AcknowledgmentsPrefacePart I The Matrix of Civilizations1 The Myth of Progress: Why Did Zheng He Not Go Eastwards?2 Western Elements in the Art of Feng ZikaiPart II The Labyrinth of Postmodernity3 1919–2019 China: The May Fourth Prophecy and the Postmodern Turn4 Post-Maoist Era and the Westernization of Time5 American and Chinese Literature. Behind the Mask of Postmodernism: A National FailurePart III Female Aesthetics6 Women of Realism: Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina, and Wang Qiyao7 Female Writing in Chinese Postmodern Literature: From Neorealism to Avant-Garde8 The Case of Wei Hui and Mian Mian: It Is Not About ChinaPart IV Artistic Maladie9 The Absurd Consciousness of Chinese Avant-Garde Art10 The Oedipal Fate of Chinese Literary Avant-GardeChinese Characters ListIndex