Mao Dun (1896-1981) published both short stories, “The Shop of the Lin Family” and “Spring Silkworms,” in 1932. “The Shop of the Lin Family” tells the story of a shop selling foreign goods in a small town in China in the 1930s, which Zhu Ziqing considers the best work written by Mao Dun. “Spring Silkworms” is about a silk weaver, Old Tong Bao, who takes very good care of his silkworms, but the armed conflicts caused by the Japanese in Shanghai on 28 January 1932 ruined his high hopes of selling the cocoons at a good price.
