When we called modern Chinese literature depressing we weren't kidding. Our romp through the canon to date has touched on the emotions of indifference, grief, helplessness and shame. To this we now add Zhu Ziqing's guilt-laden reflections on filial inadequacy.

Written in October 1925, this short essay chronicles Zhu's relationship with his father, a self-made man who ended up trapped between his son's high expectations and his own perilous finances. This classic story remains widely read in high schools throughout China, as well as in many university programs on Chinese, where it is typically assigned to third or fourth year students. Although My Father's Back has the occasionally antiquated turn of phrase (as noted in our manually annotated popups), Zhu Ziqing's writing style is forcefully modern and overwhelmingly direct. We hope you enjoy it.

For those of you waiting for our next installment from Dream of the Red Chamber, just be patient. We'll be continuing the classic saga right where we left off in our next installment of this series.