Chapter 1 What Is Folk Literature?.- Chapter 2 Ancient Ballads.- Chapter 3 Folk Literature in the Han Dynasty.- Chapter 4 Folk Songs in the Six Dynasties.- Chapter 5 Odes and Songs in the Tang Dynasty.- Chapter 6 Bianwen, a Popular Form of Literature in the Tang Dynasty.- Chapter 7 Zajuci, a Popular Literary Form in the Song and Jin Periods.- Chapter 8 Guzici and Zhugongdiao, Popular Literary Forms Featured with Singing and Saying.- Chapter 9 Sanqu, A Type of Verse in the Yuan Dynasty.- Chapter 10 Folk Songs in the Ming Dynasty.- Chapter 11 Baojuan, a Literary Form Featured with Story-telling and Singing.- Chapter 12 Tanci, a Literary Form Featured with Story-telling to the Accompaniment of Stringed Instrument.- Chapter 13 Guci and Zidishu, Popular Literary Forms in the Ming and Qing Dynasties .- Chapter 14 Folk Songs in the Qing Dynasty.- Academical Chronology of Zheng Zhenduo.- Zheng Zhenduo and His History of Chinese Folk Literature.

Zhenduo Zheng (1898-1958), an eminent patriot, social activist, writer, and scholar in modern China, served as a professor of Chinese at Yenching University and Tsinghua University, and as a dean of the School of Literature at Ji¿nan University. Beginning in 1949, Zhenduo Zheng served as the vice-minister of Culture and Secretary of the Cultural Heritage Bureau, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, director of the Institutes of Literature Research and Archeology, and member of the National Committee of the CPPCC.