ASIA Weekly once nominated the “Top 100 Chinese Novels in the 20th Century.” A collection of short stories Call to Arms by Lu Xun ranked No.1, with Shen Congwen’s Border Town on its heels. Shen Congwen (1902-1988) is considered to be one of the most influential writers in China’s modern history. Throughout his lifetime, Shen wrote a great number of novels and proses, among which Border Town occupies a unique place.