This research begins from hypothesizing Wang Anyi’s most prominent work

Chang Hen Ge

. It is an anthropological ethnography that documents Shanghai’s urban space through participant observation. In order to first examine the possibility of considering a literary work as ethnography

the research looks into the role of imagination and the mechanism of fictionalization

followed by a review on literature anthropology. Then an overview on the genealogy of Shanghai literature and literary Shanghai is made. History of Shanghai literature is in fact a significant part of China’s modern and contemporary literary history

so much that it is difficult to consider it as an independent realm. On the other hand

'literary Shanghai

’ a term designating Shanghai found within the literature and also the literal text which represents Shanghai

is an approach similar to the notion of 'Shanghai ethnography

’ which is why the research has reviewed several related texts.