The Travels of Lao Can

The Travels of Lao Can (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade–Giles: Lao Ts'an yu-chi, or "The Travels of an old wreck") was a novel by Liu E (1857-1909), written in 1903-04 and published in 1907. Thinly disguising his own views in those of the physician hero, Liu describes the rise of the Boxers in the countryside, the decay of the Yellow River control system, and the hypocritical incompetence of the bureaucracy. The novel, a social satire that showed the limits of the old elite and officialdom, was an immediate success. The novel serves as an in-depth look into the everyday lives of "peasantry" in the late Qing period.

The first 13 chapters were serialized in the bi-weekly Xiuxiang Xiaoshuo (simplified Chinese: 绣像小说; traditional Chinese: 繡像小說; pinyin: Xiùxiàng Xiǎoshuō; Wade–Giles: Hsiu-hsiang Hsiao-shuo; literally "Illustrated Fiction" or "Fiction Illustrated") from March 1903 to January 1904, in issues 9 through 18. It was later printed in the Tianjin Riri Xinwen Bao (simplified Chinese: 天津日日新闻报; traditional Chinese: 天津日日新聞報; pinyin: Tiānjīn Rìrì Xīnwén Bào; Wade–Giles: T'ien-Chin Jih-Jih Shin-Wen Pao; literally: "Tientsin Daily News") in a 20 chapter version with a prologue included.