This course is designed to involve students in the process of canonization by reading and analysing the major works of some key authors of modern and contemporary China. Students will be trained to survey the themes, styles and contexts of the works, with which they proceed to debate how and why they are qualified for canonization. In our discussion, interpretation and reinterpretation force all the selected texts to undergo a cycle of constructing and deconstructing meanings, providing space for rethinking their legitimacy and durability.