Chinese Literature and the Child is a far-reaching study of images of children in post-Cultural Revolution novels and short stories. Considering works from over twenty writers, including some of China's leading literary stars, this book spans two decades of China's recent and rapid transformation. Tracking ideas of the child in Chinese society across the twentieth century, Kate Foster places fictional children within the story of the nation in a study of tropes and themes which range from images of strength and purity to the murderous and amoral. In this ambitious and revealing study, Foster views China's imagined children in relation to major shifts in Chinese culture and society and through literary theory, and argues convincingly for the significance of the child in fiction in the construction of adult identity in a time of change.