Abstract: In the 1920s, the history of literature, written by Zhou Qunyu, Wang Yu and the like, was concerned with the generalization of literature during republic era (1912-1949). Since the dawn of new century, some problems related to the research on the history of modern Chinese literature have been magnified and even highlighted. Because of that, and under the influence of reappraisal, a hot topic arises again, that is, whether the history of modern Chinese literature should be studied from the perspective of republic era (1912-1949). The ideal of “The History of Literature during the Republic Era” was proposed by some writers, like Ding Fan. It emphasizes the development of the literature during this period from the special perspective and focuses on separating the historical writing of modern Chinese literature from its distinguishable features, which will be beneficial to restore the “Literature Biological Field”, so that more literature phenomenon can be found out. However, it must be pointed out that Mr. Ding’s proposition ignores the valuation of historical writing, and there are internal contradictions in his definition. Besides, with the concept of “the Mechanism of Literature in Republic Era” proposed, more details about the development of literature are illustrated, but at the same time, the Left-wing literature are more likely to be neglected.

Key words: the history of literature during republic era (1912-1949), the mechanism of literature during republic era (1912-1949), valuation