In December 1923 a first volume was printed and in June 1924 a second volume. In September 1925 these were reprinted as one book. In 1930 the author made certain changes, but all subsequent editions have remained the same.“The Historical Development of Chinese Fiction” in the Appendix served as notes for a series of lectures Lu Hsun gave at a Xian summer school in July 1924. The preface to the Japanese edition appeared first in the edition published in 1955 by the Sairosha Press, Tokyo, Japan.This translation has been made from the Complete Works of Lu Hsun published by the People's Literature Publishing House: A Brief History of Chinese Fiction can be found in Volume 9, while the preface to the Japanese edition comes from the second series of Essays of Chieh-chieh-ting in Volume 6.