The Concept of Literature of the Republic of China in Chinese Modern Literary History Studies: A Speech at Princeton University

ABSTRACT In the last decade, the most noteworthy phenomenon is the bringing forward of the concept of “literature of the Republic of China” and a series of relevant discussions triggered afterwards in mainland China’s modern literature research. This concept of literary history, like the concept of the twentieth-century Chinese literature advocated in the 1980s, has the goal of literary development according to its own traditional political ideology, and at the same time shows the reflection and review of the separation from the historical context of China’s reality in previous research. Through academic debate and discussion in recent years, the misunderstanding of the concept of “literature of the Republic of China” as a literary criticism method has been further clarified. The concept, showing the unique value of “the Republic of China as a method,” can not only broaden the scope of Chinese modern literature studies, but also form a better atmosphere of the conversation with other current research topics such as “Taiwan literature” and “Chinese literature.”