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Although there does not seem to be an immediate equivalent of satire in Chinese literature, it is a well-known stylistic means in China and has been employed frequently. In a society with high political and moral aspirations, from which reality differs all too often, satire has presented itself as a particularly suitable form of artistic expression, in which the cool and distanced position of the observer uncovers the chasm between "reality as imperfection" and the "the ideal as the highest idea…

Because of the very close ties between literature and politics in pre-modern as well as modern China, literary criticism has a higher intrinsic value than is the case in Western cultures. It is not an esthetic 'glass bead game', nor is it hidden in the feature pages supplement, but it has distinctive social references and to this day often stands at the center of political debate. The history of the PRC, which has clearly not been short of movements and mass campaigns, has shown that contradicti…