''Bizarre Happenings Eyewitnessed over Two Decades'' (T: 二十年目睹之怪現狀, S: 二十年目睹之怪现状, P: ''Èrshí Nián Mùdǔzhī Guài Xiànzhuàng'', W: ''Erh-shih nien mu-tu-chih kuai hsien-chuang'', also translated as: "Strange Events Witnessed in the Past Twenty Years", "The Strange State of the World Witnessed Over 20 Years", "Reports on Strange Things for the Past Twenty Years", and "Wu Jianren's Strange Events Eyewitnessed over the Last Two Decades") is a novel by Wu Jianren (also known as Wu Wo-yao). The novel was serialized in ''Xin Xiaoshuo'' (T: 新小說, S: 新小说, P: ''Xīn Xiǎoshuō''; W: ''Hsin Hsiao-shuo''; "New Fiction"), a magazine by Liang Qichao. In 1909 the novel was completed and published in book form."二十年目睹之怪现状: Bizarre Happenings Eyewitnessed over Two Decades.", p
inside cover
The essay "Typology of Plot Structures in Late Qing Novels" by

Milena Doleželová-Velingerová Milena Doleželová-Velingerová (February 8, 1932 – October 20, 2012) was a renowned Czech sinologist at the University of Toronto. Milena Doleželová-Velingerová received her M.A. degree from the Charles University in Prague in 1955 and her ...

, published in the book '' The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century'', discusses the novel's plot structure.

Idema Advanced Format (AF) is any disk sector format used to store data on magnetic disks in hard disk drives (HDDs) that exceeds 512, 520, or 528 bytes per sector, such as the 4096, 4112, 4160, and 4224-byte (4 KB) sectors of an Advanced Format ...

, p. 353 The novel is known for its use of anecdotes.Des Forges, p
44
"The description of the writing process recalls the intensive use of anecdotes in the construction of novels of the first decade of the century, especially Wu Jianren's ''Strange Events Eyewitnessed over the Last Two Decades''." The

Chinese University Press The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press is the university press of the Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by ...

published an

abridged An abridgement (or abridgment) is a condensing or reduction of a book or other creative work into a shorter form while maintaining the unity of the source. The abridgement can be true to the original work in terms of mood and tone, capturing the ...

English translation, titled "Bizarre Happenings Eyewitnessed over Two Decades", in 1975.

References

* Des Forges, Alexander. "Anxiety, brand names, and wild chickens." In: Rojas, Carlos and Eileen Chow (editors). ''Rethinking Chinese Popular Culture: Cannibalizations of the Canon''.

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, December 8, 2008. , 9780203886649. * Idema, W. L. " The Chinese Novel at the Turn of the Century" (book review). ''

T'oung Pao ''T’oung Pao'' (; ), founded in 1890, is a Dutch journal and the oldest international journal of sinology. It is published by the publisher E. J. Brill. ''T'oung Paos original full title was ''T’oung Pao ou Archives pour servir à l’étud ...

'', ISSN 0082-5433, January 1982, Volume 68, Issue 4/5, pp. 352 – 355 * Wu, Jianren. "二十年目睹之怪现状: Bizarre Happenings Eyewitnessed over Two Decades."

, January 1, 1975. , 9780870751257.

Notes

1909 novels 20th-century Chinese novels Novels first published in serial form Novels set in Shanghai Novels set in Nanjing Novels by Wu Jianren {{1900s-novel-stub