A novel about the violence and corruption in Nationalist China in the 1930's by Shen Yanbing (1896-1981), better known by the pen name Mao Tun, was a member of the generation that created a truly vernacular Chinese literature in the early twentieth century. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he was named Minister of Culture. The central figure in the story is Wu Sun-fu, an industrial capitalist in Shanghai, which was at that time the industrial and commercial center of China. Since its publication in 1933 Midnight has enjoyed immense popularity in China.