Incomplete statistics show that over the last twodecades and more, Short Story International has carriedover thirty outstanding Chinese short stories, beautifullyrendered into English, which had been previously pub-lished in Chinese Literature. Every now and then we re-ceive copies of Short Story International that have car-ried our translations, and make it a point to pass themon to the writers so that they can share in the joy. Asthe Chinese old saying goes, "The apricot tree makes itspresence felt by extending a bough of blossoming flow-ers over the top of the wall, unbeknownst to those wholive behind the wall. " In our case, no matter what ourshort stories are, they have flown across the seas likeChinese literary ambassadors to foreign countries, andthus deserve their reputation as the highest representa-tives of the Chinese short story.
Now, we have collected a few Chinese master-pieces from that prestigious UN journal and publishedthem once again in this Chinese-English bilingual be-)okseries, called Red Apricot Series in Chinese and simplyChinese Masterpieces in English. The books are meantfor Chinese readers learning English, and foreign read-ers who want to learn Chinese. If you will enjoy readingthem by comparing the Chinese originals with the Eng-lish translations, or vice versa, that is the best thisseries' editors could wish for.