Ricerc@Sapienza

In his “Wenxue gailiang chuyi” (A tentative proposal for the reform of literature), Hu Shi set forth the necessity to reform both the gist and the form of literature. Thereafter, he recognised the close connection between the reform of literature and that of the Chinese language, advancing the proposals of “Jianshe de wenxue geming lun: guoyu de wenxue, wenxue de guoyu” (The theory of a constructive literary revolution: a literature in the national language, a national literary language).

The role played by Italian literature in the renewal of the Chinese literary canon was certainly limited, compared to that played by other Western literatures. However Italian authors and their works were not completely absent in the cultural Chinese arena at the beginning of the 20th century.