论到中国近代小说在国外的影响当首推刘鹗的《老残游记》。自鲁迅先生把它誉为晚清四大谴责小说的代表作之后，胡适也给予它很高的评价（《五十年来中国之文学》）。一个世纪（1903—2003）以来，《老残游记》印行的各种中文版本有186种之多（据樽本照雄：《增补新编清末民初小说目录》，2002年齐鲁书社出版），此外，《老残游记》又被译成英文、法文、德文、俄文、日文、捷克文、匈牙利文、朝鲜文等8种文字，在海外广为流传。

The Travels of Lao Can was written by Liu E,a bril-liant intellectual born into a scholarly family at the end of the Qing Dynasty.By describing what Lao Can sees and hears on his travels,the author fiercely attacked the injustices he witnessed and exposed the so-called“hon-est and upright officials”as hypocrites who tried to rise to power at the expense of the people.

Written in 1905,The Travels of Lao Can has been circulating for nearly a century and many people think highly of Liu E's mastery of language.The use of language,observations and detailed descriptions all show the author's originality.Among late Qing-dynasty novels,The Travels of Lao Can is,artistically,a prominent work.