Abstract: After the forced opening of such cities as Shanghai and Guangzhou for international trade, the traditional modes of culture in these cities were changed. Fiction, as one important literary genre closely associated with urbanity, also underwent transformations in terms of the urban writing in China. In modern Chinese fictions, the space of urban writing was continuously extended, with the descriptive focus shifting from the general coverage of landmark buildings to the detailed exploration of urban life, the protagonists shifting from traditional city dwellers into modern urban citizens, and the narrative form shifting from centering round time to centering round space. These changes in urban writing can be read as the bridge between the ancient to the modern in Chinese urban fictions, and they hold remarkable significance in the transition in the developmental history of Chinese fictions.

Key words: modern fiction, urban writing, transformation, significance in fiction history, Shanghai, Guangzhou