With no comparable study in the English language, the first English translation of Fan Boqun's A History of Popular Modern Chinese Literature presents one of the most authoritative and significant studies on modern Chinese literature to a new readership. Starting in the late Qing Dynasty, a period often overlooked by literary scholars, Fan maps the blueprint of modern Chinese popular literature through a broad range of popular literary genres. Thoughtfully illustrated throughout and utilising courtesan novels, martial arts fiction, pictorial journalism and detective novels, Fan's innovative approach to this rich material develops pioneering new arguments which will be of interest to all interested in modern Chinese literature, popular and visual culture in late Qing and Republican China.