Sinking (novella)

The frank expression of sexuality and innovative emphasis on subjectivity of the protagonist is one of the reasons for Sinking's status as romantic, representative of May Fourth literature.

[2][3] According to Janet Ng, "Sinking" focuses on the sexual anguish of a Chinese student in Japan and his grief over the country's weakness.

Despite his constant longing for interpersonal connection, he decides to live a solitary life in the company of nature to read literature.

The protagonist's sexual desire is related to the national shame of Chinese students coming from a backward and weak country.

Eventually, driven by sexual impulse and expectation to return to the collective, he visits a brothel and ultimately sinks himself in the sea.

The 1920s Chinese literary works were characterized by a similar concurrence between the writer or protagonist's individual struggles, and the nation's dilemma.