Literati Identity and Its Fictional Representations in Late Imperial ChinaThis book is a study of the intellectual and literary factors that in the mid Qing dynasty contributed to the development of vernacular fiction of unprecedented scholarly and satirical sophistication. The author examines three works of vernacular fictionRulin waishi (ca. 1750), Yesou puyan (ca. 1780), and Jinghua yuan (1821 1828)for their articulation of new perceptions of the literati, or Confucian scholar gentry. He places the reevaluation of