“But if, as we have seen, Wu's ambivalent attitude toward the conventional route to success originated in his early appreciation of the idealistic virtues of his father, then it is possible that parts of the work could have been written much earlier, perhaps even during his sojourn with his father in Chiang-su.”

— 1978, Timothy C. Wong, “The Evolution of a Satirist”, in William Schultz, editor, Wu Ching-tzu, Twayne Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 30: