The series will cover a wide range of writings including but not restricted to works of different literary genres. For the first batch， we are glad to provide three books of essays and one book of short stories， all written by authors of the 20th century. They will be continued by a batch of serious academic writings on premodern Chinese classics in philosophy， literature， and historiography， written by influential scholars of our time.

李潔，蘇州大學英語語言文學專業博士畢業，現為東北大學外國語學院教師。主要研究方向為典籍英譯，出版專著《琴聲可處不悠揚——中國古典藝術散文英譯的審美溝通研究》，發表相關論文十餘篇。熱愛文學翻譯，尤其喜愛中國文學作品的英譯，近年出版《世界華文微型小說精選·海外卷》《商之江南》等譯著。

The Sea Dream
The Tall Woman and Her Short Husband
Daban
The Beijing People （Excerpts）
The True Heroes （Excerpts）
Under the Sky （Excerpts）
An Old Well
The Wilderness
Flying Over My Hometown of Maple and Poplar
Huang Yao
Quhu
The Dry Ravine
The Stories of the Taibai Mountain （Excerpts）
New Literary Sketches （Excerpts）
Silence
Walking on the Street
On Edge
The Scissors
The President's Last Words
Father's Stories： Camel Dung
Taotao the Novice Monk
The Reincarnation
The Death of the Gatekeeper
The Horse-carriage Driver
The Public Kitchen
In the Grass
The Earrings
The Festival of the Eighteenth
The Hidden Darts
The Bitter Bamboo
A Bird Passing By
The Dreamlike Song
The Lynx
The Debt in 1956

《中國經典文化走向世界叢書（小說卷1 英文版）》：
She was 17 centimeters taller than her husband.
She was 175 centimeters tall， like a crane among chickens， while he had a body ofonly 158 centimeters and thus got a nickname "Wu Dalang" （a character in one of China's greatest classical novels Outlaws of the Marsh， nicknamed "Three-inch Nail" for his short stature and ugly appearance）. He reached her earlobe but looked almost two heads shorter than her!
Their appearances contrasted a lot. She looked withered， skinny and flat. Her face， like an unpainted ping-pong bat， was narrowly acceptable， and her facial features looked small and flat as if carved in low relief. Her breasts were not plump at all. Under her thin and stiffwaist， that pair of buttocks were dented much like a hard washboard. In contrast， her husband looked stout， strong and shiny， like a short thick rubber rolling stick. His shanks， insteps， mouth， nose， faces of the fingertips， and all the other things on his body were round， fleshy and elastic. His skin， a piece of best-quality thin leather for sure， was smooth and soft. And thanks to the superfluous grease and the abundant blood circulation underneath his skin， his face glowed with a rosy luster. As opposed to her blurry eyes， his eyes， like a pair ofbulbs with sufficient electric voltage， always shed bright light. In appearance， they did not match in the least but strangely enough， they kept each other's company every day， inseparable as body and shadow.
One day， a family of their neighbors had a reunion dinner. To add more fun， the old man in that family put a winebottle and a pork can side by side on the table. Pointing to the slender bottle and the stumpy can， he asked， "What do they look like? Guess!"
"The tall woman and her short man downstairs!" The old man could not wait for the reply and announced excitedly All the family burst into a riotous laughter. They kept laughing till the dinner was over.
How did the tall woman and the short man get to know each other and become a couple?
This was the question that all the residents in Solidarity Building were interested in. When the couple moved into this building， all the residents looked at them curiously and skeptically. Some kept their doubts in theirown hearts， while some loose-tongued people could not help but begin to be garrulous. As a result， gossips came pell-mell. When it rained， it was always the tall woman who held the umbrella， and if something fell onto the ground it was invariably the short man who bent down and picked itup. At this occasion， some nosy and idle women would always point at their backs and start teasing and gossiping. After all， when the giggle began to gurgle in one's throat， it was hard to hold it back.Adults' tomfoolery easily triggered kids' pranks， and the moment they saw this couple， the kids guffawed and shouted in an excited way， "The carrying pole is long while the stool is short..." Turning a deaf ear to the kids' mischief， the couple never got angry. The tall woman and her short husband went on their lives s usual but they deliberately kept a distance from their neighbors. Only a few people occasionally nodded a greeting to them when they met the couple on their way to work or back home. Thus， people found it hard to know more about the couple. By and by， the couple became a mystery in their neighbors' eyes. Did the couple get on well with each other? How did they get married? Who always gave way in their family?-Nobody could give a reliable answer. They could only think about the answers by guess and by god.
……

"Cherish one's own beauty， respect other's beauty， and when both beauties are respected and cherished， the world will become one，" said Fei Xiaotong， a famous Chinese sociologist at a cerebration party in honor of his eightieth birthday about thirty years ago. In a time of growing interest in intercultural communication today， these words sound especially wise and far-sighted. Translation， as one of the most important means for cultural communication， is usually done into one's mother tongue from other languages by native translators. This largely guarantees the quality of translated text， so far as the linguistic readability is concerned. However， this method implies a one-sidedness in correspondence， as only the translator's "respect for other's beauty" is concerned， regardless， though not completely， of how the local people look upon and cherish their own beauty. It should be compensated by translations on the other way， that is， works selected， interpreted， and translated by the local people themselves into languages other than their own. This approach may go directly against the prevalent views in modern translation theories but， in my opinion， is worthy of practicing. It is perhaps an even more effective way to bring about successful communication in cultures， and the beauties ofthe world can really be shared by the world's people. It is with such understanding that the Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press is organizing a new series of books， entitled Readings of Chin.ese Culture， to introduce Chinese culture， past and present， to the world， with works selected and translated by the Chinese scholars and translators.