Sinking was written in Tokyo in May of 192 1, and was included in the book Sinking in May of the same year. It is a masterpiece of Yu Dafu's famous works and early novels. The novel "describes the psychology of a morbid young man" and "also tells the anguish of modern people-that is, the conflict between sexual demands and spiritual body.

The protagonist "He" in the work is a Japanese student studying in China. He loves freedom, full of fantasy and rebellious spirit. Before going abroad, the tyranny of his hometown school "compressed the freedom of students as small as the eye of a needle", and he "always resisted his will" and "refused to obey those" superstitious bundles ". After studying in Japan, he felt lonely because of ethnic discrimination, social indifference and alienation from Japanese classmates, and developed a melancholy, suspicious, inferiority and sentimental character, which led to personality variation. He often leaves school alone and goes to the "country road".

Appreciate the scenery in early autumn; I often read obscene novels by French naturalists and China, and pursue the stimulation of lust. He doesn't want to sink, but he can't help sinking.