韓萌主編的《南洋散文集》(1952)是馬華文學大系出版前的重要選集。《南洋散文集》收入的散文反映了在戰爭與生活雙重夾擊下的時代,這本散文選具有為一個"動蕩的大時代畫像"的功能。它提供我們窺探那個時代的窗口,南洋如何與祖國(中國)產生對話,寫實主義思潮的傳承,以及在左翼思潮影響下的意識型態,乃至寫作技術,都有助于我們還原和理解那個時代。南洋是指中國以外的異鄉,不論他們出生于中國或馬來亞,華人的祖國即是中國,華人下南洋的目的是返唐山,往南的目的最終是北返。過客心態讓他們即使無法實現歸根的愿望,仍然心系祖(中)國,《南洋散文集》的選文說明了這個事實。這些寫在國家(中國)或家國之外的散文,為我們留下動蕩時代的移民記事。

Nanyang Prose Collection(1952) edited by Han Meng is an important anthology prior to the publication of the great series of Malaysian Chinese literature. The collection of essays in Nanyang Prose Collection reflects the era strongly influenced by the war and life, and it’s well described as the "portrait of a turbulent era". The ways Nanyang communicates with the motherland(China), the inheritance of realism thinking, the ideology under the influence of the left–wing thoughts, as well as the writing techniques, all in all provide us with a glimpse to restore and understand that era. Nanyang is referred as the foreign territory outside China. Whether a Chinese was born in China or Malaya, his or her motherland is still China; those who moved towards the Nanyang(South Pacific) will still get their ways back to Tangshan, and no matter how far they were traveling to the south, the final destination is to return to the north. Though the desire of passers to return home might not be fulfilled, their hearts will always be together with the motherland(China), which is a fact well illustrated via essays in the Nanyang Prose Collection. Essays written outside and inside China have given us invaluable immigration notes about the turbulent age.