The Origins and Precursors to Chinese Comparative Literature: Lin Shu—Wang Guowei—Lu Xun—the Xue Heng School

Abstract

Chinese comparative literature is not a branch of European and American comparative literature, nor did it originate from university lecterns like the American and European schools of comparative literature. In June of 1987, the first president of the Chinese Comparative Literature Association, Professor Yang Zhouhan of Peking University’s English Department, delivered an enthralling lecture titled “The Past and Present of Chinese Comparative Literature” at the annual conference of the Japan Comparative Literature Association in Kyoto.