved some since this was published but I’m curious to see how the translator handled the poems in such a diverse selection