Fortress Besieged (Simplified Chinese: 围城; Traditional Chinese: 围城; Pinyin: wéi chéng) was written by Qian Zhongshu, published in 1947, and is widely considered as one of the masterpieces of twentieth century Chinese literature. The novel is a humorous tale about middle-class Chinese society in the late 1930s. It is also one of the most well-known contemporary Chinese novels in China, and was made into a popular television series in the early 1990s.